MC WhiteOwl's Top 50 Hip-Hop Albums of All Time
Hip-Hop and the Top 50 Albums of All Time - According to MC WhiteOwl
In everyone's life there comes a time when they become aware that something very near and dear to them has changed.
They become aware of a certain shift.
For me, this shift involved Hip-Hop.
I was born in the Bronx, on July 9, 1976.
I was raised in the suburbs of Westchester, NY. Greenburgh, NY to be exact.
Like so many kids that were raised in NY, I found Hip-Hop on the radio in the early 80's.
From 1983 to 1994, I consumed as much Hip-Hop as I could.
It helped explain the current events of my generation.
It helped dictate the proper social behavior for a kid in New York.
It was encoded in a way that it spoke directly to me, and it flew above the radar of the adults that I wanted to so desperately avoid.
Hip-Hop was positive, uplifting, loving, forgiving and spiritual.
Hip-Hop was anti-drug and anti-guns.
Even though I was from the "suburbs," I went to a high-school where violence and drug dealing was part of everyday life, and Hip-Hop music made it acceptable to want to stay far away from the bullshit.
Hip-Hop united my school and my neighborhood.
Hip-Hop was there for me when the teachers and schools failed!
The people that created it were geniuses.
They were men and women that were role models.
They spoke their minds, told the truth and let you in on secrets.
My parents were hippies from the late 60's and early 70's, and a lot of the beliefs that they taught me, that society deemed as weird, were being reinforced again, through positive rap music.
1. Don't believe everything you read.
3. Stand up for yourself.
4. Take a look at America and what's really going on.
The MC's and DJ's of my day spoke of peace and of "Stopping The Violence."
KRS-1 and B.D.P., Chuck D. and Public Enemy, 3 x Dope, De La Soul and Brand Nubian were my teachers.
They were larger than life and they were my heroes.
Hip-Hop was 100% original and unmolested.
If you created Hip-Hop you were encouraged to find your own voice and never duplicate another's style.
If you weren't from NY you couldn't understand it, and we loved it that way.
This was not the truth, but to me it sure felt that way.
Then, around 1994, everything changed.
All of a sudden violence was the norm.
Drug dealing went from being frowned upon to being portrayed in a heroic light.
Personally I felt confused and abandoned. What the fuck happened?
How could 2 Coasts beef about an art form that was created in the Bronx and represented so many cultures in such a beautiful way?
I went off to college in Upstate NY, to SUNY Binghamton, and I realized that with mainstream success, Hip-Hop had also graduated to a new level.
Hip-Hop was my dear old friend, and this friend had achieved a fame that I could never fathom.
Many of the MC's and DJ's that I grew up loving seemed lost and they changed their styles and lyrical content to fit in. It didn't work.
Time slipped by and I returned to New York City in 1998.
I had never stopped DJ'ing and rhyming, and now I got to test my skills against my peers.
I found DJ jobs in clubs and bars and I made a name for myself playing old school Hip-Hop and Reggae. I spit at every event that I could.
I spit well and I became addicted to rhyming and DJ'ing for crowds.
I loved Hip-Hop music so much that I vowed to continue making it for my own personal sanity.
In that way I owe this music something that I find very hard to express in words.
Rap Music and Hip-Hop culture has always been there for me in one form or another, and I only make Hip-Hop music now to share the knowledge, wisdom and understanding that it helped me to gain.
I thank God for this culture every day.
So, this is a list of my top 50 Albums.
They are written only in order of year released.
If you haven't heard these albums you need to!
All created between 1984 and 1995.
I will forever be able to return there in my mind.
I've said it before and I'll say it again and again.
Dear Hip-Hop, I love you forever.
Thank you for the lessons you taught me and for all of the memories.
The Fat Boys - Fat Boys - 1984
Run- D.M.C. - Run D.M.C. - 1984
Beastie Boys – Licensed To Ill - 1986
Run-D.M.C. - Raising Hell - 1986
Eric B. and Rakim - Paid In Full - 1987
BDP - Criminal Minded - 1987
Biz Markie - Goin Off - 1987
Public Enemy - Yo! Bum Rush The Show - 1987
Biz Markie - The Biz Never Sleeps - 1988
BDP - By All Means Necessary - 1988
Big Daddy Kane - Long Live The Kane - 1988
EPMD - Strictly Business - 1988
NWA - Straight Outta Compton - 1988
Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back -1988
Slick Rick - The Great Adventures of Slick Rick - 1988
Three Times Dope - Original Stylin' - 1988
Eric B. and Rakim - Follow The leader – 1988
3rd Bass – The Cactus Album - 1989
MC Lyte - Eyes on This - 1989
Gang Starr - No More Mr. Nice Guy - 1989
Kool G. Rap & DJ Polo - Road To The Riches - 1989
Nice and Smooth - Nice and Smooth - 1989
De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising - 1989
A Tribe Called Quest - People's Instinctive Travels and The Paths of Rhythm - 1990
Masta Ace - Take A Look Around - 1990
Digital Underground - Sex Packets - 1990
Brand Nubian - One For All – 1990
Lord Finesse – Funky Technician - 1990
Cypress Hill - Cypress Hill - 1991
Gang Starr - Step In The Arena - 1991
De La Soul - De La Soul Is Dead - 1991
A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory - 1991
Black Sheep - A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing - 1991
Leaders of The New School - A Future Without A Past - 1991
Pete Rock and CL Smooth - All Souled Out - 1991
Redman - Whut? Thee Album - 1992
Showbiz and A.G. - Runaway Slave - 1992
Diamond D. - Stunts, Blunts and Hip-Hop – 1992
The Pharcyde – Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde - 1992
Black Moon - Enta Da Stage – 1993
Brand Nubian – In God We Trust - 1993
Wu Tang Clan - Enter The Wu-Tang ( 36 Chambers ) - 1993
A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders - 1993
The Notorious BIG - Ready To Die - 1994
Jeru The Damaja - The Sun Rises In The East - 1994
Big L - Lifestylz of Da Poor and Dangerous - 1995
Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx - 1995
The Gza - Liquid Swords - 1995
