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
