1. Dr. Dre – The Chronic
2. A Tribe Called Quest – The Low End Theory
3. The Notorious B.I.G. – Ready To Die
4. Wu-Tang Clan – Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
5. Jay-Z – Reasonable Doubt
Contributed by: Spencer
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Shadows & Noise 
No Tupac????? Also, it doesn’t deserve to be on the top 5, but I’d like to give an honorable mention to No Way Out. Can’t nobody hold it down.
Tupac has a lot of great songs, but they’re spread out over a career. He never really put together a completely great album. As for Puff Daddy, I’m just gonna pretend you didn’t go there.
No your speaking my language although jay z want ready in the 90’s to eclipse a blackstar, a gang starr, a de la soul, a common, a roots, a beastie boys, a nas, a fugees, an ice cube, a souls of mischief or even a das efx album.
1. Enter the Wu Tang
2. Low End Theory
3. Black Star
4. Ill communications
5. Fugees The Complete score
HM
Ready to die
Liquid swords
Moment of truth
Stakes is high
The predator
@Biff. “Liquid Swords” is the single best Wu-related album. And “Black Star” is a nice pick, but it’s clear that really the difference is that Spencer is more gangsta than you are. You like illumination; he likes drug dealing and the “bitches”
“Black Star” is a great pick. As for what I like and what I don’t, I’d just point out that Tribe took my #2 and easily could’ve taken all five spots if I weren’t looking at this a little more objectively. Likewise, I almost put The Roots’ “Things Fall Apart” on here, because it’s my personal favorite hip-hop album (period), but it came so late in the 90s (February 1999) and sounded so much more like early 2000s hip-hop than 90s hip-hop that I decided to go in a different direction.
Making these lists is always a balancing act between personal preference and objective popularity/greatness, and there’s no denying that “The Chronic” was the single most important hip-hop album of the 90s (and maybe ever). That’s because it took hip-hop into the mainstream. Gangster rap as a subgenre was huge — for years, it basically was the definition of mainstream hip-hop — and so yes, if you’re picking 90s hip-hop albums with any sort of consciousness for the tastes of the time period, gangster rap will be highly represented.
But to respond to Biff, I love the inclusion of “Ill Communication” (and maybe that should’ve had my number 5 slot). Could’ve also gone with “The Predator.” And some of the best hip-hop of the day came from artists like De La Soul, Nas, Public Enemy, etc. The real question I’m surprised by is that nobody here has mentioned Snoop yet?
PS – @Antony: How come the pieces I do on hip-hop are always the most divisive? 😉 (Remember my ATR review of Shabazz Palaces?)
Simply put: Black Star should have made that list.
I’m fine with that. Which one(s) would you take off the list, Jeremy?