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![](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/3\/3b\/Krush_Groove.jpg?utm_source=en.wikipedia.org&utm_campaign=parser&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled\"\/)
<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve decided to do this: A list of the rap albums that FOR ME AND ONLY ME represent the best of each year since the launch of the genre.\u00a0 <\/span>When I say \u201cfor me and only me\u201d I mean this is based solely on my personal taste, and not on how influential the album might have been or how \u201cimportant\u201d the heads say it is.\u00a0 There are lots of critically acclaimed artists and albums that will be left out\u2013even ones I appreciate\u2013but to get in this series it must:<\/p>\n\n- Be a good album <\/em>from start to finish, with a minimum of filler\/skipped tracks\u2013it\u2019s more than a bunch of hits with filler around it; and<\/li>\n
- I\u00a0still\u00a0<\/em>like listening to, many years later\u2013it aged well<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
I\u2019m starting with the best of the \u201cOld School.\u201d\u00a0 This period is usually defined as ending around 1985, when the New School artists began to emerge.\u00a0 That\u2019s a reasonable demarcation\u2013especially when looking at full rap albums\u2013because b<\/span>efore 1983, rap was largely driven by singles with albums being an afterthought.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to listen the entirety of, for example, the Sugar Hill Gang\u2019s debut album or any Grandmaster Flash record from beginning to end.\u00a0 But as singles<\/em>, <\/span>there is no denying the power of \u201cRapper\u2019s Delight.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>Similarly, \u201cJamonit\u201d and \u201cThe Message\u201d are timeless cuts\u2013but the albums they appear on?\u00a0 <\/span>Mostly filler.<\/p>\nSo, I don\u2019t have an list for each year before 1985.\u00a0 Next time, for 1986, that changes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nTHE TOP 10 OLD SCHOOL RAP ALBUMS<\/strong><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thumb.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/thumb\/9\/9f\/Fatboyscover.jpg\/250px-Fatboyscover.jpg?w=1060&ssl=1\"\/)
<\/strong>10.\u00a0 None.<\/strong>\u00a0 I don\u2019t have ten truly great albums from this period.<\/p>\n9. Kurtis Blow by Kurtis Blow (1984).\u00a0 <\/strong>8 Million Stories (featuring Run DMC).\u00a0 AJ Scratch.\u00a0 Basketball.\u00a0 Ego.\u00a0 This album was Kurtis Blow\u2019s fight to remain relevant.\u00a0 Great album, but his last great one.<\/p>\n8. Fat Boys by Fat Boys (1984).<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong> Part gimmick and not politically correct of course, but some undeniably great verses and unbridled joy.\u00a0 And maybe instead of focusing on the \u201cfat jokes\u201d we can call it the first body positive record?\u00a0 <\/span>Best cuts: Jailhouse Rap, Stick \u2018Em, Can You Feel It?\u00a0 I mean, those three songs were some of the most fun I\u2019d had listening to music that whole year.<\/p>\n7. King of Rock by Run-DMC (1985).<\/strong> \u00a0<\/strong>These guys dominate this list.\u00a0 <\/span>Best cuts: King of Rock, You Talk Too Much, Can You Rock Like This?<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/berkeleyplaceblog.com\/2026\/09\/17\/the-best-albums-of-every-year-since-the-dawn-of-rap-old-school-1979-1986\/whodini_escape\/\")
6. Kurtis Blow by Kurtis Blow (1980).\u00a0 <\/strong>Widely considered the first \u201cmainstream\u201d rap album, this one is full of some of his biggest hits.\u00a0 Kurtis Blow was a powerhouse in early rap.\u00a0 Not just a great album, an important one as well.<\/p>\n5. Wild Style Original Soundtrack (1983).<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong> \u00a0<\/span>A fantastic representation of the definitive sounds of this era, with new songs from many of the lesser-known legends: Grandmaster Caz, Cold Crush Brothers, Grand Wizard Theodore and more.<\/p>\n4. Escape by Whodini (1984).\u00a0 <\/strong>I admit that this album has a bit of filler but it\u2019s also got four of the best rap songs of this era: Friends (later sampled extensively by MF DOOM), The Freaks Come Out At Night, Escape, and my personal favorite: 5 Minutes of Funk.\u00a0 So I\u2019m including it, in interests of \u201cseparat[ing] the good stuff from the junk!\u201d\u00a0 And don\u2019t miss the seven-plus minute closing cut, \u201cWe Are Whodini,\u201d a shining example of early \u201980s rap, with cosmic swirls, heavy synth, a boom bap backbeat\u2026It\u2019s glorious.\u00a0 \u00a0See also<\/em>: Their eponymous debut, which had the hit, \u201cMagic Wand.\u201d<\/p>\n3. ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/berkeleyplaceblog.com\/2026\/09\/17\/the-best-albums-of-every-year-since-the-dawn-of-rap-old-school-1979-1986\/schoolly_d\/\")
Schoolly-D by Schoolly-D (1985).\u00a0 <\/strong>If Ice-T was the father of Gangsta Rap, then Schoolly-D is the grandddaddy.\u00a0 On Ice-T\u2019s (very, very good) 2026 comeback album Criminal Migraine,\u00a0<\/em>he provides a bonus track that remakes his own hit 6 In the Morning with a PSK backbeat.\u00a0\u00a0Schoolly-D\u00a0<\/em>is a mere 6 tracks, but each is long form (5-7+ minutes), with sparse beats and the rawest lyrical content put in wax so far.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t full of profanity\u2013it was full of guns and sneakers, simmering threats and menace.\u00a0 There had never been anything like it.\u00a0 In the years that followed this seminal album, artists on both coasts and around the country (Ice-T, Hank Shocklee, DJ Quik, 2 Live Crew, Geto Boys, etc., etc.) would be influenced by the sound of this album.\u00a0 Not the beats.\u00a0 Not the vocals.\u00a0 Both. Unlike any rap album before it, Schoolly-D had mad artistry, following the beat across each track until the beat caught up to his vocals and found itself being led, and then back again, weaving across the entire album.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/berkeleyplaceblog.com\/2026\/09\/17\/the-best-albums-of-every-year-since-the-dawn-of-rap-old-school-1979-1986\/r-723231-1231933627\/\")
<\/strong>If you haven\u2019t heard this and check it out, start with his most important cut: \u201cPSK (What Does It Mean)?\u201d\u00a0 You\u2019ll find it primitive at first, but if you stop doing anything other than listen you\u2019ll be immersed.\u00a0 That is, if you like hip hop.\u00a0 And if you don\u2019t, why are you still here?<\/p>\n2. Radio by LL Cool J (1985).<\/strong> \u00a0<\/strong><\/span>Rap\u2019s second (chronologically) truly great album (the first is #1 on this list).\u00a0 <\/span>From the first hard hits of \u201cI Can\u2019t Live Without My Radio\u201d this album grabs you by the throat and doesn\u2019t let go.\u00a0 This wasn\u2019t just LL Cool J\u2019s first album, it was the first album for Rick Rubin\u2019s Def Jam label, and Rubin produced the whole record.\u00a0 Def Jam signaled hip hop\u2019s first major shift\u2013away from the over-articulated and relatively tame content of the early \u201980s and towards harding hitting b-boy styles.\u00a0 Cool J\u2019s huge mainstream success, his charisma as a performer, and the beats behind him changed rap forever.<\/span><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/4\/47\/Run-D.M.C._%28Run-D.M.C._album_-_cover_art%29.jpg\")
1. Run-DMC by Run-DMC (1984).<\/strong> \u201cThe good news is that there is a crew\/Not 5, not 4, not 3, just 2\/2 MC\u2019s who are claiming the fame\/And all other things won\u2019t be the same\u2026\u201d\u00a0 Ironically, those words are from the third cut on this album, Jam Master Jay.\u00a0 Who was #3 of Run-DMC, and didn\u2019t get to be on the album cover.\u00a0 Still, the words are true (even if the number was one short).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>This is the first truly great rap album, end to end, track by track.\u00a0 <\/span>Every cut was fantastic.\u00a0 <\/span>It was also the first rap album to move towards a harder edge sound\u2014and began the genre\u2019s evolution away from just being an extension of disco\/dance music.\u00a0 <\/span>It did for rap what Led Zeppelin did for rock and roll.\u00a0 This album launched the New School and also cemented that rap was not a novelty: It was here to stay.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thumb.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/thumb\/3\/31\/Newcleus-jam-on-revenge-lp.jpg\/250px-Newcleus-jam-on-revenge-lp.jpg?w=1060&ssl=1\"\/)
Honorable<\/strong> Mentions<\/strong>: Albums that were notable, but not great\u2026<\/p>\n\n- Jam On Revenge by Newcleus.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Newcleus were a strong electro\/rap group who had one huge hit: \u201cJam on it. \u201d This album threw a bunch of songs around that hit, which by my own criteria means it can\u2019t rank as a great album<\/em>.\u00a0 However, \u201cJam on it\u201d is my personal favorite rap song of all time.\u00a0 It\u2019s corny and all, so say what you want, but I used to perform it live back in the day so it\u2019s got sentimental value.<\/li>\n
- Mantronix by Mantronix (1986).\u00a0 <\/span>I can\u2019t listen to it all the way through, but it\u2019s a great early electronic rap album)<\/li>\n
- The Message by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.\u00a0 The title track, \u201cScorpio,\u201d and \u201cWheels of Steel\u201d hold up, but overall this is just an album built around \u201cThe Message.\u201d<\/li>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thumb.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/thumb\/7\/74\/Cookypuss.jpg\/250px-Cookypuss.jpg?w=1060&ssl=1\"\/)
Cooky Puss by The Beastie Boys (1983).\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>As far as I know, this is the only song in history about an ice cream cake.\u00a0 I know that someone let Donna Summer\u2019s cake out in the rain, but I\u2019m pretty sure it was a standard flour-and-icing job.\u00a0 I won\u2019t be including very many singles on these lists (this might be the only one I include) or EPs because my site is about albums, but I just had to mention this one.\u00a0 It\u2019s just so awesome, and it shows from the jump that the Beasties would become one of rap\u2019s most experimental groups.<\/li>\n- Music from the Original Motion Picture Krush Groove.\u00a0 A mix of new and previously released rap songs.\u00a0 Originals include an edit of LL Cool J\u2019s, \u201cI Can\u2019t Live Without My Radio), a Beastie Boys deep cut that samples Cheap Trick and the final posse cut, Krushgroovin\u2019, with Run-DMC, Sheila E., Kurtis Blow and The Fat Boys. It\u2019s also got a Debbie Harry original, helping cement her important early role in getting rap recognized.<\/li>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thumb.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/thumb\/4\/45\/UTFO.jpg\/250px-UTFO.jpg?w=1060&ssl=1\"\/)
UTFO by UTFO.\u00a0<\/strong> Like Flash\u2019s album directly above this, UTFO had an incredibly important hit.\u00a0 Theirs was \u201cRoxanne Roxanne.\u201d\u00a0 It led to songs by Roxanne herself, Roxanne\u2019s Parents, and more UTFO songs about Roxanne.\u00a0 Huge, lasting hit\u2013but the related tracks are all novelty items.\u00a0 It\u2019s still worth mentioning because their hit was so important to early rap.\u00a0 In later lists, an album with a just one good song (or two or three) won\u2019t be getting honorable mentions, but this post feels foundational and historical, so here we are.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\u2019ve decided to do this: A list of the rap albums that FOR ME AND ONLY ME represent the best of each year since the launch of the genre.\u00a0 When I say \u201cfor me and only me\u201d I mean this is based solely on my personal taste, and not on how influential the album might […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7060666,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[106560,222726,11863],"tags":[16420,272,273,19248,934,629],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7060665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-berkeley-place","category-best-rap-albums-of-every-year","category-hip-hop","tag-albums","tag-hip","tag-hop","tag-rap","tag-school","tag-year"],"yoast_head":"\n
Looking Back: The Best Rap Albums From Each Year of Hip Hop: Old School (1979-1985) - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/som2nypost.com\/?p=7060665\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Looking Back: The Best Rap Albums From Each Year of Hip Hop: Old School (1979-1985) - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I\u2019ve decided to do this: A list of the rap albums that FOR ME AND ONLY ME represent the best of each year since the launch of the genre.\u00a0 When I say \u201cfor me and only me\u201d I mean this is based solely on my personal taste, and not on how influential the album might […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/som2nypost.com\/?p=7060665\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-19T03:05:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/som2nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/250px-Fatboyscover.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/som2nypost.com\/?p=7060665#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/som2nypost.com\/?p=7060665\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/som2nypost.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a66cfe5cdcbceba9b5562fe085bcaba4\"},\"headline\":\"Looking Back: The Best Rap Albums From Each Year of Hip Hop: Old School (1979-1985)\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-19T03:05:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/som2nypost.com\/?p=7060665\"},\"wordCount\":1510,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/som2nypost.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/som2nypost.com\/?p=7060665#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/som2nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/250px-Fatboyscover.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Albums\",\"Hip\",\"Hop\",\"Rap\",\"School\",\"Year\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Berkeley Place\",\"Best Rap Albums of Every Year\",\"Hip Hop\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/som2nypost.com\/?p=7060665#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/som2nypost.com\/?p=7060665\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/som2nypost.com\/?p=7060665\",\"name\":\"Looking Back: The Best Rap Albums From Each Year of Hip Hop: Old School (1979-1985) - 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