From Illmatic to Madvillainy, To Pimp a Butterfly to Aquemini, Tha Carter II to De La Soul Is Dead, we look at the best hip hop albums of all time, year by year.

November 9, 1993 will forever live on as one of the greatest release dates in hip hop history. It was the day we saw Wu-Tang make their debut and A Tribe Called Quest drop arguably their best album ever with Midnight Marauders.

Those two albums, along with Onyx’s Bacdafucup and Black Moon’s Enta da Stage helped shift hip hop’s attention back to the East Coast at a time when the L.A had it on lock. But that’s not to say the West Coast loosened their grip on rap music at all.

1993 was also the year we saw Snoop Doggy Dogg make his debut with Doggstyle, while sold over 800,000 copies in its first week alone, making the Long Beach rapper the fastest selling hip hop artist at the time (until 50 Cent came along). Then there was 2Pac with his sophomore album, Eazy-E putting his beef with Death Row Records on wax, and Souls of Mischief releasing the undeniable classic “93 ’til Infinity.”

From De La Soul’s Buhloone Mindstate to Guru’s Jazzmatazz, Vol. 1 and No Need for Alarm, here are the top 25 best hip hop albums of 1993.

25. Heavy D & the Boyz – Blue Funk

Released: January 12, 1993

Label: Uptown

Singles: “Truthful”, “Who’s the Man”

Features: Gang Starr, 3rd Eye, The Notorious B.I.G., Busta Rhymes & Rob-O

24. Run-D.M.C. – Down with the King

Released: May 4, 1993

Label: Profile

Singles: “Down with the King”, “Ooh, Whatcha Gonna Do”

Features: Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, Q-Tip, EPMD and Onyx.

23. 2Pac – Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z…

Released: February 16, 1993

Label: Interscope, Jive

Singles: “Holler If Ya Hear Me”, “I Get Around”, “Keep Ya Head Up”, “Papa’z Song”

Features: Live Squad, The Wycked, Ice-T, Ice Cube, Treach, Apache, Poppi, Deadly Threat, R&B singer Dave Hollister and Digital Underground.

22. Big Daddy Kane – Looks Like a Job For…

Released: May 25, 1993

Label: Cold Chillin’, Warner Bros.

Singles: “How U Get a Record Deal?”, “Very Special”

Features: Mister Cee, Scoob Lover, Scrap Lover, Lil Daddy Shane, Spinderella, Laree Williams, Karen Anderson

21. Cypress Hill – Black Sunday

Released: July 20, 1993

Label: Ruffhouse, Columbia

Singles: “Insane in the Brain”, “When the Shit Goes Down”, “I Ain’t Goin’ Out Like That”, “Lick a Shot”

Features: N/A

20. Eazy-E – It’s On (Dr. Dre) 187um Killa

Released: October 19, 1993

Label: Epic, Relativity, Ruthless

Singles: “Real Muthaphuckkin G’s”, “Any Last Werdz”

Features: B.G. Knocc Out, Dresta, Cold 187um, Kokane, Dirty Red

19. Queen Latifah – Black Reign

Released: November 16, 1993

Label: Motown

Singles: “U.N.I.T.Y.”, “Just Another Day…”, “Black Hand Side / Weekend Love”, “Rough… / I Can’t Understand”

Features: Tony Rebel, Treach, Heavy D, and KRS-One

18. 8Ball & MJG – Comin’ Out Hard

Released: August 17, 1993

Label: Suave House

Singles: N/A

Features: N/A

17. Spice 1 – 187 He Wrote

Released: September 28, 1993

Label: Jive

Singles: “Dumpin’ ’em in Ditches”, “The Murda Show”

Features: Havikk The Rhime Son, Prodeje, Boss, G-Nut, Ant Banks, E-40, MC Eiht

16. Scarface – The World Is Yours

Released: August 17, 1993

Label: Rap-A-LotPriority

Singles: “Let Me Roll”

Features: J. Prince, DMG, 2 Low

15. Freestyle Fellowship – Innercity Griots

Released: April 28, 1993

Label: 4th & B’way, Island, PolyGram

Singles: “Bullies of the Block”, “Hot Potato”

Features: Daddy-O, Cockney “O” Dire, Archie, Volume 10, Spoon, and Ganja K Chronic

14. Erick Sermon – No Pressure

Released: October 19, 1993

Label: Rush

Singles: “Hittin’ Switches”, “Stay Real”

Features: Ice Cube, Joe Sinistr, Kam, Keith Murray, Redman and Shadz of Lingo

13. Onyx – Bacdafucup

Released: March 30, 1993

Label: JMJ, Rush, Chaos

Singles: “Throw Ya Gunz”, “Slam”, “Shifftee”, “Da Nex Niguz”

Features: N/A

12. Tha Alkaholiks – 21 & Over

Released: August 24, 1993

Label: Loud, RCA

Singles: “Make Room”, “Likwit”, “Mary Jane”

Features: King Tee, Lootpack, Field Trip, Threat

11. Naughty by Nature – 19 Naughty III

Released: February 23, 1993

Label: Tommy Boy, Warner Bros.

Singles: “Hip Hop Hooray”, “It’s On”, “Written on Ya Kitten”

Features: Heavy D, Queen Latifah, Freddie Foxxx and Rottin Razkals

10. Souls of Mischief – 93 ’til Infinity

Released: September 28, 1993

Label: Jive

Singles: “93 ’til Infinity”, “That’s When Ya Lost”, “Never No More”

Features: N/A

9. KRS-One – Return of the Boom Bap

Released: September 28, 1993

Label: Jive

Singles: “Outta Here”, “Sound of da Police”

Features: Ill Will, Kid Capri

8. Black Moon – Enta da Stage

Released: October 19, 1993

Label: Nervous

Singles: “Who Got da Props”, “How Many MC’s…”, “I Got Cha Opin (remix)”, “Buck Em Down (remix)”

Features: Smif-n-Wessun, Havoc, Dru-Ha

7. Digable Planets – Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space)

Released: February 9, 1993

Label: Pendulum, Elektra

Singles: “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)”, “Where I’m From”, “Nickel Bags”

Features: N/A

6. De La Soul – Buhloone Mindstate

Released: September 21, 1993

Label: Tommy Boy, Warner Bros.

Singles: “Breakadawn”, “Ego Trippin’ (Part Two)”

Features: Shortie No Mass, Dres, Guru, Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley, Pee Wee Ellis, SDP, Takagi Kan, Shortie No Mas, Biz Markie

5. Guru – Guru’s Jazzmatazz, Vol. 1

Released: May 18, 1993

Label: Chrysalis

Singles: “Trust Me”, “No Time To Play”

Features: N’Dea Davenport, Carleen Anderson, Dee C Lee, MC Solaar, Simon Law, Branford Marsalis, Courtney Pine, Donald Byrd, Gary Barnacle, Lonnie Liston Smith, Ronny Jordan, Roy Ayers and Zachary Breaux.

4. Del the Funky Homosapien – No Need for Alarm

Released: November 23, 1993

Label: Elektra

Singles: “Catch a Bad One”, “Wrong Place”

Features: N/A

3. Snoop Doggy Dogg – Doggystyle

Released: November 23, 1993

Label: Death Row, Interscope

Singles: “Who Am I? (What’s My Name?)”, “Gin and Juice”, “Doggy Dogg World”

Features: Dat Nigga Daz, Nancy Fletcher, The D.O.C., Tha Dogg Pound, RBX, The Lady of Rage, Nate Dogg, Warren G, Kurupt, Dramatics, Lil Malik

2. A Tribe Called Quest – Midnight Marauders

Released: November 9, 1993

Label: Jive

Singles: “Award Tour”, “Electric Relaxation”, “Oh My God”

Features: Trugoy the Dove, Raphael Wiggins, Busta Rhymes, Large Professor

1. Wu-Tang Clan – Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

Released: November 9, 1993

Label: Loud

Singles: “Protect Ya Neck”, “Method Man”, “C.R.E.A.M.”, “Can It Be All So Simple”

Features: N/A

Related Posts