My Top 50 Albums/Mixtapes
Number 3
Illmatic by Nas
I didn’t know it at the time, but this was the first Nas album that I ever heard. I keep tellin you, my big sister knows her shit! And it all rubbed off on me. So of course I heard this album, but when I finally listened..my mind was blown. Stillmatic was the first one I really listened to, then I went back to this album and gave it a better listen. The way my ear took music in was changed forever. Honestly, it’s really hard for me to describe how much I love this album. I feel real EAST COAST when I hear this album, “N.Y. State of Mind” especially!! I feel like walking around with a big puffy jacket, tims, baggy ass jeans, with a beanie halfway on, my crew would be behind me smokin’ a blunt, and I’d be in the front with the meanest look on my face!! If music doesn’t let you paint a picture like that..you should listen to a different genre lol anyways, “NY State of Mind”, “One Love”, and “Represent” are my favorites from ILLMATIC!
Number 2
The College Dropout by Kanye West
If you’ve been following this countdown and been wondering when this was gonna come up, here it is!! (kinda makes you think what #1 is gonna be huh) Whats funny about this album is at first I didn’t like it. Well not so much not liking it, but I never gave it a chance. I was whatever about Kanye West. His Through The Wire video was tight but I was still like whatever. But one day my cousin was listening to it and Last Call came on. You know at the end how he tells that story about getting evicted and moving, and all of the drama that lead up to getting signed. I really admired that. So at first I was drawn in by his determination, then came his music. From that day I was a fan. I think it’s funny how I used to dismiss this album whenever my cousin would put it on. He loved this shit lol and now it’s number 2 on my top 50 favorite albums/mixtapes! Ay the skits on this were too hilarious!! It’s hard for me to pick favorites on this album but if I had to..”All Falls Down”, “Two Words”, “Get em High”, and “School Spirit”
My Top 50 Albums/Mixtapes
Number 6
Resurrection by Common (Sense)
Back when he was Common Sense y’all! I didn’t really get to listen to this whole album until high school maybe. At the time I only heard “Electric Circus” I liked it, but when I heard this, I liked this one a lot more! And it was solely the sound of his voice and his lyrics. No I.D did his thing on the production, but I’m in it for the lyrics. “Ressurection”, “I Used to Love H.E.R”, and “Watermelon” are my favorites
Number 5
Stillmatic by Nas
I was so into east coast rap! When I was younger I wasn’t aware of choosing sides. East vs West only made sense in gang shit to me, not music. But what did make sense to me was Nas RIPPIN the shit out of Jay-Z on this album! “Ether” and “Got Yourself A…” Woo!! Lol other than that this is why I liked this album so much: I was very much into creative writing when I was younger. Writing poetry and short stories was what I like more than anything. Listening to nas in middle school amplified everything about my work. Nas was like the fuel to my creativity. I love how he can tell a story in one song, and back then storytelling was what I was about. Out of class my friends and I would rap out our favorite verses. Some dude loved Jay-Z, I hit em with Ether word for word!! He didn’t know any of Jay-Z’s disses, so he couldn’t say anything back. I followed him around in the quad in his ear “FUCK JAY Z!!” Ahahaaa but yea “Ether”, “One Mic”, and “2nd Childhood” are my favorites from this album.
Number 4
Finding Forever by Common
Again, here’s a beautiful cover. I turned to Nas for poetry and storytelling, but I turned to Common for heartfelt poetry. He speaks so clearly in all of his songs it’s easier to take in what he is saying. Even in “Southside” with Kanye, that hard ass beat, Common still delivers. You can bob your head without the beat!! That song with Lily Allen kinda threw me for a loop, but so did “So Far to Go” with D’Angelo. I liked that he reached out to artists on the other side of the spectrum so to speak. Common is like the last of the best hip hop translators. What I mean is, he’s still true. He’s evolved a lot but when you listen, Common hasn’t strayed from hip hop and that’s why I love his music. “Break My Heart”, “The Game” (perfect example of my last statement) “Misunderstood”, and “I Want You” are my favorites.
My Top 50 Albums/Mixtapes
Number 9
The Miseducaion of Lauryn Hill by Lauren Hill
First off can I say, this cover is beautiful. Love the concept. But anways I’ll be honest, I’ve heard this album before, but it wasn’t til a little bit before I started this countdown that I actually listened to this album. I think this one made me want to do a countdown. I listened to this album all day, and paid attention to her lyrics. This is definitely a different L Boogie that was in The Fugees..but I’m okay with that. She really opens up, and shows..rather tells everyone how vulnerable she is. I see that as confidence. One thing that I really liked about the album was the production for “Superstar”. I had never heard anything like that. It’s so different. I don’t know the names of sounds, but I know that the sounds used for that song are complete opposites by themselves, yet they blend so well together. It’s hard to pick my favorite songs but I’d say “Ex-Factor”, “Nothing Even Matters”, “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You”, and “When It Hurts So Bad”
Number 8
God’s Son by Nas
BRAAAAAAVE HEEEEAAAARTS!! BRAAAAAAVE HEEEEAAAARTS!! BRAAAAAAVE HEEEEAAAARTS!! BRAAAAAAVE HEEEEAAAARTS!! Fukkin love NAS!! Can I take you down memory lane just for a second? Okay, so if you’ve been following this countdown you would have seen that Dj Quik was on here, and I said my best memory of his music was riding around Compton with my older sister. That was in the day time or on the way to a BBQ or something, but on the way back we listened to Mr. Nasir Jones. When I first heard Nas, I think I changed. Before then, I would only take music for what it was. There was no dissecting lyrics, no listening to an album without skipping to the next song. As bad as this sounds, music was just music. But when I heard the way that Nas rapped I started to listen, and payed attention to everything. This album was great!! I miss these days, when Nas and Jay-Z were goin at it. Bring that shit back!! I can listen to this all day, especially “Last Real Nigga Alive”, “Hey Nas”, “Get Down”, and “Thugz Mansion”.
Number 7
Tical 0 : The Prequel
If you know me well, you know that Wu-Tang was my shit, but Method Man is the shit!! A lot of people was talkin shit on this album. FUCK EM! This album was so sick to me! This is classic METH MAN! How can you talk shit!!? Anyways, I forgot what grade I was in, but I walked to target to get this CD. I spent my last $20 on this and an Arizona from the liquor store on the way home. My older cousin was so appaled when he saw me come in with it. He was like “aghh cuhh!! You bouta listen to that right now? Put it on the stereo cuhh!!” At that time we all had CD players because we didn’t always agree on music. Method Man and Nas were the only exceptions. My favorite songs from this album are “The Prequel”, “Motto”, “Who Yall Rollin Wit”.
