The 4th Best Hip-Hop Album EVER MADE

In our last installment, Ethan paid tribute to OutKast's out-of-this-world third album while Scott sang the praises of 50 Cent's commercial rap masterpiece. Here, we each share our picks for the 4th best hip-hop album ever made.



Ethan's #4 Pick: Eminem - The Eminem Show (2002)

In 1999, Eminem exploded onto the rap scene with The Slim Shady LP, and showed the world that at least one white boy could really rap his ass off. When he dropped The Marshall Mathers LP a little over a year later, he proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he could spit the craziest, most depraved lyrics that he could think of and make you love it. By his third go-round, though, it seemed Em was growing tired of gimmicky raps (as were we all), and instead delivered The Eminem Show. This is Eminem’s most substantive album, on which he addresses a variety of personal and social issues in his rhymes, finds a unique sound as a producer, and makes it clear once again that he can really rap his ass off. “You are ‘bout to witness hip-hop in its most purest/most rawest form, flow almost flawless.”

The album opens up with “White America”, immediately establishing the intense and reflective style of the album. The song is a probing examination of the effects of race in Em’s career as well as in music and society in general. “Surely hip-hop was never a problem in Harlem, only in Boston/after it bothered the fathers of daughters starting to blossom”. From there, Eminem touches on everything from the highly publicized troubles in his personal life (“Cleanin’ Out My Closet”, “Soldier”, “Say Goodbye to Hollywood”) to the current state of music and his place in it (“Business”, “Without Me”, “Sing For The Moment”). He goes from dropping knowledge on politics (“Square Dance”) to dropping bombs on lesser rappers (“Say What You Say”). He shows love for his daughter (“Hailie’s Song”) but shows none for the hoes (“Superman”).

Though the songs’ subject matter varies widely from song to song, the album still feels cohesive as a whole, thanks to Eminem’s distinctive production style. Em had produced and co-produced songs before, but on this album he stepped out on his own in a big way, producing 15 of the albums 20 tracks. His beats are melodic, synth-heavy, and commanding, and range from the hard as hell (“'Till I Collapse”) to the almost laughably soft (“Hailie’s Song”). While he is by no means the best producer ever, Em makes respectable beats that complement his rhymes brilliantly. On this album, Eminem’s lyrics flow (almost literally) so well over the songs because the instrumentals were handcrafted specifically for him to do just that.

Eminem is arguably the best lyricist in hip-hop and on this album he is at his pinnacle. Some rappers are great at multi-syllabic rhyming and wordplay. Others have clever metaphors or humorous punch lines. Others, still, have the ability to convey passion and emotion through their words to the point that the listener is actually able to experience the same feelings. Not only does Em do all of the above, but he does it all at once, and he does it better than anyone else. This impressive ability is exemplified perfectly in the third verse of “My Dad’s Gone Crazy”. “More pain inside of my brain, than the eyes of a little girl/inside of a plane aimed at the World Trade/standin' on Ronnie's grave, Screaming at the sky/ till clouds gather it’s Clyde Mathers and Bonnie Jade.” His choice of every word seems so careful and meticulous, yet the final product always come off as natural and effortless.

The Eminem Show was a pretty bold undertaking, considering that with it, Eminem was largely abandoning his tried-and-true formula of comical and shocking lyrics and beats from one of the game’s all-time greats. With great risk comes great reward, though, because the final product is Eminem’s greatest work to date and a modern day hip-hop classic. The album cemented him in the game as both a rapper and producer, added another gem to his stellar discography, and reminded us to appreciate good things while they last, because this punchbowl would have a turd in it soon enough.

Scott's #4 Pick: OutKast - ATLiens (1996)

It would be easy to categorize OutKast's sophomore album as their first step towards the increasingly unique and innovative music that the Atlanta duo would make on subsequent albums. And while the music on 1996's ATLiens is certainly a diversion from their funk-soaked and pimptastic debut, the album title and few songs loosely based on aliens and space give the impression that it is a diversion towards an otherworldly sound.  However, the album is firmly grounded on planet earth.  Several factors, including poignant, straight-forward emceeing and production that often points more towards New York than Saturn, reveal the true premise of the album - ATLiens is OutKast's ode to hip-hop.

ATLiens finds the the duo uncharacteristically concerned with the idea of rapping and the hip-hop industry throughout.  This is apparent from the outset, where album-opener "Two Dope Boyz (In A Cadillac)" finds Big Boi insisting that he "freestyles every now and then" and is "sick of these whack ass rappers", before Andre begins his verse with "Some sucker emcee stepped up to me, challenged Andre to a battle and I stood there patiently as he spit and stumbled over cliches".  This topic is further explored throughout the album, where Andre later relates that he "lives by the beat like you live check to check" on the sparse single "Elevators (Me & You)" and "Everybody wanna get signed, but record companies act like pimps" on "Ova Da Wudz".  The culmination of these observations can be found on the excellent final track "13th Floor / Growing Old", which is partially a criticism of commercial rap.  Though it is interesting just to hear the duo actually discuss rap and the industry, it is frankly an overused topic that usually sounds trite in the hands of most rappers.  However, OutKast's ability to weave it inside larger stories and messages gives it a unique twist and substance that lasts beyond the initial novelty of hearing them speak on something that they typically don't.

ATLiens represents OutKast's first attempt at production, with the duo producing five tracks.  Three of their beats, specifically "ATLiens", "E.T. (Extraterrestrial)" and the aforementioned "Elevators", actually attempt to capture a sound  somewhat fitting of the apparent outer-space theme.  However, the bulk of the production is handled by their longtime collaborators Organized Noize.  The production trio create a sound distant from both OutKast's attempt at making space sounds as well as from their own typical smoothed-out grooves, as hard-hitting drums and samples serve as the base for most of their beats on ATLiens.  Though their production still is clearly Organized Noize, the beats draw upon at least a discernible influence from east coast production.  For example, the sped up vocal and guitar-loop found on "Wailin'" would not sound out of place on a Wu-Tang album, the cuts on the chorus of "13th Floor / Growing Old" and "Wheelz of Steel" are reminiscent of DJ Premier, and drums on nearly every one of their beats would make Pete Rock proud.  It is these sprinkles of tradition in the production that mesh with OutKast's observations about rap to create an album that is seemingly familiar and aligned with many rap albums before it.

However, what makes this album perfect is that it reuses so many ideas yet sounds like nothing else.  For every line about the music industry, there is a introspective line about southern life.  For every turn-table scratch, there is a chorus with a country drawl.  OutKast has always had the incredible ability to evolve while still maintaining a signature sound.  And as their later albums proved, it is certainly easy to maintain an identity in innovative music, because no one has done it or heard it before.  However, ATLiens represents an even bigger accomplishment - making things that people have heard before undeniably OutKast, to the point that people still think the album is about aliens.  Now that is hip-hop.