Career defining albums from rappers 32+

[DaveyDave]

from XXL

Common - Be
E 40 - Ghetto Report Card
Juvenile - Reality Check
Plies - Definition Of Real
Mos Def - Ecstatic
Bun B - Trill OG
Big Boi - Sir Luscious Left Foot
Rick Ross - Teflon Don
Tech N9ne - All 6's & 7's
Eminem/Royce - Bad Meets Evil
Nas - Life Is Good
Game - Jesus Piece
2 Chainz - Based On A TRU Story
Ka - The Night's Gambit
Juicy J - Stay Trippy
Kanye West - Yeezus

bolded are "career defining"?

 

[SoulController]

Cuban Linx 2 needs to be on there, most fans myself included had completely given up on Rae he had gone a long ass time without releasing a good album

Be was very important to Common's career, Life Is Good proved Nas can still make 4 mic+ albums. the rest? ehh

 

[tybo]

Who made this list?

 

[DaveyDave]

Who made this list?

whoever works at XXL i guess

 

[Plexxx]

XXL

 

[Prae]

Am I the only one who thinks Be is over-rated?

I love Resurrection, Like Water For Chocolate, and One Day It'll All Make Sense though. I would probably even take Finding Forever over Be.

 

[Pinyapplesuckas]

Am I the only one who thinks Be is over-rated?

I love Resurrection, Like Water For Chocolate, and One Day It'll All Make Sense though. I would probably even take Finding Forever over Be.

same

 

[FreshAIG]

It's not BEST album it's career defining. Solid list imo

 

[blackslash]

How is LIG a career defining album for Nas

Thats actually a shot at Nas..

That an album released almost 20 years deep in ur career is what defines it

This list is a fail

 

[Prae]

It's not BEST album it's career defining. Solid list imo

I realize that. But how are a lot of those albums career defining? And how are you going to have "career defining" albums at age 32+, when you're already deep in the game and your career has probably already been defined by earlier/better albums. Like you could probably erase all of those albums from those people's discographies and their careers wouldn't be much/any different.

The list should have been about best albums from 32+ year old rappers, because that would make more sense, although the list would still be wrong as is.

How is LIG a career defining album for Nas

Thats actually a shot at Nas..

That an album released almost 20 years deep in ur career is what defines it

This list is a fail

Yea my thoughts exactly

 

[daze23]

I mean is there anything behind this, or is it just some random criteria? (like a Wacky D thread)

 

[Ziggiy]

When they say "Career Defining" I'm thinking they mean in terms of dropping an excellent, celebrated album that holds a certain amount of cultural relevance in regards to the artists age. We all know that Hip Hop has long been considered a youth oriented genre of music, with younger MC's constantly evolving the sound and pushing the elder statesmen to the side. With these albums XXL is attempting to say that older artists are still releasing critically acclaimed, commercially successful work. Given this criteria I'd say an example of such would be Jay- Z's American Gangster. Common's Be and Nas's Life Is Good were probably the best examples they listed, I think Kanye's MBDTF is a better example of "career defining" than Yeezus. And also albums like Q-Tip's The Renaissance and The Roots Game Theory, as well as Ghostface's Fishscale would serve as examples.

Also somebody else already posted that OBFCL2 should've been a Shoehorn for this type of list

 

[Mag149]

The misguided love for yeezus is scary on some real shyt

 

[beenz]

Am I the only one who thinks Be is over-rated?

I love Resurrection, Like Water For Chocolate, and One Day It'll All Make Sense though. I would probably even take Finding Forever over Be.

be is dope, but I find myself listening to finding forever on the regular to this day. also the song "u black, maybe" is my shyt.

 

[Harry B]

I would say Jeezy Recession as well
How the fukk is Juicy J's first solo album, which basically made him a famous solo rapper, defined his solo career, cross over fame as an individual and on.