What’s the Greatest Hip-Hop Album of All-Time? You Decide. Finding the GOAT Album Starts Monday

Beginning Monday (September 14, 2015), Ambrosia For Heads will launch its second tournament-style “Finding the GOAT” series. “Finding the GOAT Album” follows “Finding the GOAT MC,” a nine-month, experience in which millions of fans engaged in debates about Hip-Hop’s Greatest of All-Time MC. “Finding The GOAT Album” turns its focus on using voting amongst Heads, truly knowledgeable readers who love the culture, to determine, “what is Hip-Hop’s most classic album?” This will be a multiple month, weekday campaign that raises the stakes on one of Hip-Hop’s most hotly-contested questions.

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“Finding the GOAT Album” will consist of three preliminary brackets that will span six weeks, each. In each of these preliminary brackets, 40 albums will be selected to contend for a place in the top 10 of that bracket. These albums will be selected through extensive research of reviews, commercial sales and enduring legacy of hundreds of albums. Brackets will be segmented by decade (’80s, ’90s and ’00s). Each weekday, two albums will be pitted against one another to determine which one advances to the next round within that bracket. Albums will be seeded, based on the research conducted in the initial selection of albums, to insure that higher-regarded albums (for example, Paid in Full and Criminal Minded) do not face off prematurely.

Similarly to the presentation in “Finding the GOAT MC,” for each battle there will be editorial about each album that contextualizes the match up, as well as sample songs, to help voters in their consideration. There also will be a poll in which votes will be cast, and readers will be able to see the % differential in votes, real-time. Though there also will be an enormous amount of debate in comments, on social media, in barbershops and back rooms, only votes cast in the official ballot will count. In “Finding the GOAT MC,” just a handful of votes often decided the results, in early and late rounds. So while we encourage everybody to talk about, be about it too—with the vote that counts. Once all albums in a round have faced off against another album, votes will be tabulated, the winners will be determined and they will move on to the next round within the bracket. This process will repeat until there are only 10 albums remaining in the respective bracket.

Once the top 10 albums are set for each bracket, there will be a wild card pool, featuring write-in candidates, in the interest of full inclusiveness. Two winners will be selected from the wild card pool, bringing the number of albums to be considered in the final bracket, where there will be no more separation by decades, to be 32. From there, albums will battle, as they did in previous rounds, until you, the Heads, determine which one is the greatest Hip-Hop album of all-time.

Related: Your GOAT Has Been Determined And His Name Is…Eminem (Video)