People always ask “Justin, you like hip-hop right?" Which is usually followed by, "Well can you recommend the top 15 hip-hop albums you must listen to before you die?" So, here it goes:

15. GZA - Liquid Swords

As a kid from the Bronx of New York, Hip-Hop was birthed in my borough. So there will be a lot of NY based artists on this list and I must kick it off with a member of the Wu-Tang Clan. Now when people hear Wu-Tang, they think of Method Man, RZA, Ghostface, even Raekwon gets a shout out every once in a while, but GZA gets almost no recognition despite having (in my opinion) the best solo album out of all the members in Wu-tang.

14. Dr. Dre - The Chronic

Now, I was always into producing and loved the art of picking the perfect sample and Dr Dre just knew how to blend certain sounds and make it flow. You can see his talent in songs like “Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang” and “Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat.” This was the album that put west coast music on my map. It is an album you sit and let play in the car during a cruise or when you have a nice little kick back at your house.

13. Ol’ Dirty Bastard - Return To The 36 Chambers

ODB, possibly one of the most eccentric artists to bless a microphone, had the most eccentric album and it pretty much matched his style. The beautiful thing about Wu-Tang is that you can never tell which of the projects were main projects and side gigs because all members would just collaborate music on all of their projects. ODB was so grandiose with his demeanor, a little inflated almost; leaving this frightened, yet hysterical feeling in your head after listening to this tape.

12. Mos Def - Black on Both Sides

Simple cover art, complex lyrics, and a wonderful production of beats equals what this album was for hip-hop in 1999. This album just speaks to me in volumes and many more albums further on the list do the same. This album just fills me with joy, and songs like “Miss Fat Booty” and “Mathematics” showed how versatile his flows can change. His talent was displayed well on this tape. Definitely a must listen for hip-hop.

11. Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - Mecca and the Soul Brother

80 minutes of non-superfluous music. A little long on the spectrum of “one-sitting” listening but completely worthy of the time it takes to listen to the tape. I mean we have tracks like “They Reminisce Over You” (T.R.O.Y., which was the name of a life long friend they had lost) and “Wig Out” that just bleeds hip hop and is something that get you smiling and jiving or just nodding your head to it.

10. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

My literal favorite album of all time. This album is just a beauty from beginning to end. The “Runaway” short film that Yeezy released with the album only enhanced my experience to listening to the album. Every sample, every feature, every beat drop and even him fornicating with a damn unicorn for the album cover, was perfectly composed. One of my favorite projects to listen to during anything.

9. Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly

Kendrick’s first Grammy award winning album has so much funk to offer for the era it came out in, it brings that sense of K Dot’s uniqueness that we should have seen coming. Having 11 Grammy nominations for one album, coming close to the King Michael Jackson's record 12 is incredible. Seeing one album that has such an impact on the industry that much is a project worth giving a solid ear.

8. Kanye West - The College Dropout

Quite possibly the REALEST project Kanye has ever done. Simple, point blank, no arguing. This album is speaks to me in volumes, listening to him tell his story, his strife, his accomplishments, he knew he was going to be one of the best before he even blew up. This tape brings us back to the roots of hip-hop with how he tells stories in songs like “All Falls Down” and “Family Business.

7. Eminem - The Marhsall Mathers LP

The most unique album of its time and quite possibly is still the best work Eminem has ever put out. Em set the standard for other contemporary rappers and you can tell that his demeanor and songs like “Stan” and “Kim” are one of a kind and only show the creative genius that goes on through the mind of Eminem. This was back in May of 2000, by the way. Just made the millennium.

6. Big Punisher - Capital Punisher

Big Punisher is the most underrated rapper in the game. Only being able to release Capital Punishment, before dealing with health issues, makes this project the only work we have to enjoy the lyricism of this man coming from right around the corner of my mother’s neighborhood growing up. Big Punisher showed his talent on the song “Twinz (Deep Cover 98)” with one of the best bars in Hip-Hop: "Everybody kiss the fucking floor! Joey Crack, buck 'em all!
If they move – Noodles, shoot that fucking whore! Dead in the middle of Little Italy, little did we know that we riddled two middlemen who didn't do diddily."

5. Common - Be

In my opinion, this is Common’s best album and speaks to me the most. It has melodic rhythm and wonderful lyrics that speak to the soul with songs like “Be,” “Go,” “The Food,” and “Faithful” that all encompass hip-hop down to the bone. One of the best projects to release during the weird “psych-hop electric garbage” era of hip hop back in 2003.

4. Madvillain - Madvillainny

Possibly the best underground album of all time, having the lyrical maestro MF Doom and maestro producer Madlib collaborated to create this masterpiece of a project and to this day, I listen to a song from it everyday without a failure. Only because this whole tape just flows to lovely, all the samples fit MF Doom’s character well. Reminds me of songs from “Mm...Food” and “Doomsday.” Jam packed with songs and instrumentals by the two give this album a definite chill vibes mood while listening.

3) A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory

Tribe’s sophomore album that released in 1991 is one of the groups nicest works. They only have three albums and all of them are worth a listen, but this album had such a progressive sound to it; they tried to add this sense of street knowledge and straight edge to the feeling of the music. This project was produced to help spread a message of positivity and lyricism over violence and tried to influence a progression of lyrics again and brought a powerful message to the game.

2. The Notorious B.I.G. - Ready To Die

“Ready To Die” was the only album released during B.I.G.s lifetime and was a work of art because P. Diddy had been fired from Uptown Records during the recording of this album and needed to stop recording. After B.I.G. resumed production with Bad Boy records, he was album to record the other half of the album by free styling off of memory! B.I.G. is the most influential rapper to ever bless the mic and many others than advocate for that.

1. N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton

This album was not the first gangsta-rap album and it definitely wasn't the first to be so vulgar, but they were revolutionary to the game for two reasons. Dr. Dre and Yella took the sound of Public Enemy and took all the history to the anger out but keep the anger, and second, they sampled Martha Reeves, Charles Wright and Marvin Gaye to lay gruesome narratives and made it sound quite amazing. It was perverse, horrifying, and quite possibly the number one album you must listen to before you die. So when you give this album a listen, don't forget to “Express Yourself.”