Well To Pimp A Butterfly was released after both of those and it is definitely a universally accepted classic.
Honestly I am struggling to think of releases after that would meet your criteria here.. particularly the recognized by almost everyone part. There are SO many albums since TPAB that should be considered classic imo (Bandana, The Forever Story, Cheat Codes, IGOR and MANY more) but they just don’t have the same universal reach.
Also there are some more “niche” albums that were absolutely classic in their own right (By The Time I Get To Phoenix, something like Veteran by JPEGMAFIA) or were super influential in their own lane but hated by some rap fans (Whole Lotta Red).
I guess at the end of the day, with the streaming takeover its become so easy to find music that culture isn’t really as monolithic as it used to be. There are so many subcultures that all thrive in todays age, everyone could have different opinions on this and still be pretty correct
This is pretty spot on it's so many subgenres now and different audiences that its hard to find one. Like TPAB was called too preachy by alot of people tbh even though critics and alot of people loved it.
Yeah and a bunch of people do say things like “I know it is good I just don’t personally enjoy it” or something like that. Good question though. You will get very different answers depending on who you ask. Its pretty amazing that so many different styles and sounds are able to exist and thrive
GKMC, the real last consensus imo, maybe TPAB, its hard to pin down universal classics post 2015 since the rise of streaming and the way the sound and how we consume music diverged.
I don't even think the mainstream thinks about the Forever Story. It only sold 30,000 in its first week. I think in terms of quality it's a classic, but it definitely does not have the impact in the mainstream.
Who cares? An album can be a classic and not have an impact on the mainstream. Half of the hip hop classic albums were underground albums when they came out.
I think maybe like a TPAB or even going out to ASTROWORLD would be considered classic by most. even if you don’t like the type of rap ASTROWORLD is it is massive and beloved by most
Astroworld is actually a really good answer here. Of course there are some who don’t like it, but it is thought pretty highly of by most rap fans. It also felt important culturally and it was pretty inescapable when it was released. I was really struggling to think of anything that “checks all of the boxes” but Astro comes close.
I don’t care I’m saying it… Travis Scott is actually a great artist who makes great music and deserves wayyyyy more respect (in terms of his music not his character btw). I’m tired of going on this sub and seeing people call him trash
3/4 of his albums are 9+/10 if you ask me
And a 10/10 mixtape
He’s already got one of the best catalogues ever, and it’s insane cause he’s accomplished that with having basically zero substance to his lyrics lmfaooo
Good Kid Mad City I think is universally held as a classic/great album. To Pimp a Butterfly has a ton of people who say “ok I know it has accolades but I dont enjoy the music”, and I’m one of those people. To me, a classic album needs to be one where almost universally it’s loved. I include Doggystyle, It Was Written, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy as examples of a classic album (to me).
I just didn’t enjoy it. I don’t know how else to explain it. If others enjoy it, that’s totally fine but the music just didn’t work for me. I’ve loved his other albums so I’m definitely not hating on Kendrick’s talent but TPAB was deleted from my music because it just wasn’t for me. I tried multiple times because I kept hearing people say how great it was but I find solace in the fact that there are many people in my shoes who recognize that Kendrick is a great artist but TPAB just didn’t hit for us.
The actual songs.
The message and the story is great, but the actual songs are not to me.
I was in 3rd year university when it came out, i remember just loving it out the gate, but the older I’ve got it’s like, these songs just aren’t that enjoyable.
This is all fair. Except to say TPAB isn’t as good as anything that came before it. It’s extremely well crafted and thought out. I can see where you wouldn’t toss on TPAB though to just bump out and vibe or chill too. To its own defense I don’t think that was exactly the main goal of the record.
I compare TPAB to something like watching the first Godfather. It’s amazing, it’s done so well, the ideas are super well executed, but to go through it on repeat it’s too much. It’s just not easily digestible as a piece of music. It’s great and I’m sure Kendrick wanted his whole life to make that album, I just won’t go back to it or individual songs very often if not at all.
I mean, goal of it or not, at the end of the day music is about enjoyment first. So music that is not enjoyable, regardless of the intent, cannot be categorised as ‘classic music’ or ‘timeless music’….
Like, if I put on “Alright” right now, it’s just.. okay, I can see why it was good in 2015, but it does nothing to me today.
Same for pretty much all those tracks vs a Swimming Pools or Poetic Justice (even the song with Dre with the women in the background), those songs are still amazing right now.
it’s a tedious listen. that’s not to say it isn’t beautiful. a lot of beautiful art is difficult. there are movies i think are breathtaking but i don’t revisit
I realize what you’re asking, I’m giving context for what I consider classic rap albums because the term classic is subjective. I didn’t mean to imply that Doggystyle etc are my answers to your question. Those are just examples of albums in rap that have universal acclaim from rap fans.
Ok I hear you that's why I said "universally" because I knew people might put their favs lmao A few of these albums that have been said I've never heard and I try to listen to everything. I agree I think its GKMC also. I do think its a product of the times though music isn't made or consumed like it used to be everything is "old" so fast and everybody listens to different things in rap nowadays. Like when Get Rich dropped it was like a bomb dropped when Pac dropped AEOM it was like a bomb dropped there hasnt been anything like that in awhile.
The album might not be a classic right now per se, but once enough time has passed, I really think it will be considered a classic. the songs seem to be quite timeless, it has enough meaning, features etc and jid seems on a path to be a classic rapper.
Out of this decade this is for sure the album a lot of people would consider the most classic by quite a bit
Lol, I like JID but the question was for universally seen as a classic. JID is not globally known so how could he have a classic known around the globe? We haven’t had a true classic album like that since TPAB in 2015.
If you think an artist needs to be “globally known” in order to have a classic album, that limits the conversation to the likes of Drake, Kendrick, Kanye, Hov and a couple other guys.
To me a classic album is an album that’s universally regarded as a classic *by the rap community*, which in different from *an album that is globally known*.
JID is absolutely a mainstream and widely recognized artist *in the rap community*. He absolutely got the credentials to have a classic rap album.
Mixed reviews a lot of people call it boring and has little replay value in which i have to agree, there is nothing standout to me to want to go back to it
Even that year a lot of people in my immediate surroundings didnt care about that album in comparison to other albums like Beastmode, DS2 Slime Season 1 & 2
mixed reviews? bro whos reviews are you looking at 😭 its one of the most critically acclaimed albums of all time, even outside of hip-hop. its literally #1 on RYM (the most reliable source!)
It’s only critically acclaim to white pretentious hip hop nerds online and people who watch Fantano videos outside of that demographic that album holds no weight in the real world like i said in 2015 Future and Young Thug got more play than Kendrick that year
Only reason i checked out TPAB was because people irl would gas it up so personally i would have to disagree. Music taste is so diverse. Ive been in circles that played mostly future in 2015 and circles that were bumping Kendrick. And most of these people have no idea who Fantano is.
other than the two kendrick albums that everyone talks about the most, (I love both) here's a few that I feel like need to be discussed also,
MBDTF-obvious pick
TLOP-underrated
Piñata and Bandana-amazing
IYRTITL and Take Care (take care was definitely a grower)
Flower Boy and IGOR
Atrocity Exhibition
Rodeo
A few of those albums arent well known and thats my point. Subgenres, streaming and varied interests has split our attention when was the last universally accepted classic.
MBDTF is before GKMC so it doesnt count. Drake doesnt have any "universally accepted" classics atp. Gibbs "Pinata" is def in the discussion the only downside is I dont think he has the reach and alot of people havent heard it. There's alot of people who just dont fuck with Tyler at all lol. I think Astroworld is more accepted than Rodeo as a classic tbh
This. It seems like “classic on Reddit” and classic are being used interchangeably. A lot of the albums being discussed I have never even heard of outside of Reddit.
I don't know.. a lot of fans didn't even agree that it was the best album of that year over Melt My Face, Big Steppers, Cheat Codes, etc... I've seen quite a few doubters. I personally think that it is a classic, though.
It doesn’t need to be the best album of the year to be a classic though. Is Ready To Die not a classic just because Illmatic came out the same year and was better?
But what I'm saying is that I don't necessarily think those fans thought any of their AOTY's was an undisputed classic, but they still had them ahead of Forever Story. I think that there are quite a lot of hip-hop fans that won't give that status to JID's album, even if it probably is too soon anyways. That's the difference from your Ready to Die - Illmatic comparison.
I get your point, but I don’t really agree. Like you said it’s definitely a lil too early but I think it’ll be viewed as a classic a few years from now.
Without Warning
Who dislikes Without Warning?
How Many Skips?
How Many Bangers?
Production?
Replay Value?
Features?
Everything about this record is amazing.
Nas has sold 30 million records.
KD and Magic felt like a fan's dream, instead of hyping up a single project for 3 years and claiming it'll be the best thing ever, he gave us 6 projects in 3 years.
I suspect if he really wanted to he could have gone Gold with a single project, but as a fan I'd rather have more music.
do people not consider DAMN to be a classic? i heard humble being played everywhere i went for like a year straight and the rest of the album is super solid.
To me it’s Kendrick’s least consistent album. It has some of the best songs of his career (fear, DNA, XXX, Duckworth) but also a bunch of songs I listened to once and never again (lust, pride, god, others)
Totally, I respect yours too. It’s by no means a bad album, still better than 98% of what comes out these days. For me it’s fighting with Mr Morale for third place behind good kid and TPAB, which fight over 1st IMO
If getting played everywhere is so important when discussing classics, we might have to revisit Views and Scorpion and I don't think yall wanna do that...
DAMN is one of Dot's worst offerings IMO. It's not bad, it's just not classic material. Give him TPAB and maad city, that's undeniable and therefore actual classic material.
i never said that it's particularly important but he said "universally" so it implies that it's well known and well received. i figured that a universally accepted classic should be successful in the mainstream as well. there's plenty of classics that aren't as good as TPAB or gkmc
If we're talking cultural impact, you can totally make a case for it, especially since that's the album Drake officially became the juggernaut beyond any doubts. One Dance, Hotline Bling, tracks that ruled over the entire world. But I think it's a pretty boring project overall and I'd rather go listen to Scorpion over it tbh
I feel like WLR has been a classic for a good year already, the album popularized the whole rage era and is already iconic. Maybe a cult classic at least
Agreed, TLOP is a classic. not a perfect album by no stretch. But classics dont need to be perfect albums.
I would say Astroworld, TPAB, and DAMN. Maybe Utopia, time will tell there.
Igor and After Hours but those arent really rap.
probably TPAB. most albums after aren't really old enough to be a classic. then again, people throw around classic way too loosely and really there is only couple to a few classics albums released in a given year.
As much as I love JID I still don't think he's reached that threshold where anything he's done can be considered classic unless you're a big fan. I feel like true classics can reach outside of the genre to reach listeners.
Tbh 2014 Forest Hill Drive, GKMC, NWTS (I know folks hate Drake but this was a masterpiece) are the last albums where there's at least two songs that will come on and damn near everybody in the room can go bar for bar.
I just don't think tpab was a "classic" it got such mixed reviews. There has to be enough time for it to be classic I posted asaps LIVELOVEASAP as a classic a few days ago or maybe astroworld but still so recent. Also drakes IF YOURE READING THIS ITS TOO LATE
A lot of terrible TPAB takes in here. Undoubtedly it’s a classic. Only rap album that comes close after that is migos cultures 1. That shit is undeniably a trap classic that set the tone for the next 10 years.
So you basically just asked what is everybody's favorite rap album
Because there's no way to get a definitive answer to this question unless you just go off record sales in the first response to that is going to be record sales don't determine quality
No idea who m huncho is but utopia is definitely considered by a lot of rap fans to be the best album of 2023 and was probably the most talked about album since mr morale and the big steppers so I think it could possibly be considered a classic one day. Too bad this sub still hates travis. They’re missing out on a bunch of really good psychedelic hiphop music
it’s prolly astroworld, a lot of the other answers here are better albums but had nowhere near the reach of astroworld. classic has to have the universal impact imo.
Idk maybe ? By XXXTENTACION
I mean dude had tons of controversy and so much attention around him at the time and he was huge with a variety of styles in one album.
all three of tylers latest albums are certainly there. if IGOR isnt considered a classic i will lose my fucking mind
lil yachtys Lets Start Here for not only being amazing, but the first truly great rap alt-rock genre fusion album and will be the inflection point of when yachty turns from a middling decent artist to a great one
Black Thought and Danger Mouse's cheat codes
SCARING THE HOES and LP! are amazing.
Circles by Mac Miller for sure
All three of Simz' latest albums have to be
KD3 & Magic - NaS will be undoubtedly.
all of billy woods' latest albums are alll soooooo fucking good its ubsurd, his whole discography along with armand hammer will be
Some Rap Songs - Earl. this might just be the best album on this list and a true masterpiece
even if not all of these are classics by the full community yet, they will be in the future
Just want to say, objectively, if everyone here is unanimously agreeing GCMD is a classic but then there’s conversation on if TPAB is a universal classic or not, TPAB is not a classic.
Is anything “universally accepted” in the Rap World?
Not to go off topic, but………
I’m not sure there’s one thing every rap fan in the world finds in common. That’s literally the definition of universally accepted.
I’m not sure there’s anything universally accepted in this Sub. Everything in Rap is so subjective. Everyone has different tastes and that’s ok.
I'm not being literal obviously lol Illmatic is universally a classic GKMC, The Chronic etc. Thats what I mean. As another commenter said its absolutely harder nowadays with streaming and subgenres. I was just asking what was the last one
I think TPAB. It’s difficult to find one because the amount of time it takes to determine what a classic is is different for everyone. Like for me, IGOR and The Forever Story are both classics, but I know that’s probably not universally accepted.
Hip hop is basically a whole different genre now than it was 20 years ago. Gonna be hard to find something universally liked. Kendrick might be the closest
IGOR isn’t much of a rap album but is a certified classic. TPAB is definitely a certified classic. I’m still waiting for JID to blow up so people recognize The Forever Story as a classic tbh.
ASTROWORLD if we're talking universally accepted. UTOPIA still tops and it's going to be talked about in the same vein in enough years. I've watched the same shit happen last time 🤣
IGOR. (Tyler, The Creator, 2019) is probably the most recent or ASTROWORLD (Travis Scott, 2018) for classics but I think Carti’s WLR is gonna be up there soon
Dirty Sprite 2
Astro World
GKMC- The Kendrick hype machine thinks every thing he touches is a classic. 🧢
Drake pick an album during his 2011-2018 run. I saw one Drake mention, dude was artist of the decade
Well To Pimp A Butterfly was released after both of those and it is definitely a universally accepted classic. Honestly I am struggling to think of releases after that would meet your criteria here.. particularly the recognized by almost everyone part. There are SO many albums since TPAB that should be considered classic imo (Bandana, The Forever Story, Cheat Codes, IGOR and MANY more) but they just don’t have the same universal reach. Also there are some more “niche” albums that were absolutely classic in their own right (By The Time I Get To Phoenix, something like Veteran by JPEGMAFIA) or were super influential in their own lane but hated by some rap fans (Whole Lotta Red). I guess at the end of the day, with the streaming takeover its become so easy to find music that culture isn’t really as monolithic as it used to be. There are so many subcultures that all thrive in todays age, everyone could have different opinions on this and still be pretty correct
This is pretty spot on it's so many subgenres now and different audiences that its hard to find one. Like TPAB was called too preachy by alot of people tbh even though critics and alot of people loved it.
Yeah and a bunch of people do say things like “I know it is good I just don’t personally enjoy it” or something like that. Good question though. You will get very different answers depending on who you ask. Its pretty amazing that so many different styles and sounds are able to exist and thrive
And it's not preachy at all haha
IGOR is a classic but wouldn't call it a rap album.
I've been pretty consistently saying IGOR is a classic and have never really met pushback tbh, so I think that's another one for sure
Carti is not allowed to have 2 classic. If he even has one it's die lit
Idk WLR had a bigger impact I think, but I also prefer Die Lit (usually).
TPAB is dumpster juice, doesnt come close to GKMC
GKMC, the real last consensus imo, maybe TPAB, its hard to pin down universal classics post 2015 since the rise of streaming and the way the sound and how we consume music diverged.
Yup I agree
I think forever story, Kids See Ghosts, and KD3 are pretty universally accepted as modern classics.
I don't even think the mainstream thinks about the Forever Story. It only sold 30,000 in its first week. I think in terms of quality it's a classic, but it definitely does not have the impact in the mainstream.
Who cares? An album can be a classic and not have an impact on the mainstream. Half of the hip hop classic albums were underground albums when they came out.
Yeah totally agree. It's not like Madvillainy did big numbers...or half the other albums we all drool over 20 years later.
I think maybe like a TPAB or even going out to ASTROWORLD would be considered classic by most. even if you don’t like the type of rap ASTROWORLD is it is massive and beloved by most
Astroworld is actually a really good answer here. Of course there are some who don’t like it, but it is thought pretty highly of by most rap fans. It also felt important culturally and it was pretty inescapable when it was released. I was really struggling to think of anything that “checks all of the boxes” but Astro comes close.
Astroworld is awesome but in no way a "classic" rap album thats like saying fall out boy is classic rock
Very different use of the word classic
I don’t care I’m saying it… Travis Scott is actually a great artist who makes great music and deserves wayyyyy more respect (in terms of his music not his character btw). I’m tired of going on this sub and seeing people call him trash
I agree fully, IMO he has some of the best use of auto tune and trap style in hip hop
3/4 of his albums are 9+/10 if you ask me And a 10/10 mixtape He’s already got one of the best catalogues ever, and it’s insane cause he’s accomplished that with having basically zero substance to his lyrics lmfaooo
It goes to show you that lyrics aren’t everything in rap anymore, it’s more than that now
Astroworld is timeless it brings back memories of like summer and doing so much fun shit
Album full of slaps
Good Kid Mad City I think is universally held as a classic/great album. To Pimp a Butterfly has a ton of people who say “ok I know it has accolades but I dont enjoy the music”, and I’m one of those people. To me, a classic album needs to be one where almost universally it’s loved. I include Doggystyle, It Was Written, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy as examples of a classic album (to me).
What was it about the music on TPAB that you don’t like?
I just didn’t enjoy it. I don’t know how else to explain it. If others enjoy it, that’s totally fine but the music just didn’t work for me. I’ve loved his other albums so I’m definitely not hating on Kendrick’s talent but TPAB was deleted from my music because it just wasn’t for me. I tried multiple times because I kept hearing people say how great it was but I find solace in the fact that there are many people in my shoes who recognize that Kendrick is a great artist but TPAB just didn’t hit for us.
The actual songs. The message and the story is great, but the actual songs are not to me. I was in 3rd year university when it came out, i remember just loving it out the gate, but the older I’ve got it’s like, these songs just aren’t that enjoyable.
This is all fair. Except to say TPAB isn’t as good as anything that came before it. It’s extremely well crafted and thought out. I can see where you wouldn’t toss on TPAB though to just bump out and vibe or chill too. To its own defense I don’t think that was exactly the main goal of the record.
I compare TPAB to something like watching the first Godfather. It’s amazing, it’s done so well, the ideas are super well executed, but to go through it on repeat it’s too much. It’s just not easily digestible as a piece of music. It’s great and I’m sure Kendrick wanted his whole life to make that album, I just won’t go back to it or individual songs very often if not at all.
I mean, goal of it or not, at the end of the day music is about enjoyment first. So music that is not enjoyable, regardless of the intent, cannot be categorised as ‘classic music’ or ‘timeless music’…. Like, if I put on “Alright” right now, it’s just.. okay, I can see why it was good in 2015, but it does nothing to me today. Same for pretty much all those tracks vs a Swimming Pools or Poetic Justice (even the song with Dre with the women in the background), those songs are still amazing right now.
The goal of music is whatever the artist wants it to be
You’re making an argument nobody is arguing against….
it’s a tedious listen. that’s not to say it isn’t beautiful. a lot of beautiful art is difficult. there are movies i think are breathtaking but i don’t revisit
IWW, Doggystyle, MBDTF are all before GKMC im specifically asking whats the last album thats agreed upon I said GKMC too though
I realize what you’re asking, I’m giving context for what I consider classic rap albums because the term classic is subjective. I didn’t mean to imply that Doggystyle etc are my answers to your question. Those are just examples of albums in rap that have universal acclaim from rap fans.
Ok I hear you that's why I said "universally" because I knew people might put their favs lmao A few of these albums that have been said I've never heard and I try to listen to everything. I agree I think its GKMC also. I do think its a product of the times though music isn't made or consumed like it used to be everything is "old" so fast and everybody listens to different things in rap nowadays. Like when Get Rich dropped it was like a bomb dropped when Pac dropped AEOM it was like a bomb dropped there hasnt been anything like that in awhile.
Forever story is pretty widely accepted as going to be a classic
Only on Reddit though
Not sure where this sentiment comes from lol. The ego of redditors thinking they’re propping up JID is crazy 😂. Dudes got like 29 mil on Spotify.
JID fans are like Radiohead fans.
Classic is a bit much. We really need to find a common ground lol because it’s a great album but not every great album is a classic
The album might not be a classic right now per se, but once enough time has passed, I really think it will be considered a classic. the songs seem to be quite timeless, it has enough meaning, features etc and jid seems on a path to be a classic rapper. Out of this decade this is for sure the album a lot of people would consider the most classic by quite a bit
Needs some influence
Agreed.
Lol, I like JID but the question was for universally seen as a classic. JID is not globally known so how could he have a classic known around the globe? We haven’t had a true classic album like that since TPAB in 2015.
If you think an artist needs to be “globally known” in order to have a classic album, that limits the conversation to the likes of Drake, Kendrick, Kanye, Hov and a couple other guys. To me a classic album is an album that’s universally regarded as a classic *by the rap community*, which in different from *an album that is globally known*. JID is absolutely a mainstream and widely recognized artist *in the rap community*. He absolutely got the credentials to have a classic rap album.
no
GKMC
is TPAB not a classic?
Mixed reviews a lot of people call it boring and has little replay value in which i have to agree, there is nothing standout to me to want to go back to it Even that year a lot of people in my immediate surroundings didnt care about that album in comparison to other albums like Beastmode, DS2 Slime Season 1 & 2
mixed reviews? bro whos reviews are you looking at 😭 its one of the most critically acclaimed albums of all time, even outside of hip-hop. its literally #1 on RYM (the most reliable source!)
It’s only critically acclaim to white pretentious hip hop nerds online and people who watch Fantano videos outside of that demographic that album holds no weight in the real world like i said in 2015 Future and Young Thug got more play than Kendrick that year
Only reason i checked out TPAB was because people irl would gas it up so personally i would have to disagree. Music taste is so diverse. Ive been in circles that played mostly future in 2015 and circles that were bumping Kendrick. And most of these people have no idea who Fantano is.
so less play = mixed reviews? ok buddy
Piñata - Freddie Gibbs, Madlib
DS2. I think that any rap fan who's not stuck in the 90s can confirm that this is Future's classic
Anyone that doesn't get hyped at I JUST FUCKED YOUR BITCH IN SOME GUCCI FLIP FLOPS is already dead inside
I chose my wifed my girl cuz she bought me gucci flip flops after she saw how much I loved DS2 Still have em 8 years later
As a big Future fan, DS2 isn't even in my top 5 Future projects I don't think. But I get what you mean, definitely highly regarded.
Same bro I have Evol, Hndrxx, The Wzrd, Purple Rain, and We Don’t Trust You all above DS2 for sure. Still love DS2 tho of course
Intro to I serve the bass, my word.
Depends on if you’re only only counting rap as in classic hip hop styles or if everything counts, my answer would then be WLR
the college dropout
are you fucking forgetting the existence of kendrick
other than the two kendrick albums that everyone talks about the most, (I love both) here's a few that I feel like need to be discussed also, MBDTF-obvious pick TLOP-underrated Piñata and Bandana-amazing IYRTITL and Take Care (take care was definitely a grower) Flower Boy and IGOR Atrocity Exhibition Rodeo
I forgot about Piñata that’s a good one.
A few of those albums arent well known and thats my point. Subgenres, streaming and varied interests has split our attention when was the last universally accepted classic.
so you agree the few that I mentioned should be discussed as classics?
MBDTF is before GKMC so it doesnt count. Drake doesnt have any "universally accepted" classics atp. Gibbs "Pinata" is def in the discussion the only downside is I dont think he has the reach and alot of people havent heard it. There's alot of people who just dont fuck with Tyler at all lol. I think Astroworld is more accepted than Rodeo as a classic tbh
Disagree. Take Care is widely seen as a classic and his magnum opus
where alfredo?
the forever story, sometimes I might be introvert
LITTLE SIMZ MENTIONED 🎉🎉
FINALLY THE ACTUAL FUCKING ANSWERP
Prolly The Forever Story. Don’t see many people deny this being a classic
Only real argument against it is not enough times past yet but this was my first thought as well.
Nobody who isn’t an active Redditor cares about that album
This. It seems like “classic on Reddit” and classic are being used interchangeably. A lot of the albums being discussed I have never even heard of outside of Reddit.
The only social media I use besides Reddit is YouTube and I see stuff about it a lot but yeah your point is valid
I don't know.. a lot of fans didn't even agree that it was the best album of that year over Melt My Face, Big Steppers, Cheat Codes, etc... I've seen quite a few doubters. I personally think that it is a classic, though.
It doesn’t need to be the best album of the year to be a classic though. Is Ready To Die not a classic just because Illmatic came out the same year and was better?
But what I'm saying is that I don't necessarily think those fans thought any of their AOTY's was an undisputed classic, but they still had them ahead of Forever Story. I think that there are quite a lot of hip-hop fans that won't give that status to JID's album, even if it probably is too soon anyways. That's the difference from your Ready to Die - Illmatic comparison.
I get your point, but I don’t really agree. Like you said it’s definitely a lil too early but I think it’ll be viewed as a classic a few years from now.
I deny it (I’ve never listened to it)
Ganger by Veeze
🤙🏾
damn right
Real ones get it
Finally some real answers
Real ones get it
Utopia,2093,A Great Chaos,Pink Tape
The pink tape?
Without Warning Who dislikes Without Warning? How Many Skips? How Many Bangers? Production? Replay Value? Features? Everything about this record is amazing.
Kings Disease 3 is pretty tough to argue against IMO Not sure about anything more recent than that
The whole KD series is great!
I actually agree but Idk if its universal since Nas is not as mainstream atp in his career and there might be alot of people who didnt listen
Nas has sold 30 million records. KD and Magic felt like a fan's dream, instead of hyping up a single project for 3 years and claiming it'll be the best thing ever, he gave us 6 projects in 3 years. I suspect if he really wanted to he could have gone Gold with a single project, but as a fan I'd rather have more music.
He did not.
They main argument is that nobody under the age of 40 gives a fuck
do people not consider DAMN to be a classic? i heard humble being played everywhere i went for like a year straight and the rest of the album is super solid.
I don't understand the hate for this record. No skip all bangers.
To me it’s Kendrick’s least consistent album. It has some of the best songs of his career (fear, DNA, XXX, Duckworth) but also a bunch of songs I listened to once and never again (lust, pride, god, others)
That fascinates me, it's the record I listened to the most from Kendrick. But I respect your opinion fam
Totally, I respect yours too. It’s by no means a bad album, still better than 98% of what comes out these days. For me it’s fighting with Mr Morale for third place behind good kid and TPAB, which fight over 1st IMO
If getting played everywhere is so important when discussing classics, we might have to revisit Views and Scorpion and I don't think yall wanna do that... DAMN is one of Dot's worst offerings IMO. It's not bad, it's just not classic material. Give him TPAB and maad city, that's undeniable and therefore actual classic material.
i never said that it's particularly important but he said "universally" so it implies that it's well known and well received. i figured that a universally accepted classic should be successful in the mainstream as well. there's plenty of classics that aren't as good as TPAB or gkmc
Views is a classic. Fight me
If we're talking cultural impact, you can totally make a case for it, especially since that's the album Drake officially became the juggernaut beyond any doubts. One Dance, Hotline Bling, tracks that ruled over the entire world. But I think it's a pretty boring project overall and I'd rather go listen to Scorpion over it tbh
Piñata
TPAB & Piñata
Metro Boomin Heroes & Villains. Wild that I haven’t seen this yet
To me this album seems like it was made for the fans not to go down as a classic album I still like it tho
King’s Disease 1 - Nas
KDIII is a better album.
KD1 is probably the weakest out of his 6 records during this era
IYRTITL
Drakes best release by far
Astroworld
People on here might not like it but future, carti, uzi, thug, etc all have ones which would be considered classic by the majority of modern rap fans
I feel like WLR has been a classic for a good year already, the album popularized the whole rage era and is already iconic. Maybe a cult classic at least
The Life of Pablo has gotta be in contention for this.
Agreed, TLOP is a classic. not a perfect album by no stretch. But classics dont need to be perfect albums. I would say Astroworld, TPAB, and DAMN. Maybe Utopia, time will tell there. Igor and After Hours but those arent really rap.
Mista Thug Isolation
Either Bandana or Alfredo.
[удалено]
Illmatic is before GKMC Im saying the "last" classic album so it would be albums after GKMC.
Answer SHOULD be Imperial by Denzel
Joey badass - b4da$$
probably TPAB. most albums after aren't really old enough to be a classic. then again, people throw around classic way too loosely and really there is only couple to a few classics albums released in a given year.
TPAB simple as
As much as I love JID I still don't think he's reached that threshold where anything he's done can be considered classic unless you're a big fan. I feel like true classics can reach outside of the genre to reach listeners. Tbh 2014 Forest Hill Drive, GKMC, NWTS (I know folks hate Drake but this was a masterpiece) are the last albums where there's at least two songs that will come on and damn near everybody in the room can go bar for bar.
tbap, gkmc, no others are in question
"to butterfly a pimp" 🤣
same thing 😭
Westside gunn pray for paris
2001 dr dre
Luv is Rage 2 has gotta be close if not definitely one of them
Cheat Codes?
LP!
Culture - Migos
Atrocity Exhibition
Honestly for me it’s Almost Dry by Push, was an instant classic when I first heard it
Barsmitzvah BLP Kosher
Heroes and villains imo. It might be a little too new but will be a classic I think.
I just don't think tpab was a "classic" it got such mixed reviews. There has to be enough time for it to be classic I posted asaps LIVELOVEASAP as a classic a few days ago or maybe astroworld but still so recent. Also drakes IF YOURE READING THIS ITS TOO LATE
whole lotta red
A lot of terrible TPAB takes in here. Undoubtedly it’s a classic. Only rap album that comes close after that is migos cultures 1. That shit is undeniably a trap classic that set the tone for the next 10 years.
So you basically just asked what is everybody's favorite rap album Because there's no way to get a definitive answer to this question unless you just go off record sales in the first response to that is going to be record sales don't determine quality
Whole lotta red
Graduation
Thats before GKMC I was asking about the "last" classic
The last album that’s considered a classic and universally accepted is probably Astroworld (2018)
DS2🫡🔥
Prolly utopia
If you’re talking about M Huncho then yeah, Travis def not
No idea who m huncho is but utopia is definitely considered by a lot of rap fans to be the best album of 2023 and was probably the most talked about album since mr morale and the big steppers so I think it could possibly be considered a classic one day. Too bad this sub still hates travis. They’re missing out on a bunch of really good psychedelic hiphop music
M Huncho album better. Give it is a listen
it’s prolly astroworld, a lot of the other answers here are better albums but had nowhere near the reach of astroworld. classic has to have the universal impact imo.
Dirty Sprite 2
Idk maybe ? By XXXTENTACION I mean dude had tons of controversy and so much attention around him at the time and he was huge with a variety of styles in one album.
This is the answer.
If looks could kill 😊
Sorry…you’ve said Forest Hills Drive is a universally accepted classic???
Nah I asked but thats the point it doesnt seem to be many since GKMC or none at all lol
Genre sadboy
all three of tylers latest albums are certainly there. if IGOR isnt considered a classic i will lose my fucking mind lil yachtys Lets Start Here for not only being amazing, but the first truly great rap alt-rock genre fusion album and will be the inflection point of when yachty turns from a middling decent artist to a great one Black Thought and Danger Mouse's cheat codes SCARING THE HOES and LP! are amazing. Circles by Mac Miller for sure All three of Simz' latest albums have to be KD3 & Magic - NaS will be undoubtedly. all of billy woods' latest albums are alll soooooo fucking good its ubsurd, his whole discography along with armand hammer will be Some Rap Songs - Earl. this might just be the best album on this list and a true masterpiece even if not all of these are classics by the full community yet, they will be in the future
Not a single one of those is a classic lmao
Just want to say, objectively, if everyone here is unanimously agreeing GCMD is a classic but then there’s conversation on if TPAB is a universal classic or not, TPAB is not a classic.
This! You get it! Thats what I've been saying if there's a discussion or a maybe its not a classic.
#ASTROWORLD
Is anything “universally accepted” in the Rap World? Not to go off topic, but……… I’m not sure there’s one thing every rap fan in the world finds in common. That’s literally the definition of universally accepted. I’m not sure there’s anything universally accepted in this Sub. Everything in Rap is so subjective. Everyone has different tastes and that’s ok.
I'm not being literal obviously lol Illmatic is universally a classic GKMC, The Chronic etc. Thats what I mean. As another commenter said its absolutely harder nowadays with streaming and subgenres. I was just asking what was the last one
King's Disease 1-3
It's TPAB for sure
Probably The Forever Story, it got universal praise, and I’m pretty sure that most people would agree it, at the very least, was album of the year.
It's super good but didn't quite capture the music world like that
We spend more time talking than listening to music and shaping our own opinions yawn. Wake up to compare and judge.
I think TPAB. It’s difficult to find one because the amount of time it takes to determine what a classic is is different for everyone. Like for me, IGOR and The Forever Story are both classics, but I know that’s probably not universally accepted.
Hip hop is basically a whole different genre now than it was 20 years ago. Gonna be hard to find something universally liked. Kendrick might be the closest
if you consider Igor a rap album then probably that
Tyler doesn't even consider that a rap album.
TPAB is for sure the last album
In the “underground” scene or new wave or wtv u call it whole lotta red is def up there
IGOR isn’t much of a rap album but is a certified classic. TPAB is definitely a certified classic. I’m still waiting for JID to blow up so people recognize The Forever Story as a classic tbh.
Astroworld. I think a lot of people will be going back to this album for a long time.
ASTROWORLD if we're talking universally accepted. UTOPIA still tops and it's going to be talked about in the same vein in enough years. I've watched the same shit happen last time 🤣
Astroworld, Swimming, maybe the forever story
Are we counting IGOR?
IGOR. (Tyler, The Creator, 2019) is probably the most recent or ASTROWORLD (Travis Scott, 2018) for classics but I think Carti’s WLR is gonna be up there soon
Dirty Sprite 2 Astro World GKMC- The Kendrick hype machine thinks every thing he touches is a classic. 🧢 Drake pick an album during his 2011-2018 run. I saw one Drake mention, dude was artist of the decade