I don't know any album that can emulate the hunger, delivery and wordplay of Illmatic.

Every single track on the album is tight.

Epitome of what HipHop should be

Nas I salute you

I agree "You cant catch me in d streets without a ton of reifer, that 'd be like malcolm x cathing d jungle fever", classic album.

''King Poetic too much flava , Atlanta Embraver I pull the number like a pager''

Bro u know its Half time

Classic

Has the best Hip Hop collabo I can think of as well

Which collabo?

life's a bitch with AZ

Can you think of any beta?

I agree, AZ is usally at his best whenever he does a joint with Nas.

Yeah! I love it anytime they come 2gether but mine is "Favor for a favor"

I beg to disagree,

Reasonable Doubt
Chronic
Ready to Die

A rap album does not make hiphop rather its an element of hiphop.You can say illmatic is the greatest rap album,but which is not true.

@A-40

Its not the Chronic for the basic reason that Dre definitely aint as good a rapper as Nas

While I love Reasonable doubt, it simply does not have the pure street cred of Illmatic. From the RD album you can alredy hear snippets of the paid up flossing ho references that pervades shit hiphop today

As per Ready to Die, I know of no beta wordsmith to beat Biggie, but apart from say Juicy, his subject matter sucks. And i cannt give such a title to anything that came from puffy or his label.

so the Illmatic still wins.

A rap album does not make hiphop rather its an element of hiphop

I totally agree. But u should also note that rap is like the core of hip hop. Not every hip hop is rap, yea, but certainly ova 80% of hip hop is rap( correct me if I'm wrong).
And tho not every rap is hip hop, when u talk Nas, u're not talking much else xcept Hip Hop.

ladebi:

You can say illmatic is the greatest rap album,but which is not true.

Everybody has a right 2 their own opinion. If u agree wit me on that, then u agree someone can disagree wit u absoluteli on this one.

And like I said, in talking about Nas, please say hip hop and not rap, because if u simply say rap, then the 50 cents and all otha "rap artistes" might defile the category so much that Nas' ethereal hip hop will not condescend 2 fit in.

As 4 Illmatic, if I lose 2 copies of it, I'll buy 6 so I'll reduce any chances of not having it drastically, whetha or not it's the gr8st.
And tho I also feel Jigga like I feel my heartbeat, I can't help the fever "Ether" gives me.

I apologize 4 sounding la di da bt i wud rily luv 2 kno ur parametres 4 judging an album"hiphop's greatest".First of all,as rightly pointed out,rap is one amongst 4 elements of d hiphop subculture,there4 products of other elements must be considered b4 choosing a winner(if there wud ever be one!).Allow me play devil's advocate by adding that not having put a timespan 2 ur measurements,any rap album frm d 80s to date wud hve 2 b reckoned.Havin said all dat,allow me remind u of classics such as 2pac's 'all eyez on me',Common's 'ressurection' and kwali's 'Reflektion Eternal'.Oops dnt 4get Wutang's "36 chambers".Nuff said!

@Doyin
You are entitled to your opinion o! but for me i rate those albums higher in the hip hop album classic charts, so are you saying Nas is the best rapper, i beg to disagree

Probably not the best rapper(altho i am sure i can argue it), but he has made the best rap album ever.

Yeah! Talking bout Hip-Hop albums,Illmatic is still the greatest. Who's talkin bout "Reasonable Doubt"? It was a good album too but still a far distant from Illmatic. Talk bout great Hip-Hop albums,Illmatic is always the first to come to mind or just next.At 19,i still can't believe he did all that.

pls,
1.all eyes on me-2pac
2.illmatic-nas

non need to distinguish btw rap and hiphop. we all know what he meant.
illmatic is truly rap's greatest album. with illmatic,there is never a dull moment. STRAIGHT FIRE from start to finish. for an 18yr old, u have to give credit.
even biggie told the whole world, he was surprised that Ready to Die sold more than illmatic.

rakim ,at time of his golden years said the pressure was to much on him always deliver tight lyrics and he often thought he would soon lose it , but when nas dropped illmatic, he was relieved, at least attention would shift away from him.
someone mentioned 36 chambers, honestly, u are on ur own on that. and on All eyez on me, many people didnt really enjoy it from start to finish.death certificate, the chronic and the diary only come close

the only album that many pundits rank above illmatic is rakims PAID IN FULL.