Tom's Top 30 Rap Albums Of All-Time (Updated 2023)

With August 1973 being designated as the birth of Rap, I'm reposting my own Top 20 favorite Rap albums that I originally posted in 2022. 

Time for another Rolling Stone list that no one will agree on.  In June (2022) they put out 200 Greatest Rap Albums which received mixed reviews from the rap community. Some of my own choices below didn't even make their list (PM Dawn, Grandmaster Flash).  For me the Golden Age of Rap was the 80's/90's.    

For this list I've kept it to one title per artist. And I steered clear of Greatest Hits albums, except for one DJ retrospective.  Compilations were also eligible. 

1.  LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out

2.  Run-DMC - Raising Hell

3.  Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique

4.  De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising

5.  A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory

6.  Outkast - Stankonia

7.  Eric B. & Rakim - Paid In Full

8.  PM Dawn - Of The Heart, Of The Soul and of The Cross

9.  Queen Latifah - All Hail The Queen

10.  Hip Hop Greats: Classic Raps - Various (Rhino)

11.  DJ Shadow - Endtroducing

12.  Lauryn Hill - Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

13.  Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly

14.  Digable Planets - Reachin'

15.  Nas - Illmatic

16.  Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die

17.  Madvillain - Madvillainy

18.  Steinski - What Does It All Mean?: Retrospective 1983-2006

19.  Jay-Z - Black Album

20.  Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message

21.  Millenium Hip-Hop Party - Various (Rhino)

22.  Salt-N-Pepa - Very Necessary

23.  Streets - Original Pirate Material

24.  Snoop Dogg - Doggystyle

25.  Missy Elliott - Supa Dupa Fly

26.  Dr. Dre - The Chronic

27.  Jungle Brothers - Straight Out The Jungle

28.  Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang

29.  Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back

30.  Ice T - O.G. Original Gangster