A Ted Top Ten List

I've written on the matter of rap music a number of times recently... with this in mind, and after having suffered through the horror of the numerous performances from last Sunday evening's Grammy Awards broadcast, I though that I, one-time hip hop fan, would take the time to make a list of what I consider to be the ten most significant rap albums from the genre's three decades...

• 10) De La Soul: 3 Feet High and Rising (1989)
• 9) Wu-Tang Clan: Enter the Wu-Tang 36 Chambers (1993)
• 8) LL Cool J: Bigger and Deffer (1987)
• 7) Public Enemy: It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988)
• 6) EPMD: Strictly Business (1988)
• 5) Dr. Dre: The Chronic (1992)
• 4) Eric B. and Rakim: Paid in Full (1987)
• 3) N.W.A.: Straight Outta Compton (1989)
• 2) Beastie Boys: License to Ill (1986)
• 1) Run-DMC: Raising Hell (1986)

You'll notice that all these records were released between 1986 and 1993. As I've stated before, it's not, in my humble opinion, a matter of my tastes changing... I still love these albums and listen to them frequently to this day. I just think the genre, for the most part, has gone down the toilet... most of it is simply bad, bad music.