Best 80s Rap Album – Runners Up

Ok, so in my last post I told you what my favorite Rap Album from the 1980s is. But if I’m being honest, it was actually a three-way tie:

Tied for the Win:

#2. Eric B & Rakim: Paid in Full

This album revolutionized the art of rapping for the better. Rakim used rhymes in the middle and end of the bar, instead of just the end and used multisyllabic rhymes. Great examples of this are album highlights: “I Ain’t No Joke” & “Eric B is President”. Eric B’s songs with just the beat are also good, but the ones with Rakim rhyming are a lot better. 

#3. Big Daddy Kane: Long Live The Kane

Every single song is absolutely amazing. From the souring guitar and fast pace lyrics of “Set it Off”, the smooth flow and lyrics of “Ain’t No Half Steppin’”, the great love songs of “I’ll Take You There” and “The Day Your Mine”, the funny lyrics of “On the Bugged Tip” and “Just Rhymin’ With Biz”, and the message of “Word To The Mother (Land)” about celebrating your blackness. This album has it all. 

“Competition, I just devour like a pitbull against a Chihuahua. // ‘Cause when it comes to being dope, hot damn. // I got it good, now let me tell you who I am…”

– Ain’t No Half Steppin’ by Big Daddy Kane

Honorable Mentions:

Public Enemy: It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back

Pure bombastic energy. With the amazing opener “Bring The Nose” (The only rap song my mom knows the words to) and “Rebel Without A Pause”, this album more than stakes its claim as  one of the best of that decade.

N.W.A.: Straight Outta Compton 

Very inappropriate for the audience I’m writing for, so I’m going to make this one brief. Great album, greater production, stellar members. My favorite song is “Express Yourself” (Extended Mix) which is the only songs N.W.A. did without curse words. The song is about how you should be yourself and not let society tell you who you want to be. A lyric that expresses (get it) this perfectly i,s “Some musicians cuss at home, but are scared to use profanity when they’re on the microphone” 

It was very hard to pick Criminal Minded out of those 3 + the others. But, my nostalgia of this being the first 80s rap album I checked out got me to pick it. Are the other albums better? Maybe, but this album stands on its own as one of the defining albums of the 1980s.