bigted

you're right how most of 2pac's stuff but i'd say the stuff released up until the end of the time holds weight against anything out at the time, now ice cube might not be as great as he used to be as an emcee but his recent albums are still better than what rappers like jay-z and kanye west are doing or ever did for that matter, btw i'm surprised how nobody here mentioned kel spencer's 2014 mixtape, "church" is one of the best songs of hip hop in recent years

glad you liked them aj, if you have any inspirational videos you wanna post, feel free to post them right here: here's our fresh prince right here dropping knowledge: http://youtu.be/NxC3tWoyArw

Thanks for posting those lists guys, some good album choices, it does show that there's still some good albums out there which was the point of me making this thread, I wanted to spark some discussion, I was surprised that you didn't mention 2Pac AJ, now I'm surprised that nobody yet mentioned Ice Cube's comeback album of 2006 "Laugh Now, Cry Later", that song "Why We Thugs" was him coming aggressively at a time much needed in hip hop: I liked his 2000 album "War & Peace Vol. 2: The Peace Album" featuring "Until We Rich" with Krayzie Bone:

i found a list of the top 50 albums of the 2000s, it had some good ones on there though that i didn't mention, and obviously with nas' stillmatic being the only 1 in my top 15 that actually made their top 50 it shows that my list is actually the most underrated hip hop of the 2000s, a lot of the great stuff has been slept on: http://passionweiss.com/2009/08/03/passion-of-the-weiss-top-50-rap-albums-of-the-00s-50-41

it'd be even harder to do a top 15 of the 90s 'cause there was so much quality, '93 alone has more classics than the last 15 years

dope, thanks tim!!

i want to keep this thread going with some inspirational videos from this ll cool j interview with oprah last year:

i feel what you're saying kev, i think ever since i started coming on this board i've been buying more hip hop albums from the 80s and 90s than i did post 2000, the quality of hip hop has gone down considerably but if you notice a trend, most of the best albums in hip hop were released by artists who released classics in the 80s and 90s, btw great list, let's keep em coming! i liked run dmc's crown royal too btw, i also liked rev. run and dmc solo albums too, thinkiing back now being that i live in new jersey i can't forget about naughty by nature, they released a couple great albums in the 2000s like "iicons" and "anthem inc" after their string of 90s classics, i also saw them live in seaside back in 2002 when i was a senior in high school and mtv came there..when it comes to the quality of music even the doctored 2Pac albums like "until the end of time" and "2pac ressurection soundtrack" are better than most of the garbage being put out by today's rappers...an underrated album that came out around the time most people in hip hop were hyped up about 50 cent and kanye west was chamillionaire's "ultimate victory", i thought it was refreshing that he released a profanity free album that was dope at that time when the commercial garbage was stacking up....

thank you for sharing aj, nice to see he's keeping his friend's memory alive

First off as I reflect over the years since the turn of the 21st century the quality of hip hop isn't the same but there's still been some classic albums believe it or not, here are my 15 favorites in no order, I have them on cassettes, CDs, my Windows Media, and of course my MP3 player: EDIT:I redid the list with only 1 album per artist: Will Smith "Willenium"(Late '99 so I consider it 2000) Busta Rhymes "The Big Bang"(2006) LL Cool J "G.O.A.T."(2000) Kel Spencer "Who Is Kel Spencer? Mixtape"(2006) Jay-Z "The Blueprint 2"(2002, I know most like Blueprint better but I play this one more, brings back memories of high school) KRS-ONE "Spiritual Minded"(2002) Pep Love "Ascension"(2001, that's right Tim I still got that CD you sent me back in the day and I've been hooked) The Roots "Things Fall Apart"('99/2000) Public Enemy "Revolvolution"(2002) Fat Joe "Jealous Ones Still Envy"(2001) Ja Rule "Pain Is Love"(2001) Nas "God's Son"(2002) DMX "The Great Depression"(2001) Wyclef Jean "The Masquerade"(2002) Game "The R.E.D. Album"(2011) Honorable Mentions: Will Smith "Lost & Found"(2005) LL Cool J "10"(2002) LL Cool J "Authentic"(2013) Kel Spencer "Who Is Kel Spencer? Mixtape"(2006) Jay-Z "The Blueprint 2"(2002, I know most like Blueprint better but I play this one more, brings back memories of high school) KRS-ONE "Kristyles"(2003) KRS-ONE/Marley Marl "Hip Hop Lives"(2007) Public Enemy "Most Of My Heroes Still Don't Appear On No Stamps"(2012) Fat Joe "Jealous Ones Still Envy"(2001) Ja Rule "Pain Is Love"(2001) Game "The Doctor's Advocate"(2006) DMX "Year Of The Dog Again..."(2006) LL Cool J/DJ Kay Slay "Return Of The G.O.A.T." Mixtape(2008) LL Cool J "Exit 13"(2008) DJ Jazzy Jeff "The Return Of The Magnificent"(2007) DJ Jazzy Jeff/Mick Boogie "Summertime Mixtapes"(2010-2014) DJ Kay Slay "Streetsweeper Vol. 1"(2003) DJ Kay Slay "Streetsweeper Vol. 2"(2004) DJ Clue "The Professional Pt. 2"(2001) Funkmaster Flex "60 Minutes Of Funk Vol. IV"(2000) Common "Like Water For Chocolate"(2000) Common "The Dreamer, The Believer"(2011) Eminem "The Eminem Show"(2002) Eminem "8 Mile Soundtrack"(2002) Eminem "Recovery"(2010) 50 Cent "Get Rich Or Die Tryin'"(2003) Foxy Brown "Broken Silence"(2001) Eve "Eve-o-lution"(2002) Guilty Pleasures(albums that only I think are classic, lol): Will Smith "Born To Reign"(2002) 50 Cent "The Massacre"(2005) Nelly "Nellyville"(2002) Lil Kim "Notorious K.I.M."(2000) Diddy "Press Play"(2005) LL Cool J "Todd Smith"(2006) Jay-Z "Kingdom Come"(2006) I miss having the thorough music discussions on the board, sure facebook and twitter are good time occupiers but there's nothing like coming on here having music discussions with the real heads so feedback would be appreciated, try to come up with ur own list too if possible...

Nothing but real talk, thanks for sharing AJ, dmc is a real man that keeps it real

great find tim, i just downloaded it!!

I just found this inciteful interview tonight: http://www.myfoxny.com/story/26177692/ll-cool-j-stays-true-to-hip-hop-roots

Busta Rhymes Feat. jadakiss & lil wayne "respect my conglomerate"

well if it wasn't for the goat album i don't think i'd been rapping today still, that album changed my life, it actually got me more serious on my emceeing back when i was a sophmore in high school in september 2000! now my favorite work from him since then has actually been believe it or not the return of the goat mixtape back when he turned 40 years old, he was freestyling on there with the hunger of a teenager which i felt was quite inspiring! now as far as his albums in the last 10+ years, my favorite has actually been "10" which i thought was dissapointing following the goat but the more i've listened to it over the years i realised that it was a well balanced album with "big momma" being the deepest song of his career where he dedicated it to his grandmother who was quite an inspiration to him..."exit 13" might've been a few songs too long but i thought it was one of the dopest of hip hop in the 2000s, especially "rocking with the goat"

i felt so moved by chuck d's lyrical fire that i recorded a song tonight called "Flawless Rhythm" as a birthday tribute to him and professor griff of public enemy! http://yourlisten.com/gracia.miller/gm3485-flawless-rhythm

this song gives me CHILLS, very moving tack by Mistachuck feat Mavis Staples of the Staples sisters:

tomorrow's also chuck d's 54th birthday as well, interesting he chose tomorrow to put out the album, he's like the robert parish of hip hop, i saw the lyrics to the one song where he addresses the hot 97 situation, that hunger's there in what he does best, the longevity's flawless!!

this is his 15th album coming up and is coming off a classic authentic album and an underrappreciated exit 13 before that, a hit tv show ncis:los angeles, numerous grammy awards hosting duties, and he looks like he hasn't aged in about 10 years, i respect your opinion jim but i know even if you don't like this music he does it's all good 'cause you could always play his other classics ..now i appreciate LL's full body of work but i know it's preference to like some of it, personally i don't think he'll be able to top his 80s and 90s classics but at this point he don't have to he's just having fun, he's in it for the love like he says, and that's why all the classic hip hop artists are in the game still, chuck d is about to drop a new album on his 54th birthday tomorrow, today's rappers can't match these legends hunger, i say my prayers that LL'll give a call to get JJFP collaboration or they do some shows on a kings of the mic tour again...

http://www.punknews.org/article/55541/chuck-d-announces-solo-album

I'm so excited, "GOAT" is one of the greatest CDs ever made and I'm confidant this will be too if he comes with the same hunger as "Authentic"! http://hiphopnews24-7.com/page/ll-cool-j-goat-2

i'm feeling that joint, i've been checking some of LL's posts on twitter and he mentions something about GOAT 2, is that a new album he's working on??!!

heavy d big daddy 1997

he texted me about this video, loving it!

i'm listening to the new common album tonight, he's bringing it as usual! http://youtu.be/e8niwr5kcPE