Big Mouths 10 Top Albums 1999-2009
June 25, 2009 by Insight
It seems that every decade the style of music completely changes and we have almost reached the dawn of a new one. So the bigmouths online staff has decided to pay homage to our top 10 rap albums of the decade.
10. 50 Cent – Get Rich or Die Tryin’ (2003)
Get Rich or Die Tryin’ was 50 Cent’s 1st album under Aftermath and he started things off proper. This album is still 50′s best album to date when it comes to both content and impact on the hip-hop world. Every car’s system bumped this album for at least 2 weeks. From the street hits like patiently waiting to the club hits like in the club this album had it all. With production from Dr. Dre, Eminem, and Sha Money XL among others, almost every single beat on this cd was a head banger. This album still gets a play in my CD player every once in a while.
09. Reflection Eternal – Train Of Thought (2000)
“You pronounce my name ‘Kweli’, any questions?” – Talib Kweli. Honestly who doesn’t remember that joint? Hi-Tek & Talib Kweli made history with their 1st album Train Of Thought. This album is one of the best underground influenced rap album EVER. It’s one of the only albums I religiously listen to front to back every time it finds its way to my CD player. With Kweli lockin the flow and Hi-Tek lacing the tracks these two placed themselves into hip-hop history as one of the best hip-hop groups to emerge in the game.
08. Jay-Z – American Gangster (2007)
Although this album was heavily overlooked by the fans American Gangster is nothing short of a master piece. American Gangster is a concept album that has a beginning, middle, and end and runs from track to track as a movie would run between scenes and plot twists. Some of Jay-Z’s best story telling songs resides in the vinyl grooves of this record. Although it’s not a classic like Reasonable Doubt, it is one of his best efforts when it comes to a complete album.
07. Kanye West – Late Registration (2005)
Kanye did it again with this one… Late Registration was an important album for Kanye West as he skillfully dodged the Sophomore Jinx that most rappers face with their 2nd album. To me this album and College Dropout are close to equal and are interchangeable on this list. Most rappers dream to have an album that reaches both the underground and commercial fan base the way Late Registration did. He had hits like Gold Digger and underground classics like Heard Em’ Say. Not many albums can combine these two elements of hip-hop the way Ye’ did on this record. It was pure genius..
06. Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)
Eminem was another artist that surpassed the Sophomore Jinx with his 2nd CD The Marshall Mathers LP. Em let us all see a more personally side of himself on this album and if you haven’t heard it yet; Then you missed one of the most interesting albums of the last 10 years. When this CD came out Marshall had the whole world pressing the rewind button wondering if he REALLY said what you thought he said. Long story short… your fuckin’ right he did.
05. Common – Be (2005)
Common starts off our top 5 albums with his personal best, Be. Although I feel that Finding Forever was just as genius as Be, this album made the list over Finding Forever because it reached a larger fan base. Common changed his style on this album and let Kanye West take the driver seat on the production side of things. This was a risky move for Common but it could not of worked out better. Be could easily reach any of the top 5 slots on this list because of it’s originality alone. No body had an album like this one when it hit the shelves. It was a complete breathe of fresh air and I often still bump this shit like it just came out.
04. Kanye West – The College Dropout (2004)
The College Drop Out is NOTHING short of a classic. When Kanye Released this album he has the entire hip-hop community dropping their jaws at how easily he transformed from a super producer to a rap star. I don’t want to boost Kanye’s ego but this record is honestly one of the few albums that was way ahead of it’s time. The College Drop Out will defiantly be remembered as a classic hip-hop CD and the birth of a star.
03. Dr. Dre – The Chronic 2001 (1999)
If I had to pick one album that every hip-hop fan loved it would have to be The Chronic 2001. Dre changed the game with this album period. This CD is so good that Dr. Dre has been struggling to create an album on the same level ever since it’s release date. This shit is the definition of a true classic. Aside from Eminem’s Slim Shady LP not ONE other album was even close to touching the track list Dre constructed on 1999 classic.
02. Eminem – The Slim Shady LP (1999)
It was hard for me to put this album in front of The Chronic 2001. It could go either way depending on how you look at it. The reason The Slim Shady LP landed the number 2 spot was because Eminem was something the world had never witnessed. A white rapper that can bring it better than 95% of the the entire hip-hop community. Eminem was the best rapper alive in 1999, no body else in the game could offend you so bad and make you love it at the same time. Aside from that, The Slim Shady LP was the realest shit Em ever wrote and it will be remembered forever.
01. Jay-Z – The Blueprint (2001)
As soon as you thought Hip-Hop was going in the wrong direction Jay-Z laid out the blueprint plans for the future of rap. What can you really say about The Blueprint… With Kanye West & Just Blaze producing the bulk of the albums beats, The Blueprint brought a soulful sound to hip-hop that no other album had demonstrated before it. Jay laid down this whole album in 2 weeks I guess you could say he was simply in the fuckin’ zone. When this album dropped the twin towers came down (literally it dropped on Sept. 11th 2001) and even that couldn’t stop Jay’s album from going plat. x3. This album is often augured as Jay-Z’s best album EVER placing it even above his well known classic Reasonable Doubt. If I had to describe this album in one word it would be Timeless. With only one feature on the entire album (Eminem) Jay-Z gave us 12 tracks of incredible material. This album was an instant classic.
Big Mouths Top 10 Mixtape
We decided to give you 2 cuts from each album on the list to give you guys an exclusive mixtape of the best hip-hop made in the last 10 years. Enjoy
