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54 albums · 1980–2024

Hip hop, from the Bronx and the old school to the golden age, the West Coast, the South and today

· 2 min read · by 1001 Albums

Run and D.M.C. in black hats and leather jackets rapping face to face on a dark stage, in a black and white photograph
Two rappers of Public Enemy with microphones on a stage, one in a cap and a red and black shirt, a guitarist and the DJ behind them and raised hands and phones in the crowdKendrick Lamar in a red tracksuit on a stage under spotlights, the words Be Humble on the screen above him
Run-DMC's Joseph Simmons and Darryl McDaniels at the Long Beach Arena in December 1984. Photo: Ian Dryden, Los Angeles Times, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. · Public Enemy in concert in Zagreb, October 2006. Photo: dnik, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. · Kendrick Lamar on The DAMN. Tour at TD Garden in Boston, July 2017. Photo: Kenny Sun, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Hip hop began at block parties in the Bronx in the 1970s, where DJs such as Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash stretched the breaks of funk records with two turntables and MCs rhymed over them. The first rap records came out in 1979, the Sugarhill Gang's Rapper's Delight among them, and in the mid-eighties Run-DMC, LL Cool J and the Beastie Boys took it into the charts.

The golden age of the late eighties and early nineties brought the sampled collages of Public Enemy and De La Soul and the jazz of A Tribe Called Quest, then Nas and the Wu-Tang Clan in New York. On the West Coast N.W.A and Dr. Dre made gangsta rap and G-funk, and in the South OutKast in Atlanta and UGK in Texas found a sound of their own. Later came Eminem, the producers Madlib and J Dilla, Kanye West, Drake and Kendrick Lamar.

The list has 54 records from 1980 to 2024. It leaves out the mixtapes, most of the hip hop made outside the United States beyond Little Simz in London, and the albums Deezer does not have, among them Kurtis Blow's first. About 54 hours of music, 5 days of a few records each.

By genre

Hip hop 90%Soul & R&B 5%Electronic 3%Other 2%
  • Hip hop 90%
  • Soul & R&B 5%
  • Electronic 3%
  • Other 2%

The genres named most: hip hop, gangsta rap, hardcore hip hop, east coast hip hop, boom bap, pop rap.

The colours of the covers

A stripe for each cover, in the colour Tidal picks from it, sorted by hue; the greys at the end.

Where the music comes from

Music from 3 countries: United States 50, Canada 1, United Kingdom 1. The deeper the colour, the more albums: one, two to four, five to nine, ten and more.

The 1980s

The 1990s

The 2000s

The 2010s

The 2020s

More lists

Lists of Genres first, then others; all of them on the blog. The blog.