Here Are The Top 10 Rap Albums of the 90s That You Determined. Get Ready For The 2000s…

Today (December 13) closes Round 2 of the 1990s bracket of Finding The GOAT Albums. With two battles coming down to a photo finish, this was the most dramatic march to the end thus far. You—the voter—definitively decided which 10 albums go forth to the final 32 albums across all eras.

Tomorrow (December 14) begins the first round of the 2000s bracket. Forty albums from what many consider the Rap album’s greatest decade will be voted to 20, and then—just as what has happened with the ’80s and ’90s—folding to a definitive 10.

Ambrosia For Heads consulted multiple industry experts, as well as historical top albums lists, in determining the 40 candidates for each bracket. However, with such an important topic among Hip-Hop Heads, there can never be a full consensus. So, for those who believe that classic albums have been omitted from the ’80s, ’90s, or 2000s, there will be a wild card vote—deciding two additional winners for a final 32 bracket.  There will be a poll that features several of the albums considered for inclusion in the three brackets, as well as an option for write-in choices. This will allow any album in Rap/Hip-Hop history to be considered. As was the case in the first Finding The GOAT MC, these wild cards can truly contend for the top.

So after the Top 10 is decided in all three brackets, look out for the moment of reckoning for the albums everybody (including AFH) may seem to overlook. Once the two wildcard winners have been selected, things will get really interesting, as albums across all three eras will compete against each other to find the album Heads consider to be the greatest of all-time.

Dr. Dre and Ice Cube are the only artists with a certified Top 10 1980s album to achieve the same with the ’90s. Each MC branched from N.W.A.’s Straight Outta Compton, an album that achieved triple-platinum status just last week. A Tribe Called Quest is the first act to get two LPs in the Top 10, with their second and third efforts winning by sizable margins. Raekwon, however, sent a group effort and a solo work to the final bracket, care of the ’90s—with his “purple tape” crushing band-mate Ghostface Killah by the largest margin. On the flip-side, Mos Def (n/k/a Yasiin Bey) suffered two defeats, thanks to Outkast and Tribe defeating Black On Both Sides and Black Star, respectively. Unlike the 1980s finals, two battles were at less than 2% margins, with less than 24 hours remaining. The deciding votes sent Jay Z’s Reasonable Doubt and Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle home following true nail-biters.

Here are the 10 Greatest Of All Times Rap Albums from the 1990s, as decided by you, in order of margin of victory:

Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…
Wu-Tang Clan’s Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
A Tribe Called Quest’s The Low End Theory
Nas’ Illmatic
A Tribe Called Quest’s Midnight Marauders
The Notorious B.I.G.’s Ready To Die
Dr. Dre’s The Chronic
Outkast’s Aquemini
Ice Cube’s Death Certificate
2Pac’s All Eyez On Me

What are your early predictions for Top 10 additions from the 2000s?

Related: Here Are Your Top 10 Rap Albums of the 1980s