This is the New Consensus Top 5 All Time.

[krulesweatshirt]

This is actually how RD became a classic though, Jay tried to have influence on publications to revist their review of RD, and it worked lmao

Critical acclaim has always played a role.

Basically this. Jay Z's legacy in the 90s relied on critics lol

 

[Chip Skylark]

Drake doesn't even have a good album from a pure objective standpoint.

Take Care is a classic

That’s it

 

[Nuuko]

You decided Metacritic the be all end all because it suit your argument, but it don't capture anywhere close to all the published reviews. And MMLP for example got plenty strong reviews and year end list placements, we not gonna pretend that album got weak reviews.

Critical acclaim ain't objective anyway. It's literally the opinion of (mostly white) critics and most of them come from a perspective outside hip hop culture. Industry awards ain't objective either. It's political, biased as fukk and opinion based with, again, a heavily white and non hip hop slant.

Eminem has won the Grammy for Best Rap Album more times than anyone else. Facts. You dismissive of that now but it will be a big deal if Kendrick ties or passes him, right? And Em easily the highest selling rapper of all time, but sales only matter when they in your favor. So none of this is really objective. There ain't an objective measure of the quality of music.

This is a hip hop board. If we can't formulate and articulate our own opinions what we even doing here?

I don't care about critics, its you that brought accolades into that discussion.
For the matter, the "it don't capture anywhere close to all the published reviews" is bullshyt...it takes into account all professional and important reviews, except the B ones, and those are still taken into consideration for the general end year lists, which is why their list is based on 200-500 lists from publications.

MMLP was never that well received.

Kendrick already passed Eminem's numbers of grammy....(and eminem has released twice as many albums as Kendrick)

 

[Lil Bape the PostGod]

In no order:

The boy
Tune
Hov
Pluto
DMX or Ghostface

 

[Revolutionary]

You decided Metacritic the be all end all because it suit your argument, but it don't capture anywhere close to all the published reviews. And MMLP for example got plenty strong reviews and year end list placements, we not gonna pretend that album got weak reviews.

Critical acclaim ain't objective anyway. It's literally the opinion of (mostly white) critics and most of them come from a perspective outside hip hop culture. Industry awards ain't objective either. It's political, biased as fukk and opinion based with, again, a heavily white and non hip hop slant.

Eminem has won the Grammy for Best Rap Album more times than anyone else. Facts. You dismissive of that now but it will be a big deal if Kendrick ties or passes him, right? And Em easily the highest selling rapper of all time, but sales only matter when they in your favor. So none of this is really objective. There ain't an objective measure of the quality of music.

This is a hip hop board. If we can't formulate and articulate our own opinions what we even doing here?

Accolades is a wrong argument tbh, its well know that Kendrick, Kanye and Outkast are by far the most decorated artists in hip hop.

 

[MooseMouthMthafuga]

Kendrick's 37 yrs old, but 20-25 yr old Pac's still the Zeus to his Apollo.Y'all remember that shyt

 

[Revolutionary]

I know ya'll not talking about grammy in this thread

Eminem has 12 solo major albums (+ compil albums, collab albums etc)

Kendrick has 5 solo major albums (He has 6 major studio albums but the 6th one is eligible for the 2026 grammy)

Eminem has 15 Grammy awards and has dropped his major debut in 1999
Kendrick has 22 grammy awards and has dropped his major debut in 2012.

Grammy are NOT a criteria you gonna be using for Eminem.

 

[Nuuko]

This is a hip hop board. If we can't formulate and articulate our own opinions what we even doing here?

But that's your post bro...

If you going by "objective" measures like sales and industry accolades then Eminem is your undisputed GOAT, probably followed by Kanye.

I'm up for a good debate, but if you bring in accolades, critics, and all that shyt, then nah, Eminem isn't even in the top 20 convo, and for the record Kanye has been surpassed by Kendrick in that aspet as well.

You were just proven wrong, not my fault if the argument you went for didn't work (and it's not your fault, considering Kendrick is officially the most acclaimed rapper ever lol)...

If you wanna use the "objective" measures you're talking about, then here are the following facts:

-Kendrick is the most acclaimed rapper there is in rap, ever
-Kendrick has the #1 highest rated rap album of all time
-Kendrick has the #2 highest rated rap album of all time
-kendrick has the 2nd biggest rap album of the 21st century according to billboard (and 1st is not eminem)
-Kendrick has the longuest charting rap album ever, and that album is not the same as the one that became the 2nd biggest rap album of the past 25 years.

Now we can indeed move on from the "objective measures" you first brought into the thread

 

[Conan]

Lil Baby's 'My Turn' Crowned Biggest Rap Album Of 21st Century By 'Billboard'.

Need to find out where to slot Lil Baby in my list.

 

[Hum Alistair]

Lil Baby's 'My Turn' Crowned Biggest Rap Album Of 21st Century By 'Billboard'.

Need to find out where to slot Lil Baby in my list.

You don't go very far when sales is the only thing you get. Now, a combination of sales, acclaim, respect, thats deadly.

 

[JustCKing]

This is actually how RD became a classic though, Jay tried to have influence on publications to revist their review of RD, and it worked lmao

Critical acclaim has always played a role.

Except RD didn't have the initial critical acclaim to fall back on. The Source gave it 4 mics to begin with. It only got 5 when they went back and upgraded ratings for a bunch of albums. This wasn't Jay's influence. They upgraded several albums not just Jay's.

 

[JustCKing]

Basically this. Jay Z's legacy in the 90s relied on critics lol

This is false. Jay in the 90's wasn't exactly a critical darling. In the 90's, critics weren't really a thing. Nobody was really checking for reviews like that outside of The Source. Even then, out of the four albums he dropped in the 90's Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 were more critically acclaimed than RD. Both albums got 4.5 mics in The Source where RD and Vol. 1 got 4.

 

[Mike Wins]

But that's your post bro...


I'm up for a good debate, but if you bring in accolades, critics, and all that shyt, then nah, Eminem isn't even in the top 20 convo, and for the record Kanye has been surpassed by Kendrick in that aspet as well.

You were just proven wrong, not my fault if the argument you went for didn't work (and it's not your fault, considering Kendrick is officially the most acclaimed rapper ever lol)...

If you wanna use the "objective" measures you're talking about, then here are the following facts:

-Kendrick is the most acclaimed rapper there is in rap, ever
-Kendrick has the #1 highest rated rap album of all time
-Kendrick has the #2 highest rated rap album of all time
-kendrick has the 2nd biggest rap album of the 21st century according to billboard (and 1st is not eminem)
-Kendrick has the longuest charting rap album ever, and that album is not the same as the one that became the 2nd biggest rap album of the past 25 years.

The entire point of my post went over your head, which is that the "objective" measures yall so obsessed with ain't actually objective, especially the way you twist, spin and selectively ignore. Yall are completely reliant on cherrypicked stats and other people opinions to make an argument.

 

[Revolutionary]

Except RD didn't have the initial critical acclaim to fall back on. The Source gave it 4 mics to begin with. It only got 5 when they went back and upgraded ratings for a bunch of albums. This wasn't Jay's influence. They upgraded several albums not just Jay's.

Except there's like 15 publications that changed their review for RD (and only for that album) once Jay was in a position to influence them.

 

[Peruvian Connect]

Ha Kendrick in anyones top 5 is hilarious. Big shouldn't be either though