The Official 'Classic Album' Discussion Thread

[Inspect Her Deck]

Hip-hop debates predominantly revolve around the notion of a 'classic' album. What makes an album classic? How many classic albums does 'x' have? You see on this forum alone, every time an artist comes up, the conversation, no matter what the argument initially is about, will steer towards a debate about classic albums.

Our insatiable thirst to know what the classic albums in hip-hop are stems from our desire nowadays to call everything that comes out an instant classic. This jumping of the gun results from a desire to harken back to the golden age of hip-hop, when classics were genuinely coming out at an alarming rate? Or were they?

That's the whole point of this thread. To reach a consensus amongst the Coli members as to which albums are classic or not. I will edit the OP as appropriate, eventually having a list of classics agreed upon by the majority.

Rules:
a) Acceptance rate for a classic is 80% of yes votes or higher
b)i) Album must register at least 50 votes to be in consideration for classic evaluation
ii) If an album fails to register 50 votes after a certain period of extended voting time, then it will be ruled to not be a classic, even if the yes votes are 80% or more

OFFICIAL CLASSIC ALBUMS
2Pac: Me Against the World [1995]; All Eyez on Me [1996]; The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (Makaveli) [1996]
A Tribe Called Quest: The Low End Theory [1991]; Midnight Marauders [1993]
Big Daddy Kane: Long Live the Kane [1988]
Black Moon: Enta Da Stage [1993]
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony: E.1999 Eternal [1995]
Boogie Down Productions: Criminal Minded [1987]; By All Means Necessary [1988]
Compton's Most Wanted: Music to Driveby [1992]
Cypress Hill: Cypress Hill [1991]
De La Soul: 3 Ft High & Rising [1989]
DJ Quik: Quik is the Name [1991]; Safe + Sound [1995]; Rhythm-al-ism [1998]
DMX: It's Dark & Hell is Hot [1998]
Dr. Dre: The Chronic [1992]; 2001 [1999]
EPMD: Strictly Business [1988]; Unfinished Business [1989]
Eric B. & Rakim: Paid in Full [1987]; Follow the Leader [1988]
Gang Starr: Hard to Earn [1994]; Moment of Truth [1998]
Geto Boys: Grip It! On That Other Level [1989]
Ghostface Killah: Ironman [1996]; Supreme Clientele [2000]
Goodie Mob: Soul Food [1995]
GZA: Liquid Swords [1995]
Ice Cube: AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted [1990]; Death Certificate [1991]
Jay-Z: Reasonable Doubt [1996]; The Blueprint [2001]
Jeru the Damaja: The Sun Rises in the East [1994]
KRS-One: Return of the Boom Bap [1993]
LL Cool J: Radio [1985]; Mama Said Knock You Out [1990]
Madvillain: Madvillainy [2004]
Main Source: Breaking Atoms [1991]
MC Eiht: We Come Strapped [1994]
MF DOOM: Operation: Doomsday [1999]
Mobb Deep: The Infamous [1995]; Hell on Earth [1996]
Mos Def: Black on Both Sides [1999]
Nas: Illmatic [1994]; It Was Written [1996]
Notorious B.I.G.: Ready to Die [1994]; Life After Death [1997]
N.W.A.: Straight Outta Compton [1988]
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth: Mecca & The Soul Brother [1992]
The Pharcyde: Bizarre Ride II [1992]
Organized Konfusion: Stress: The Extinction Agenda [1994]
OutKast: ATLiens [1996]; Aquemini [1998]
Public Enemy: It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back [1988]; Fear of a Black Planet [1990]
Raekwon: Only Built 4 Cuban Linx [1995]
Redman: Whut? Thee Album [1992]; Muddy Waters [1996]
Run-D.M.C.: Run-D.M.C. [1984]; Raising Hell [1986]
Too $hort: Life is... Too Short [1988]
Scarface: The Diary [1994]; The Fix [2002]
Smif-N-Wessun: Dah Shinin' [1995]
Snoop Dogg: Doggystyle [1993]
Spice 1: Spice 1 [1992]; 187 He Wrote [1993]
Ultramagnetic MCs: Critical Beatdown [1988]
Underground Kingz (UGK): Ridin' Dirty [1996]
Wu-Tang Clan: Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers [1993]

Excellent article regarding classic albums: What Makes A Hip-Hop Album A Classic?

 

[Inspect Her Deck]

To make life easier, why don't I post artist by artist and we can run through their discography and determine what a classic is....for the most part, we're gonna start with the main gunners, and then will proceed onto lesser knowns. This project will be long but eventually we'll arrive at results we're all happy with.

FIRST ARTIST

Nas

 

[Big Mel]

NaS lost. He does have a classic, though.

 

[Inspect Her Deck]

NaS lost. He does have a classic, though.

Fantastic. First poster and doesn't read how the thread works.

Define the word classic and then apply it to Nas and choose which albums of his are classics, explain WHY.

 

[Big Mel]

Fantastic. First poster and doesn't read how the thread works.

Define the word classic and then apply it to Nas and choose which albums of his are classics, explain WHY.

Neaux.

 

[RichForever]

Here’s my criteria..

1) Obvious high quality - A classic Hip Hop album should pretty much be an album that has general acclaim from fans and the Hip Hop community as a whole.

2) Impact on the genre - A classic Hip Hop album should have some level of impact on the genre. It should be genre-defining. Basically, if you could go into history and stop an album from being made and it doesn't cause too much change within the genre, it's not a classic.

3) Cohesion - Classics need cohesion. Every song should flow perfectly into the next. Nothing should feel like it shouldn't be there. There shouldn't be a bunch of filler tracks laying around.

4) Does it stand the test of time? - Self explanatory. Is it timeless? In 10 years after the album's release date, will people still be listening to it and talking about it highly? 20 years? And so on.

I think a classic should hit most if not all these marks. I might be forgetting some criteria I think is important though.

 

[Inspect Her Deck]

Here’s my criteria..

1) Obvious high quality - A classic Hip Hop album should pretty much be an album that has general acclaim from fans and the Hip Hop community as a whole.

2) Impact on the genre - A classic Hip Hop album should have some level of impact on the genre. It should be genre-defining. Basically, if you could go into history and stop an album from being made and it doesn't cause too much change within the genre, it's not a classic.

3) Cohesion - Classics need cohesion. Every song should flow perfectly into the next. Nothing should feel like it shouldn't be there. There shouldn't be a bunch of filler tracks laying around.

4) Does it stand the test of time? - Self explanatory. Is it timeless? In 10 years after the album's release date, will people still be listening to it and talking about it highly? 20 years? And so on.

I think a classic should hit most if not all these marks. I might be forgetting some criteria I think is important though.

Excellent response.

But what does high quality mean? Must 80% of the tracks be considered 'good'? All the album with no filler. Is it a more general thing?

I like the other factors too, and I feel impact/influence is ascertained over time as well. So your points 2 and 4 kinda merge. Interesting.

Now can you apply that to Nas and tell me how many classics he has?

 

[wingstop]

A classic to me is mainly just very high quality album with multiple standout tracks and very few missteps. Influence is also a factor too but i dont see it to be as important compared to the actual quality of the project.

I think nas has two, maybe 3 classics. Illmatic and it was written are for sure classics to me with stillmatic being a wild card.

 

[Inspect Her Deck]

A classic to me is mainly just very high quality album with multiple standout tracks and very few missteps. Influence is also a factor too but i dont see it to be as important compared to the actual quality of the project.

I think nas has two, maybe 3 classics.

Thanks for the response bro. If you could maybe edit your post and list exactly which Nas albums you consider classics, and perhaps disregard the 'maybe' album since you're unsure.

Since you go off quality alone, are you the kinda guy to believe there could be hundreds of classics in the genre? Because off quality alone, there are many projects that would constitute a classic based on your definition.

 

[RichForever]

Excellent response.

But what does high quality mean? Must 80% of the tracks be considered 'good'? All the album with no filler. Is it a more general thing?

I like the other factors too, and I feel impact/influence is ascertained over time as well. So your points 2 and 4 kinda merge. Interesting.

Now can you apply that to Nas and tell me how many classics he has?

High quality in terms of the rapping (lyrics, flows, delivery, etc.) and production. And yes, most of the album should be great. Now that I think about it, I might slide somewhat on the filler part. An album could have a filler track. Even Illmatic had One Time 4 Your Mind, which (from what I've seen) is a song a lot of people acknowledge is not on the level of the rest of the songs on the album.

And back to Nas. I'd say Nas has 1 classic. That being Illmatic.

 

[Inspect Her Deck]

High quality in terms of the rapping (lyrics, flows, delivery, etc.) and production. And yes, most of the album should be great. Now that I think about it, I might slide somewhat on the filler part. An album could have a filler track. Even Illmatic had One Time 4 Your Mind, which (from what I've seen) is a song a lot of people acknowledge is not on the level of the rest of the songs on the album.

And back to Nas. I'd say Nas has 1 classic. That being Illmatic.

I don't think OT4YM is necessarily filler but just pales in comparison to the rest of the album. It's still a great track.

But on the subject of filler, I think it's key to differentiate between filler in quality and filler in sequencing. If it's quality filler but it fits within the album, I think you can let one or two filler tracks slide. But if a track really has no place in the album, it can be detrimental to the album's cohesion, which could hurt its 'classic-ness' in the long run if that's a factor you choose to incorporate into your definition, which you did.

Ok Illmatic yeah. I agree with you. On the fence about It Was Written tbh.

 

[wingstop]

Thanks for the response bro. If you could maybe edit your post and list exactly which Nas albums you consider classics, and perhaps disregard the 'maybe' album since you're unsure.

Since you go off quality alone, are you the kinda guy to believe there could be hundreds of classics in the genre? Because off quality alone, there are many projects that would constitute a classic based on your definition.

I dont personally believe that there are "hundreds" of classics but then i again i am very picky when it comes to rating albums. I do believe that there are certain levels of classic albums though, for example an illmatic is obviously better than like a blueprint. Influence is also a deciding factor when determining an album is classic or not but i think there are "perfect" albums that necessarily didnt sell a lot or have much of an impact. LIke liquid swords is a perfect album to me but i never really seen the impact or the influence it has. The same can be said to Hell hath no fury for me, i think that album is perfect and a classic but that shyt has no influence.

 

[Inspect Her Deck]

I dont personally believe that there are "hundreds" of classics but then i again i am very picky when it comes to rating albums. I do believe that there are certain level of classic albums though, for example an illmatic is obviously better than like a blueprint. Influence is also a deciding factor when determining an album is classic or not but i think there are "perfect" albums that necessarily didnt sell a lot or have much of an impact. LIke liquid swords is a perfect album to me but i never really seen the impact or the influence it has. The same can be said to Hell hath no fury for me, i think that album is perfect and a classic but that shyt has no influence.

So maybe Liquid Swords and HHNF are not classics but just albums of amazingly high quality. Maybe there are albums that aren't classic but are better than those that are classic?

So it really depends on whether you think influence is important or not in your definition.

Also please list the Nas classics for me. Which albums?

 

[wingstop]

So maybe Liquid Swords and HHNF are not classics but just albums of amazingly high quality. Maybe there are albums that aren't classic but are better than those that are classic?

So it really depends on whether you think influence is important or not in your definition.

Also please list the Nas classics for me. Which albums?

i edited my comment. I think illmatic and it was written are his classics with stillmatic being the wild card.

 

[Inspect Her Deck]

I think we need to reach an agreement on a definition for classic.

Here's my proposed definition: an album of the highest quality (excellent lyricism, innovative production, strong cohesion, minimal filler) that has noticeable impact on the genre and the community and whose influence stands the test of time (10 years +)

I would rather be very strict about it, so for Nas, he only has 1 classic: Illmatic.