The Top Ten Hip-Hop Albums Of The Past Decade

So it seems like everyone and they mama is doing this "best of the decade" list and while I usually hate adhering to any type of status quo's I gotta admit this rundown of the 2K's best is pretty important.

Due to some heated debate last night with some friends I feel I gotta chime in with a strong, competent list of my own and rep what was in fact a very decent decade for Hip-Hop releases--at least in the beginning anyway...

Lemme first point out before you start glancing and dissecting, that in all actuality the decade truly isn't over for another year at the conclusion of 2010, so there still might be more albums making their way onto my final, final version that I'll do up when the time comes...Til' then however look this over and stand back in awe as I did upon completing it and realize that the year 2000 was a monster; owning 6 of the top 10 picks...

-BIG D O





1. Jay-Z - The Blueprint - 2001

For once, listeners get exactly what they want: Jay-Z and nothing but Jay-Z, over beats so loaded with marvelously flipped samples the songs don't even need big vocal hooks. Besides, when you're already the top MC in the game, there's no need for crossover attempts...

-Allmusic.com

2. Nas - Stillmatic - 2001

5 Mics

-The Source Magazine

3. Ghostface - Supreme Clientele - 2000

This will go down as the last great Wu-Tang Clan album. "Stroke Of Death" is so gangster it makes you wanna stab your baby sister..

-Chris Rock

4. Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP - 2000

Disable your prejudgment button and you'll hear a work of art whose immense entertainment value in no way compromises its intimations of a pathology that's both personal and political, created by one of those charming rogues you encounter so much more often on the page--exceptionally witty and musical, discernibly thoughtful and good-hearted, indubitably dangerous and full of shit...

-Robert Christgau

5. Big Pun - Yeeeah Baby - 2000

A triumphant final effort for one of the Boogie Down Bronx's favorite super-lyrical sons....[It] showcases Pun's matured artistic vision and newly mastered flows but never ceases to move bodies and minds...

-Vibe Magazine

6. Reflection Eternal - Train Of Thought - 2000

a hyper-articulate MC with a revolutionary's mind and a sensitive poet's heart, but he's also a world-class battle MC, able to rip other MCs' rhymes apart in a quick second

-Dave Heaton of PopMatters

7. Dead Prez - Let's Get Free - 2000

...an unfashionably political album that screams for change and a return to Afro-centric values in rap....a refreshing change to the current glut of buddy-boy, backslapping rap records. 'Vive la revolution' - fight the power...

-NME Magazine

8. Common - Like Water For Chocolate - 2000

To me, a favorite album isn't necessarily the best album in the collection. A favorite album is the one that you wrap yourself in when you're feeling happy, sad, angry, lonely, or nostalgic. A favorite album is the one that you feel personally connected to in ways that are difficult to explain. For me, that album is Common's Like Water For Chocolate.

-Marc lamont Hill

9. Masta Ace - A Long Hot Summer - 2004

..A Long Hot Summer sizzles. Ace's observations and commentary on contemporary American urban life are not an immature glorification of drug dealing, prostitution, and murder. Ace is too old and too well traveled to simply celebrate the hood for its ills..

-Dustedmagazine.com

10. The Roots - Game Theory -2006

For every head-nodding beat (and ?uestlove brings plenty of 'em), Game Theory has a head-turning treat..

-Rollingstone