Rolling Stone Nailed Their #1 Hip Hop Album Of All Time... But Not Much Else In Their Top 200 List BONUS - NEW MUSIC MONDAY
Rolling Stone - Two hundred seems like an almost luxuriantly expansive number when you’re making an albums list, and in any other genre, maybe it would be. But the history of rap LPs is so rich and varied, we were forced to make some painful choices — there are so many iconic artists with deep catalogs, so many constantly evolving sounds and regional scenes. That’s one reason we limited our scope to English language hip-hop. Relatedly, a list of hip-hop-adjacent albums from the worlds of dancehall or reggaeton or grime would be fun and fascinating, and something for us to revisit down the road.
When confronted with a choice between the third (or fourth or fifth) record by a classic artist (Outkast, for instance, or A Tribe Called Quest) and an album from an artist who would make the list more interesting (The Jacka or Saba or Camp Lo), we tended to go with the latter option. The result was a list that touches on every important moment in the genre’s evolution — from compilations that honor the music’s paleo old-school days, to its artistic flourishing in the late Eighties and early Nineties with Public Enemy, De La Soul, Eric B. and Rakim and others, through the gangsta era, the rise of the South, the ascendance of larger-than-life aughts superstars like Jay-Z and Kanye West and Nicki Minaj, and on and on into more recent moments like blog-rap, emo-rap, and drill, from New York to L.A. to Houston to Chicago, and beyond.
As we dug and listened, we found ourselves a little less swayed by “golden age” mystique than we might’ve been had we done this list 10 or 15 years ago. One of the incredible things about hip-hop is that it evolves and expands faster than any other genre in music history. To a fan coming up in the era of Cardi or Tyler or Polo G or Playboi Carti, the golden age is now.
I'm no big j journo at Rolling Stone, and I hate to be a cynic here, but to call today the golden age of hip-hop pretty much discredits and invalidates this entire list in my opinion. If we're being honest, 1990-2005 was the "Golden Age" for hip hop.
If you like mumble rap about shit you can't even understand than you'd probably disagree and say that today's superficial artists and manufactured songs are better, which is fine by me. I'm happy and content knowing I grew up in the true greatest time period for the genre.
And you know how I know?
Because even struggling, dying to find a hot take to get noticed, woke ass Rolling Stone can't deny that the greatest hip hop album of all time is the greatest hip hop album of all time.
Here was their Top 20
#20 - Future, 'DS2' (2015)
#19 - Lil Kim, 'Hard Core' (1996)
#18- Madvillain, 'Madvillainy' (2004)
#17- Kanye West, 'Yeezus' (2013)
#16- Cardi B, 'Invasion of Privacy' (2018)
#15- Eric B. and Rakim, 'Paid in Full' (1987)
#14- Ghostface Killah, 'Supreme Clientele' (2000)
#13- Dr. Dre, '2001' (1999)
#12- Clipse, 'Lord Willin' ' (2002)
#11- Drake, 'Take Care' (2011)
#10- Lauryn Hill, 'The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill' (1998)
#9- A Tribe Called Quest, 'The Low End Theory' (1991)
#8- Wu-Tang Clan, 'Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)' (1993)
#7- Missy Elliott, 'Miss E… So Addictive' (2001)
#6- Kanye West, 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy' (2010)
#5- Kendrick Lamar, 'To Pimp a Butterfly' (2015)
#4- Public Enemy, 'It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back' (1988)
#3- Jay-Z, 'The Blueprint' (2001)
#2- Outkast, 'Stankonia' (2000)
AND AT NUMERO UNO -
#1- The Notorious B.I.G., 'Ready to Die' (1994)
Best rap album front to back of all time. You can argue whatever else you want, and I'll listen, but we can go to the tape and go track for track and you will lose everytime.
Everybody knows the heavy hitters on here - Juicy, Big Poppa, One More Chance, but even the b sides on this album are timeless.
We're talking "The What", a song originally not even mentioned featuring Method Man on the album tracklist
We're talking "Warning"
"Machine Gun Funk"
"Gimme The Loot"
and that's just three.
Squabble all you want in the comments. Just know that you're wrong.
Rolling Stone was way off with the rest of their list (Cardi B, Missy Elliot, and Future in the top 20 are head scratchers), but they nailed #1.
Here's everything else that's happened in music over the past week -
Tomorrow, White Sox Dave and I's passion project, "On The Guest List" is dropping an unbelievable interview with The Black Keys' Patrick Carney.
If you aren't following our show, or Barstool Backstage, we would immensely appreciate it.
We've bootstrapped the entire thing from the start, and still are. Zero help from Barstool corporate. Using all our own resources to land interviews, pay for travel, etc. And we've never bitched once, or made excuses. Just growing this thing from the ground up proving that you don't need a giant sponsor budget, or a dozen producers to make shit happen.
This interview dropping tomorrow is all time. Not just because The Black Keys are one of the biggest rock bands in the world, not just because they grant interviews to pretty much nobody, but because Patrick Carney was the absolute fucking man. He sat down with us for 90 minutes and shot the shit about Cleveland sports, hamburgers, Lebron, tour life, raising a family, his wife (Michelle Branch nbd), Jack White and pretty much everything else you can imagine. He probably would have stayed longer if we didn't feel guilty for taking so much of his time.
Here's a great preview of how random and funny this conversation was -
LIKE FOLLOW AND SUBSCRIBE!
POP
- Justin Bieber Revealed He Has ‘Full Paralysis’ on One Side of His Face Due to Ramsay Hunt Syndrome
- Halsey had a huge week.
She dropped the romantic video for her swoony single “So Good” on Friday morning (June 10), closing the circle on the most unusual birth of the stand-alone song the singer fought to release over reported objections from her label.
She Also Covered Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’ at 2022 Governors Ball
- Britney Spears Shared A ‘Like a Virgin’ Dance With Madonna at Her Wedding
- Lizzo Honored Female Friendship With Bouncy New Song ‘Grrrls’
- New BTS, "Proof"
- New Demi Lovato, “Skin of My Teeth”
- Kelly Clarkson Covered Radiohead, The Weeknd & More on ‘Kellyoke’ EP
Jennifer Lopez‘s Netflix documentary, Halftime, premiered at the Tribeca Festival on Wednesday (June 9) and took viewers on an inside look at her preparing for her set during the 2020 Super Bowl Halftime Show, during which she shared the stage with Shakira. While their co-headlining set made history for Latina representation, the film showed that Lopez was initially frustrated with the amount of time that the NFL gave her and Shakira to put on their show.
Lopez’s manager, Benny Medina, appears in the documentary to provide perspective on the matter, and shares that often, Super Bowl performers have the option to choose which guests they would like to bring out during their set. “Typically, you have one headliner at a Super Bowl. That headliner constructs a show, and, should they choose to have other guests, that’s their choice,” he says in the film. “It was an insult to say you needed two Latinas to do the job that one artist historically has done.”
Ultimately, Lopez suggested to Shakira that they divide their performance time evenly — roughly six minutes for each of their sets.
ROCK
- Our boys Kongos dropped a new track, "Broken" and its great. Has a very Sofi Tukker sound to it.
- Fitz and The Tantrums also debuted a new song, "Sway"
- Rise Against Surprise Released A New EP Nowhere Generation II, And Share “Last Man Standing” Video
- Jimmy Eat World Dropped A New Song “Something Loud”
- Nick Offerman Shared A Track, “T.G.I.F.,” Co-Written by Jeff Tweedy
- The Pixies Announce New Album Doggerel, Share “There’s a Moon On”
- Blondie Announce First-Ever Box Set Blondie: Against the Odds 1974-1982, Share “Moonlight Drive” Cover
- Jack White Dropped A New Single, “If I Die Tomorrow”
- Stick Figure Dropped A New Single With Slightly Stoopid, “Way of Life"
- Lamb of God Unleashed “Nevermore” as First Single from Upcoming Album Omens
- Regina Spektor Shared “Loveology”
- Flogging Molly Announced New Album Anthem, Unveil “The Croppy Boy ’98”
- New Orleans’ Voodoo Fest Was Canceled for 3rd Straight Year
- ‘Believe’ Set Up CAAMP at No. 1 on Adult Alternative Airplay Chart. (I love this band)
- Saya Gray Shared The New Track “WISH U PICKED ME”
- Soccer Mommy Dropped New Song “newdemo”
HIP HOP
- Kid Cudi Premiered His New Single ‘Do What I Want'
- New Pharrell Williams feat. 21 Savage & Tyler, The Creator, “Cash In Cash Out”
- Lil Baby Hopped on Global Banger “Voodoo” by Badshah, J Balvin, and Tainy
- Danger Mouse and Black Thought Drop New Single “Because” with Joey Bada$$, Russ, and Dylan Cartlidge
- Roddy Ricch Was Arrested on Weapons Charges in New York Prior to His Governors Ball Set
- New Maluma, The Love & Sex Tape
- SZA Shared A Deluxe Edition of Ctrl for Fifth Anniversary
EDM
- Justice Dropped A ‘D.A.N.C.E.’ Demo to Mark 15-Year Anniversary of Game-Changing Debut Album
- Swedish House Mafia Unveiled the First 3 Items From Their Collection For IKEA… yes this is a real thing…
- New Anna Lunoe, “Like Me”
- New Marshmello & Khalid, “Numb”
- New Shygirl, “Come For Me”
- New Jamie Jones, “Bionic Boy”
- New Phantoms, “Letting Me Go”
- New The Chainsmokers, “The Fall”
COUNTRY
- Toby Keith Revealed Stomach Cancer Diagnosis: ‘I Need Time to Breathe, Recover and Relax’ He Said.
Prayers up for Toby Keith.
- Chris Stapleton and Justin Timberlake Reunited for ‘Tennessee Whiskey’ at L.A. Concert
- New Carrie Underwood, "Denim & Rhinestones"
If you're not following Barstool Backstage on Spotify and Apple Music you're missing out. Plenty of playlists of all genres we keep updated on a regular basis.
Here's a sample -