LA Weekly's Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums of All Time

Sorry I messed up the formatting on the opening paragraph, which is taken from the original article:

Here's the original article with commentary on each album from the writers

I've never actually heard of Blu & Exile's "Below the Heavens" or Suga Free's "Street Gospel." But I saw many of these acts live in their early stages...

lol @ Goblin

O.G. without a doubt

That Madlib seems like a weird pick. Also, is Kool Keith an LA artist? If so, that seems like an odd pick.

If you're going to include albums that were recorded in LA by people who were living in LA, even if they're not from there, then I suppose some Beastie Boys albums would qualify, like Paul's Boutique and Check Your Head.

before i comment this jeff weiss dude doesnt post here does he

^^^truthbomb on paul's boutique omission^^^

would definitely lean towards a mix of the stronger tracks of Eazy Duz It, No One Can Do It Better and Straight Outta Compton.

d.o.c. is right up there for me

i know its boring as hell but i cant vote for anything other than straight outta compton

lmao @ tyler beating eazy e
wtf @ no dogg pound
smh @ blu & exile but no above the law

this list was an abomination

doctor's advocate beating 2001 o_O its like a tribute record TO 2001, with worse rapping and production. and i like Dr's Ad, but seriously

all eyez on me should be number 1 tbh

la weekly music writing is incredibly weak

in this issue there was some short article by one of the people on the odd future tour and he gives a rundown of all the characteristics of everyone in the group I guess, it was really sad writing, like some high school yearbook shit

man this poll has the easiest troll vote in a long time

i mean it's hard to out troll a poll that put an album by the game over an album by dr. dre but i'm gonna give it my best shot

la weekly music writing is incredibly weak <--- this. henry rollins' column is like the best thing in any given issue.

lol looks like that odd future dude has a regular column

ok so sorry jeff weiss if you post here but holy shit that is the most incomprehensible worthless intro i have seen this year in music writing - pro tip: the next time you feel the urge to type "writ large" cut your fingers off

i figured deej would shit white when he saw this

Madlib lives in Oxnard

No Low Profile, gtfo

oh jeez i didn't see that eazy duz it didn't make the list! wow.

also nothing by compton's most wanted!

er it did never mind

no above the law or king tee

i even like Blu & Exile, but man wtf

No King Tee, no Alkaholiks

oops

oh jeez alkaholiks are missing too good call

oddly, i was completely unaware of blu & exile? do they have a song i would know?

Guerillas in tha Mist, Music to Driveby, either one of the first two Above the Law albums, Act a Fool or At Your Own Risk, 21 and Over or Coast II Coast...

yeah the lench mob album is really great

haha i'm glad people are making suggestions because i saw that list and was like "damn LA wasn't as good as i remembered"

oh shit also Warren G - Regulate (G Funk Era) shits all over Goblin!

agree w/Shasta that if you put the best tracks from No One Can Do It Better/Straight Outta Compton/Eazy-Duz-It you would have a 100% unbeatable contender but that isn't an option

so I voted Death Certificate

Kool Keith entry is... odd

never even heard of Blu & Exile what is that

eazy & no one can do it better are pretty solid all the way through, straight outta compton is the spottiest (though the truly great stuff on that is like greater than almost any other music ever made by humans so...)

yeah the lench mob album is really great

^^^also this

also this is kinda backpacker heresy but "inner city griots" has some good stuff but in general is more fun to think about than listen to

i think "all balls don't bounce" by aceyalone is a way better album than that

i kind of see the rationale for kool keith because that album is so sleazy/l.a./porno vibe and he was living there (maybe still does)

but that's like calling erick sermon an atlanta artist or something cuz he moved down there for a while.

All Eyez on Me over The Chronic

also imho Quik's got several albums better than Quik is the Name *cough* Rhythmalism *cough*

i mean look before everyone gets all mad about this list

the three ppl involved in this are

- ian, great guy, great critic, but he has more dom passantino in him than most (...), so don't think little devil horns didn't sprout from his head while he was writing that 'goblin' blurb
- ben, dunno this guy, knows his shit i think, but he did write that super trolly article about lil wayne fucking ray j or whatever it was that one time, so don't think little devil honrs didn't sprout from his head when his section ran a piece with the game over dr. dre
- jeff, dunno him either, has p decent taste, but runs some questionable stuff on his blog

i don't even really consider tupac to be an L.A. artist proper, his L.A. anthems kinda felt like he was overcompensating (but they were good)

Suga Free would never hit a woman but he'd slap the shit out of a bitch.

mean look before everyone gets all mad about this list

the three ppl involved in this are

- ian, great guy, great critic, but he has more dom passantino in him than most (...), so don't think little devil horns didn't sprout from his head while he was writing that 'goblin' blurb
- ben, dunno this guy, knows his shit i think, but he did write that super trolly article about lil wayne fucking ray j or whatever it was that one time, so don't think little devil honrs didn't sprout from his head when his section ran a piece with the game over dr. dre
- jeff, dunno him either, has p decent taste, but runs some questionable stuff on his blog

― J0rdan S., Thursday, October 27, 2011 12:20 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

who gives a shit about this, the article sucks

I've always considered Pac more of a Bay Area guy but yeah I dunno

imo, you're not really trolling anyone when you badly about music in a paper filled with bad music writing every week

*shrug*

shrug knight

when you badly about music in a paper filled with bad music writing every week

new board description

god damn it I just read it again

i mean my explanation is at least better than "well they must genuinely like a game album better than '2001'"

your explanation being that devil horns grew out of their heads?

http://images.wikia.com/halofanon/images/2/23/Troll.jpg

looooool a tribute to a detroit musician and goblin

wait... are ANY of these LA musicians as opposed to California musicians?

voted doggystyle

Surprisingly, it occurred largely without the efforts of Dr. Dre, the Asklepios of local rap, whose fingerprints fall upon nearly half the albums in our Top 20.

... is this failed sarcasm or just incompetent

(or is this reference to a wider context than this list, in which case why doesn't this list reflect that context)

also imho Quik's got several albums better than Quik is the Name *cough* Rhythmalism *cough*

― unorthodox economic revenge (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, October 27, 2011 3:18 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

no

yes

"Tonite" is the jam, I won't deny it, I just think Quik got better

"I'm under 30"

"i'm too old for this rap shit"

"I'm under 30"

lol Whiney

seriously not everyone who disagrees with you is some trust-funded hipster douchebag poseur

I can't believe how bad this list is. Jeff Weiss is a catastrophy, he had that best of the 00's on his website last year that was really really bad

there's some weird entries on here (people who aren't from LA, Tyler lol) but I don't think the list is so bad

The blurbs for each album are pretty sad though, especially the Tyler one.

oh well I didn't actually READ that shit I'm just lookin at the poll options

no mc eiht

no warren g

no pharcyde

Pharcyde is number 5.

oh

Surprisingly, it occurred largely without the efforts of Dr. Dre, the Asklepios of local rap, whose fingerprints fall upon nearly half the albums in our Top 20.

... is this failed sarcasm or just incompetent

― he carried yellow flowers (DJP), Friday, October 28, 2011 10:04 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

(or is this reference to a wider context than this list, in which case why doesn't this list reflect that context)

― he carried yellow flowers (DJP), Friday, October 28, 2011 10:05 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

it comes right after a sentence ("So while we watched the tubes for Detox, Los Angeles quietly won the West, for the first time in a quarter-century") alluding to a lot of hyped rap coming out of LA the last couple years

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

"also imho Quik's got several albums better than Quik is the Name *cough* Rhythmalism *cough*"

YES, FUIUD

Tyler addition is a troll thingamajig, right guys?

This list can get the Duck Sick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu10McJ1cbI

Yeah, no Music To Drive By or Straight Check'n Em?

ANd if Sex Style counts, surely Live And Let Die should too?

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

if the blu & exile troll voter had joined forces with us tyler troll voters we could've stormed the top 3

i think the artist specific ballot polls would be much cooler if they did shit like "best LA rap albums" or "best california rap albums" or "best california albums"

Way totally agree on that ^

Below the Heavens is a fine boom bap record, but really has no place being this high.

Everyones least fav track on that is my favorite, "Juicen Dranks'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq01Gajbhes

Ahem, looks like Everyone can do it better...

should have voted for doc