By Gary Suarez in Newsletter — Oct 7, 2025

The 100 Best Rap Albums Of All Time

Ranking the most essential and influential albums of this quintessentially American art form.

Catch up on prior episodes before the season premiere this Fall.

100. Cannibal Ox, The Cold Vein [2001]

Recently, Vordul Mega has been making appearances in the New York City area, performing live at the behest of longtime associates billy woods and Atoms Family alum Alaska. Be it in the modest back room of Brooklyn bar Young Ethel's or in the comparatively immense Queens warehouse space Knockdown Center, hearing the Harlem rapper run through underground classic "Iron Galaxy" sends spinal chills comparable to the ones felt when the El-P helmed original first dropped. With Vast Aire by his side, the duo unveiled a dystopian rap blueprint that few, if any artists in their wake ever managed to suitably replicate. –Gary Suarez

99. De La Soul, 3 Feet High And Rising [1989]

The hip-hop hippie aesthetics applied to this Long Island ensemble's seminal full-length debut may have turned from public image enhancer to reputational Achilles' heel, yet their sample-heavy affair nonetheless captures a genre undeniably in the midst of a massive growth spurt. With a most mischievous Prince Paul behind the boards, Maseo, Posdnuos, and Trugoy delivered a palatable corrective to the "gangsta" tropes congealing around rap at the time, with clever rhyming and creative delivery that made them clear standouts. –Gary Suarez

98. Kamaiyah, A Good Night in the Ghetto [2016]

In the 2010s, mixtape culture became the primary avenue through which rappers made their rising star breakthroughs. While much of the proverbial buzz centered around Atlanta trap and Chicago drill, other cities benefitted from the digital era boost too, including established regional scenes such as Oakland. So when Kamaiyah dropped this self-released effort, those whose understanding of Bay Area hip-hop started and ended with E-40 got to experience a thriving sound no matter where they themselves happened to reside. Booming bass, spare synths, and her inexplicable melodic monotone delivery set this tape apart–with a timely YG feature in tow. –Gary Suarez

97. Master P, The Ghetto's Tryin To Kill Me! [1994]

Prior to the Priority Records era, No Limit Records had a decidedly more Californian bent to it, with Oakland area signees like Dangerous Dame and E-A-Ski. The last Master P album that dropped before the New Orleans return that built his rap empire, this 1994 outing showcases the soon-to-be Ice Cream Man reveling in West Coast G-funk and other such sounds courtesy of Bigg Nate, CMT, and JT the Bigga Figga. Refusing to go broke, he's lewd, menacing, and utterly entertaining here, freely blending defiant street politics with hazily hedonistic after-hours indulgences. –Gary Suarez

96. Armand Hammer & The Alchemist, Haram [2021]

After proving integral to Prodigy's legacy, prescient about Boldy James and Curren$y, and savvy in his alliances with Action Bronson and Freddie Gibbs, The Alchemist rightfully has earned his curatorial reputation. Assuredly, that very same indie hip-hop acumen prompted his first auspicious team-up with billy woods and ELUCID, two figures then-actively in the process asserting their revolutionary poetic dominance over New York's hip-hop underground. The avant-garde vibes of the trio's collaboration stretches the producer's already impressive palate into stranger zones, meeting the far-out emcees on their lyrically brilliant plane. –Gary Suarez

95. RZA, Digital Bullet [2001]

On a scale from 1-10, with 1 being cucumber cool n' calm and 10 being vengeful habanero hot, how upset are you with this list so far? Be honest: did you scroll down the page to sneak a peek at the No. 1 pick before even reading any of these preceding ones? If you did try and jump ahead, then you already know what the people who exercised patience and restraint are about to find out: this is where the CABBAGES 100 Best Rap Albums Of All Time list officially ends.

Regardless of the caliber of the writers or the quality of the blurbs, lists like these are designed to engage you, the reader. While the stated intentions of any such endeavor may be towards having fun and in the spirit of infotainment, the Internet will do everything in its power to fully convert these rankings into rage bait. And in these especially partisan times, people hardly need an excuse to express their disapproval with disproportionate anger.

To be clear, I like or love every album mentioned above. Some of them left strong impressions and had lasting impacts on my musical tastes, while others became meaningful over my decades-long career as a music critic/journo. So, if you'll forgive me this silly little prank, I hope in the future you'll try not to get too upset when someone else online has a different opinion about a given rap album than yours.

Jesse The Tree, Worm In Heaven

(buy it / stream it)

Rhode Island may be America's smallest state, but it's been known to produce such formidably big indie rap talents as Sage Francis and B. Dolan. If you haven't already done so, go ahead and add Jesse The Tree to that New England hip-hop coterie. Reuniting with Mopes, the Strange Famous fave who produced 2022's Pigeon Man, the 420-friendly Providence rapper shows up in his best form yet for Worm In Heaven. He's the bleary-eyed boom bap beatnik of "Dharma Bum," an affable stoic with room for personal growth. But he's also a conspiratorial savant on the wobbly "Anima," a sporty daydreamer on the piano-led "Like Mike," and a spatially self aware poet on the capacious "Starship." His guest list boasts esteemed underground vets like K-the-I??? and Slug of Atmosphere as well as comparatively fresher faces Defcee and Fatboi Sharif. On album standout "A Bad MFer," both Tree and labelhead benefactor Francis form a dynamic duo of self-deprecation, creatively cataloguing flaws and quirks as core strengths. Yet he sounds most comfortable with his sleepingdogs bud Andrew on the bluesy and blunted "Condition Report."

Shaykh Hanif, THE HAND THAT FEEDS

(buy it / stream it)

In the 12 months since Feed The Family dropped their impactful posse LP ZING LANGUAGE, the metro Boston rap collective's members have considerably risen in prominence. Yet while BoriRock and Top Hooter proved the more vocal of the crew, with multiple worthwhile solo outings between them this year, this semi-surprise drop from Shaykh Hanif rewards fan patience with something that feels less like a project and more like a proper album. After some scathing commentary from brash cohort 1000 Words on the "GRIMEY OPULENCE" intro, the narco-knowledgable rapper slips smoothly into his hardened hustler pocket for the vaunting yet measured "BRINGING HOME THE BACON." To his credit, he can deliver chills to suit the autumnal shift, as he does on the cautionary "MS. PATRICIA," but also offer main event thrills like the high-stakes Estee Nack match-up "NACKSAW VS IRON SHAYKH." Aided by production heavies, he consistently serves up that work, over Conductor Williams' corrosive soul jam "100$ BILLS," via Spanish Ran's exquisitely filthy "TAX SZN" opposite Rome Streetz, and to the opulent beat of Camoflauge Monk's "IFTAR AT TIFFANY'S."