favourite top 5 hip hop albums

hey up all,
thought id start a new topic as i thought it would be interesting to see what and why would be in your top 5 for albums…..
Hip Hop connection has their top 100 albums (1995-2005) which i have to say i deisagree with a lot of their choices…. so id like to know what u all would choose????

so then…. your top 5 hip hop albums, that doesnt mean nececerilly the latest or most commercial albums…. rather the top 5 albums in your collection that you just couldnt live without…. oh and say why

here go mine, … may ammend if i think of diff reasons but here goes…

(in no paticular order:)

* guru – jazzmatazz 2 (a lot of creativity, experimenting and some absolutely great mcing over some funky jazz collabos, he may have lost premo on the beats, but gurus smooth voice just worked so well with the direction this took)

* snoop – doggystyle (the album that pretty much single handedly got me hooked into hip hop, timeless funky and so laid back, thru this album i got to hear about dre… which lead me into NWA, which got me into eazy e/ice cube etc etc… and been hooked on hip hop since)

* 2pac – me against the world (as a huge 2pac fan, this album was the one that showed a sensitive side of 2pac, full of paranoia and vunerability very rarely seen in hip hop before, very deep and a true heartfelt and emotional album)

* aim – cold water music (okay so if youve heared this you already know how good this is…. if u havent…DAMN!! go find it, …okay its not a true hip hop album, but its roots are deeply fixed in the vibe of hip hop, the one album that got me thru some all nighters at uni, and to this day still gives me the shivvers when u hear the tinkling pianos)

* wu tang – enter the 36 chambers (wow… from the opening to the closing this album is absolutely flawless, when i first heared it there was so much to take in… 9 mcs and some of the rawest beats ever heared at the time of its release, to this day each tune has stood its own and become classics, u know a good hip hop album when u play it at a party and the people that hate rap dont tell u to turn it off!!!… lol, all this and an aproach that didnt bow to the commercial crowd!)

right theres mine……..whats yours?
V.V.

great to see how different peeps have varying tastes
…. lexus think ill have to seek out that jedi mind tricks album, heared a few of their tracks and theyve always been quality, not sure i agree on the raekwon one tho, thats what hip hop connection had voted as the number one in the last ten years, alright its good, but i just dont get why thats the greatest!?!?!
V.V.

well i meant greatest… as in the "greatest hip hop albums u rate" so u did answer the question!
V.V.

no worries lexus…. but that was why i wrote

"so then…. your top 5 hip hop albums, that doesnt mean nececerilly the latest or most commercial albums…. rather the top 5 albums in your collection that you just couldnt live without…. oh and say why"

but doesnt matter i know where u coming from,
V.V.