Hip Hop fans are famous for their dogmatic views on the best albums of all time. Some just can’t be disputed — Nas’ Illmatic, Dr. Dre’s The Chronic, Public Enemy’s It Takes A Nation of Millions … To Hold Us Back and 2Pac’s All Eyez On Me are generally agreed upon by Hip Hop purists as G.O.A.T. albums.
So when Rolling Stone released its list of the 200 Greatest Hip Hop Albums on Tuesday (June 7), the Twitter timeline erupted with opinions. One particular fan pointed out the iconic music magazine placed Cardi B’s 2018 debut Invasion of Privacy at No. 16 ahead of multiple classic albums — and clearly wasn’t impressed.
“Rolling Stone just ranked ‘Invasion of Privacy’ as the 16th best Hip Hop album of all time and placed it above all of these classics: [Nas] Illmatic, [Outkast] Aquemini, [MF DOOM & Madlib] Madvillainy, [Dr. Dre] The Chronic, [Lil Wayne] The Carter III, [2Pac] All Eyez On Me, [JAY-Z] Reasonable Doubt, [Kendrick Lamar] good kid, m.A.A.d city and [Eminem] The Marshall Mathers LP. Wtf man.”
Of course, there were 15 albums that ranked higher than Invasion Of Privacy, including Eric B. & Rakim’s 1988 masterpiece Paid In Full, Ghostface Killah’s 2000 solo album Supreme Clientele, Dr. Dre’s 2001, Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, A Tribe Called Quest’s A Low End Theory and JAY-Z’s The Blueprint. Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly, Public Enemy’s It Takes A Nation, JAY-Z’s The Blueprint, Outkast’s Stankonia and The Notorious B.I.G.’s inaugural Ready To Die album rounded out the Top 5.
While all good choices, some simply couldn’t overlook the perceived Cardi B oversight. “Rolling Stone says that invasion of privacy by cardi b is the 16th greatest hip hop album of all time… this is actually insane man LMAO,” one person wrote, while another said, “Ain’t no way rolling stone just called Invasion of Privacy by Cardi B a Top 16 hip hop album of ALL TIME. Disrespectful to everything behind it.” Yet another added, “I didn’t expect much from rolling stone but putting this Cardi B album over classics like illmatic and mmlp is just nonsense.”
Best Hip Hop Albums Of 2023 Recap
Invasion of Privacy arrived in April 2018 via Atlantic Records. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, earning over 255,000 total album-equivalent units in its first week, with roughly 103,000 coming from pure album sales. It has been certified 3x-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Had to ignite the comment section somehow. Every publication has done a list, nobody actually cares. It’s subjective. And where’s the fun in a unanimous list.
This is a fair statement, but some statements are just wrong! LOL
No need for pitchforks or calling for the editor to be burned at the stake, but come on now!
Cuz most people online are retarded. They’re fickle, tone-deaf, and stupid. Creativity doesn’t exist in this era very much any more so they like music that’s dumbed down and easy to understand. The quality matches the IQ of the listeners so I’m definitely not surprised at all.
This list also has a doja cat and city girls on it lol plus kid cudi higher than company flow and big l and to top that off there is a lil kim album placed at 19 clearly it was made by a retard
What is the issue here?
Next time it will be number one, how do you expect today’s junkie pooping pill fans to comprehend Albums like illmatic shit is way over there heads, I ain’t surprised at all
WOW Chief KEEF Album Higher Than DR.DRE THE CHRONIC LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This List is INSANE!!!
doesn’t surprise me. it is about the here and now it is about young people picking up a rolling stone magazine for the first time controversy is good for their publicity. you know how that goes.
You know how I know this list is some bs? Theres not one Redman album on it.
I consistently, since it’s come out, have been telling people that Muddy Waters is damn near a top 10 album. It’s for SURE in the top 200!
More proof that we need less white people destroying our music.
Yeah, just like House of Pain, Miilkbone, MC Serch, Peanut Butter Wolf, Necro, RA the Rugged Man, Paul Wall, Dirt Nasty, Atmosphere, Aesop Rock, The Grouch, El-P and the Beastie Boys. They all destroyed the glorious black kings music.
FOH don’t you have a drive-by to get clapped in?
the irony that this was written by a white kid
What do Rolling Stone know about rap music? They’re just playing out of their lane here.
half the albums on the lost shouldn’t even be on it! SMH
It’s Rolling Stone! Since when do they represent anything remotely relevant to Hip-Hop! Fuck them!
exactly
XXL should put out a Top 20 Country albums list out and put Nelly at #1 for payback.
It must not be older folks trippin over this, just the young folks. While yes, those albums listed in that tweet that the album was higher than is stupid, this isn’t just Rolling Stone. As time goes by and your era of classics become ancient, more music is being made and loved by the new generation. There’s nothing we can do about it, on the real. That’s just how shit goes. The things you love and have strong opinions about will become old and forgotten. The new generation don’t feel the same way we feel about those albums and if you think about it, a lot of these young folks that was in a nut sack during 9/11 are hitting their twenties now and a lot of the smart ones probably work up there by now. Stop tripping because it’s going to happen, whether you like it or not. Same goes for the young folks now. A part of getting older is seeing everything you love and remember get older and older by the day until just a handful of people remember anymore. That’s the way of life.
Nah mate, these are some wise words you put out but duck that list and duck rolling stone for that, because an album like Illmatic, will never become old and forgotten to a hip hop fan, and putting some dumb sh over that is just straight up disrespecting the culture, ain’t no way around that. That list is just straight up dumb to the third degree
That’s a lie. I don’t care how many “Best album of all time” lists they do, Thriller and some shit from the Beatles will always be in the top 10, because it’s timeless music and deserves to be. Period. This list was a bunch of weirdos sitting around trying to instigate. Mission accomplished.
Fuck any list. That said, pop is not hiphop.
This list is all wrong homie. There’s a lot of albums that were left out but I’ll just give you 3 that should be on the list: 1) Westside Connection – “Bow Down”. An Album that foretold the East Coast West Coast beef. 2) 8ball & MJG – “On Top Of The World”. Southern fried sonic funk dished out by southern legend T-Mix and masterfully narrated by 8ball & MJG. 3) Juice – Soundtrack. This gold standard hip-hop soundtrack complimented the movie perfectly like peanut butter does jelly.