The 10 best rap albums of all time

Hip-hop moves at such a break-neck pace that it can be tricky to reminisce on some of the genre’s greatest moments.

Between increasingly intense feuds between musicians and the growing canon of diss tracks, there remains a few rap albums that transcend the genre’s messier moments and stand as true exemplars of artistic craft. 

So, from the classics of the 1980s to more recent runaway hits, here’s our collection of the ten best rap albums of all time.

Kanye West — My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)

Though his life outside of the studio has in recent years outshone his work, there was a time when Kanye West possessed a less controversial vision of his artistry. In 2010, he released what is arguably his best album to date with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, a project that boasts lavish production and incisive lyrics about the highs and lows of his newly ascending fame.

While they are bound by a darker edge, no two songs are the same, with a resulting tracklist that rewrites the hip-hop rulebook and features the likes of Jay-Z, RZA, Rick Ross, Rihanna, and Nicki Minaj for extra measure.     

Cardi B — Invasion of Privacy (2018)

A punchy and often hilarious introduction to one of the rap game’s new icons, Invasion of Privacy is Cardi B at her most braggadocious. In what’s now commonplace for the stripper-turned-Grammy-winner, the album is carried by razor-sharp barbs and witty turns of phrase, and dips into pop music with enduring hits like “I Like It.”

Elsewhere, she displays a more vulnerable side and flexes her vocal chops with songs like “Be Careful”. Invasion of Privacy more than readies fans for Cardi’s long-awaited (and extremely delayed) sophomore album. 

Drake — Take Care (2011)

When Drake dropped his sophomore album Take Care in 2011, he birthed what has since become a new archetype of the genre; the soft boy. The Canadian rapper has never been more in his feelings than on this 19-track odyssey, reflecting candidly on his former romances and rise to fame alongside dance-ready beats that remains a constant in his sound.

It’s the project that catapulted Drake to the industry’s upper echelons, where he very much still remains, with the assist of featured artists like Rihanna, pre-fame The Weeknd and Kendrick Lamar, Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, and Andre 3000. 

Kendrick Lamar — To Pimp A Butterfly (2015)

You can’t really mention Drake without also mentioning his one-time friend and current nemesis, Kendrick Lamar. While Lamar would go on to win a Pulitzer Prize for DAMN in 2018 — becoming the first rapper to do so — it was his third studio album To Pimp A Butterfly that outlined that history-making trajectory.

Spanning the sounds of funk, jazz, and soul, the transcendent album sees Lamar chart his own life experience while hitting politically charged themes of race and injustice, ushering in the masterful lyricist that we now know today. It’s a modern epic in every sense of the word, and one helped along by Lamar’s distinct knack for character creation and world-building.    

Lauryn Hill — The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998)

With The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, the namesake rapper rightfully placed atop Apple Music’s 100 best albums of all time list, beating out the likes of Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and The Beatles. It was a deserved win for Hill, since the debut album affirmed her solo star power beyond The Fugees and showcased her bonafide rapping prowess.

The album is often credited with creating neo-soul, and sees Hill slip in and out of rapid-fire bars with finesse. It became the first rap or hip-hop album to win the Album of the Year award at the Grammys, and saw Hill become the first woman to take home five trophies in one ceremony. If you haven’t yet been educated, do yourself a favour.     

Jay-Z — The Blueprint (2001)

Taking the title more as an instruction, Jay-Z rewrote the rules with 2001’s The Blueprint. It arrived at a time when Jay-Z was one of the most dissed rappers in the game, and saw him push back through the sheer excellence of his lyrics and delivery. The album — Jay-Z’s sixth overall — revived hip-hop’s sample culture, which is still felt today, and saw the rapper bask in his own bravado in a way that felt utterly infectious.  

The Notorious B.I.G. — Ready to Die (1994)

The Notorious B.I.G. pulled back the curtain on his life with Ready to Die, a project that muses on the pros and cons of a life of crime and hip-hop. There’s the familiar braggadocio of still-iconic singles like “Juicy” and “Big Poppa”, but the remaining tracklist unearths a softer side to one of rap’s most prominent figures. B.I.G. showcases his knack for emotive storytelling on standouts like “Everyday Struggle” and “Suicidal Thoughts”, contributing to a project that more than justifies his status as one of the greatest rappers of all time.     

N.W.A. — Straight Outta Compton (1988)

Though it’s been well over two decades since its release, N.W.A.’s debut album Straight Outta Compton is influential to this day. Not only did it spawn a still-eminent protest song — with “Fuck Tha Police” taking aim at police brutality in Los Angeles — but it also ushered in a new style of hip-hop as a trailblazing gangster rap album, and introduced now-prolific figures in the form of group members Eazy-E, Ice Cube and Dr Dre. It’s no wonder this album has maintained its place in rap canon. 

Outkast — Stankonia (2000)

Responsible for making Outkast a household name and putting the South Coast rap scene on the map, Stankonia brims with lush and funky uptempo beats and hilarious barbs. How can you look past the Grammy-winning hit “Ms. Jackson”?, which sees Andre 3000 — who forms one half of Outkast alongside Big Boi — apologize to the mother of his former girlfriend.    

Nicki Minaj — Pink Friday (2010)

Introducing us to the undeniable force of her charisma, Nicki Minaj’s debut album Pink Friday is an exercise in sheer wackiness. The tracklist sees her inhabit many of her personas, including Barbie and Roman Zolanski, and at one point take on Eminem (and arguably win) with the standout “Roman’s Revenge”. Pink Friday is perhaps the closest foray into pop on this list, and its kaleidoscopic beats and features by the likes of Drake and Kanye West solidify it as a rap album to remember. 

---