EDIT: SOURCE MAGAZINE BIAS PROVEN TO BE MYTH - Source Top 100 Albums list

[DANJ!]

I was in grade school/high school in those days, but I remember -'98-00 Ready to Die, MATW, Makaveli, No Way Out, E. 1999, Ice Cream Man, were considered classic sh*t by my peer group Aaliyah's sh*t was also considered a classic by a lot of my female friends in my peer group as well, and all those albums were after '94 as far as I know. That's strange as f*ck that in '96 you didn't consider Ready to Die a classic album

You're not gettin' what I'm sayin'...

Yeah, I thought by '96 that RTD was a classic album. I just never actually called it a classic. I probably called it something equivalent to 'classic'... but that actual word wasn't in the lexicon, breh. I knew what it meant, I read the Source so of course I knew what it was... matter fact, me and a bunch of dudes I ran with around that time used to fukk with the Source. We used to say "that shyt a 5"! But just sayin' "it's a classic!", Nah.

And even then, it was still "new". When I used to think of the word classic, it seemed like something some years needed to go by to earn that title... not months or a year and some change. I'm not sure I'm explainin' this the right way...

 

[Change]

i think it's an age thing. had i been 20 when Ready To Die dropped instead of 12 i might have actively talked & thought about labeling an album a classic but as a teenager i didn't think about it until i was getting to 17-20. i remember reading the Source when they gave Aquemini 5 mics and that was the first time i saw them give anyone a 5, i didn't start buying it until 96. after that i thought of some albums that i thought was worth 5 but they maybe only gave them 4.5 or 4, the concept developed more as i got older and got more into the music.

yeah. it was a bit different back then. Because you had be classic. Now you just have to be good since everything else is so bad.

But Ready To Die is one album that there is nothing revisionist about it. It's one of the few that came out, was called classic(even though i agree we probably didn't say that word)/important/impactful etc by fans and magazines and Big was the man.

I'd say the first Wu Tang album was like that too. But i'd even go as far as to say something like Cuban Linx was right at that level of being something that was considered very very good but we didn't straight up call an instant classic. Even though it was.

So much of this stupid revisionist/classic debate comes from younger people and two albums (Reasonable Doubt and It Was Written) and mostly everything they say about the time is completely wrong.

 

[blackzeus]

i think it's an age thing. had i been 20 when Ready To Die dropped instead of 12 i might have actively talked & thought about labeling an album a classic but as a teenager i didn't think about it until i was getting to 17-20. i remember reading the Source when they gave Aquemini 5 mics and that was the first time i saw them give anyone a 5, i didn't start buying it until 96. after that i thought of some albums that i thought was worth 5 but they maybe only gave them 4.5 or 4, the concept developed more as i got older and got more into the music.

I was 14 in '96, and my peer group was more or less 13-17 years old, and we all considered Ready to Die to be classic. That "Warning" track tho, I thought that was the hardest song outside of "When We Ride" and "Stick 2 Ya Gunz" (MOP) in '96. Real talk though, on another note, I didn't see MOP on that list. "Firing Squad" is also classic sh*t

 

[blackzeus]

Yo real talk though, X got no classic sh*t, how the f*ck we not talkin' about is "It's Dark and Hell is Hot" not being on the list?

 

[DANJ!]

Yo real talk though, X got no classic sh*t, how the f*ck we not talkin' about is "It's Dark and Hell is Hot" not being on the list?

Because the list is from December '97/Jan. '98.

We got about 5 months before the album's even out.

 

[mobbinfms]

Yo real talk though, X got no classic sh*t, how the f*ck we not talkin' about is "It's Dark and Hell is Hot" not being on the list?

List made before album released.

 

[Taadow]

Sorry guys, "It Was Written" and "Hell On Earth" didn't make the list cause in 98 they were not considered Classics. The Top 100 is about Classic albums only. As for the list it's the most credible Top 100 Hip Hop List on the books. Better than any list Rolling Stone or complex or any of these other magazines have done as far as Hip Hop. 98-99 was like the last great years for The Source before it went to hell.

Then why was "The Score" on that sheeit??

Anyway, nikkaz4Life don't belong on there.
I'd replace "Step In The Arena" with "Hard 2 Earn".

 

[vampire xtc]

Then why was "The Score" on that sheeit??

Anyway, nikkaz4Life don't belong on there.
I'd replace "Step In The Arena" with "Hard 2 Earn".

the score was an amazing and critically acclaimed album thats why its on there lol

people gunna get upset but in 1998

score > HOE and IWW

i know i know your mad about that

but breathe

as danj said no one said this "classic" stuff back then

an album could have been the best album of all time

and all we said was..

"this shyt is dope"

and kept it movin

all these younger dudes started the classic and in 5-20 years regarded as a classic mumbo jumbo

i mean look in this topic how many dudes are mad at album not makin the list that dropped after the list was made

the damn topic title states "17 years later"

these young dudes dont have basic reading comprehension but feel they have a sturdy opinion on the basis of an albums credentials if its classic or not


im sorry but if you cant read and comprehend a simple thread title

you cant rate a hip hop album

go somewhere

 

[Taadow]

the score was an amazing and critically acclaimed album thats why its on there lol

The Score was not "amazing", and there were plenty of albums from this time that were "critcally acclaimed"
that aren't on here. You can quote somebody else with the rest of that waste-of-text post, because it doesn't apply
to what I posted.

 

[Rapmastermind]

Then why was "The Score" on that sheeit??

Anyway, nikkaz4Life don't belong on there.
I'd replace "Step In The Arena" with "Hard 2 Earn".

"The Score" was an INSTANT CLASSIC man. It dropped and people were hailing it one one of the best rap albums. After "Fu-Gee-La" came out it was a wrap man. NaS was opening for the Fugees on tour, not the other way around. "The Score" is also one of the biggest rap albums ever internationally. Wyclef said the album sold over 15 million copies around the world. It only sold about 6-7 in the states so that joint went Diamond internationally, it sold 5 Million in Europe alone. "The Score" is on the list cause it was that Big.

 

[vampire xtc]

The Score was not "amazing"

is anyone suppose to take you seriously after saying that?

*points to door*

 

[mobbinfms]

The Score was not "amazing", and there were plenty of albums from this time that were "critcally acclaimed"
that aren't on here. You can quote somebody else with the rest of that waste-of-text post, because it doesn't apply
to what I posted.

Nah - he's right. The Fugees were huge in 96-98. There was a mystique to Lauryn Hill. There was no real hip hop head backlash against the Fugees. I hated them in real time and I was on a fukking island as a result. I was that weird guy that didn't like the Fugees
Maybe things were different in NY - but in the Bay - everyone loved the Fugees. When Nas got Lauryn for his single, it was perfect timing.

The Scote has definitely receded in legacy though. Hardly hear anyone talk about it now.

 

[mobbinfms]

is anyone suppose to take you seriously after saying that?

*points to door*

A lot of people on here do t like the Score actually. In the 90s though - it was commercially and critically acclaimed across the board.

 

[Rapmastermind]

The Score was SO BIG, The Fugees are considered one of the Biggest Rap Groups EVER and they only dropped what 2 albums? There is no "Miseducation" or Clef's "Carnival" without "The Score" that was the album that paved the way for their solo careers. That's it's significance. L-Boggie dropped a Masterpiece debut and Clef dropped a solid debut after also. Even Pras had a huge hit with "Ghetto Superstar" and "Roxanne".

 

[mobbinfms]

The Score was SO BIG, The Fugees are considered one of the Biggest Rap Groups EVER and they only dropped what 2 albums?

And the first one bricked too.