The Top 20 Hip-Hop Albums of 2000-2009: Part 2

As promised, here are the top 10 albums of the decade. Check it out, leave some feedback, and come back tomorrow for a special bonus installment.

10. J Dilla (Jay Dee) – Donuts
(Stones Throw, 2006)

While this album’s weight was increased by its release within days of its creator’s death, this instrumental collage would be a classic regardless of the circumstances.  One of the greats of all time, Dilla used chopped up samples and dusty drums to make beats that were sometimes delicate and beautiful and at others pounding, cold and mechanical.  Almost four years after his death, they continue to define the sound of Detroit’s underground scene.  This album, jumping from one brief moment of bliss to the next, was an appropriate final statement for such a unique talent.

9. The Game – The Documentary
(Aftermath, 2005)

The Game’s debut album revealed some of the qualities that would make him both a standout and one of the biggest oddballs in hip hop this decade.  On one hand, he is a gifted lyricist who stands up well to the large bill of marquee name rappers and producers on the album.  On the other, he name drops and fawns over so many other rappers that he is at times corny and strange.  Still, this album, made before his falling out with 50 Cent and Dr. Dre, was a superior effort.

8. T.I. – Trap Muzik
(Atlantic, 2003)

Proclaiming himself the king of the south, T.I. showed immense potential on his second album.  Hardcore but polished enough for crossover success, T.I. took the usual set of dope boy/rapper cliches and managed to turn out an original and engaging set of songs.  Paired with beats from David Banner, Jazze Pha, Kanye West and others, perhaps the best production he ever received on a whole album, this record set a standard T.I. has yet to improve on.

7. 50 Cent – Get Rich Or Die Tryin’
(Interscope, 2003)

6. Outkast – Stankonia
(La Face, 2000)

The follow-up to the masterpiece, Aquemini, this album did not disappoint.  With a playful, experimental spirit, this disc was, in retrospect, an interesting bridge between the former and 2003′s landmark Speakerboxx/The Love Below.  Big Boi and Dre took on such subjects as illegitimate pregnancy, American excess, suicide and drug use in a variety of ways that made this record constantly fresh and engaging.  Despite weighty subject matter on much of the album, they kept the overall tone light enough to be listenable, helped by inventive rhyming, diverse experimental production, and possibly the most clever set of skits on a rap album ever.  BREAK!

5. Clipse – Hell Hath No Fury
(Jive, 2006)

The long-delayed sophomore album from brother duo, Clipse, was nothing if not proof that there is room for originality in even the most well-trodden hip-hop subjects.  This cold, neurotic album was cocaine-obsessed, but even their boasting and talk of material wealth were tempered constantly by a sense of impending doom.  A stripped down and spaced out set of menacing tracks from The Neptunes was one of the most cohesive and impactful of the decade.  With equal parts of contrition, ambition, unapologetic malice (no pun intended) and paranoia, these skilled rappers made a complex and brilliant record.

4. Jay-Z – The Blueprint
(Roc-A-Fella, 2001)

If we had any doubts as to who was running this rap ish in 2001, the second track of this album cleared them up quickly.  Hov manhandled the microphone and did not let go the entire record.  Production led by Timbaland, Just Blaze and Kanye West (in the start of what would become his meteoric rise in hip-hop) offset the classic verses to make an album that showed Jay on top of all he surveyed.  Tracks like “Girls, Girls, Girls,” “H.O.V.A. (Izzo),” and “Heart Of The City” make this an enduring classic of early 2000′s rap.

3. Ghostface Killah – Supreme Clientele
(Sony, 2000)

In what would turn out to be the last classic Wu-Tang album, Ghostface proved once again that he could possibly be the most engaging storyteller in hip hop even if listeners didn’t know what the hell he was talking about half the time.  With the clan’s best ear for beats, Starks selected some gems from a group of RZA disciples and others.  A solid string of all-in-the-family guest appearances and intricate, if confusing, rhymes from Starks showed, one last time, what the Wu-Tang was capable of at their best.

2. Outkast – Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
(La Face, 2003)

While the scope of this album goes a bit beyond “hip-hop,” I remember what section of the record store this was in when I bought it.  Experimental albums are often positioned as ahead-of-their-time only to turn out to still suck years later, but this album truly did get better with age.  The split album concept confused fans when it came out, and even in 2009, many still haven’t fully processed what it meant creatively to the duo on this album or since.  Both albums were experimental in their own way, Big Boi with a unique synthesized funk that stayed firmly rooted in rap and 3000 assuming the persona of a more playful Prince.  Each showcased their talents brilliantly and together they helped pave the way for acceptance of experimentation in rap, R&B and funk in the latter part of the decade.

The Album of the Decade:

Kanye West – College Dropout
(Roc-A-Fella, 2004)