Kirby

You know, I've never been a big Nas fan.
Not sure why. He's always been boring to me.

Top 5 Hip-Hop Albums for a newbie (Kirby's Opinion):

(Artist - Album Title)

1. P.O.S. - Audition
2. Atmosphere - Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EP's
3. Method Man & Redman - Blackout!
4. Tech N9ne - Anghellic
5. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - Eternal 1999

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bungalow

Note to hip-hop newbies: ignore anyone who discourages Nas and recommends a P.O.S. album as a #1 must-hear.

To re-iterate and reemphasize the hip hop must-hears:

Wu Tang Clan- Enter the 36 Chambers
Nas- Illmatic
Notorious B.I.G.- Ready to Die
De La Soul- 3 Feet High and Rising
NWA- Straight Outta Compton

Taking into account the ones you've already downloaded:

Notorious B.I.G.- Ready to Die
De La Soul- 3 Feet High and Rising
NWA- Straight Outta Compton
Mos Def & Talib Kweli- Blackstar
Tupac- All Eyez On Me

Kirby

Oh no, don't ignore me, that would hurt far too much.
Nas is boring. It's an opinion, sir.

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Shake

I've read most of the thread, and am probably gonna get flamed for being a hip-hop "noob" and that's fine. My preference for hip-hop comes from the west coast during the mid '90s.

That being said, mine are....
1) 2pac - Me against the world
2) Snoop Dogg - Tha Doggfather
3) Soundtrack - Murder was the case (which will give you a good feel for many artists from the era)
4)Westside Connection - Bow Down
5) Notorious BIG - Ready to Die (the only East coast album on my list, but I like it )

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bungalow

Yeah, you said this in your last post. And my advice was to ignore you, still is. This is also, my opinion. I'm glad we both made this clear to each other.

Bane of your existence

There's nothing wrong with that list dude.

pourmeanother

The cool thing about this list is that it's personal, and it mixes things up... If people didn't add their own spin to this **** then dude in the o.p. would wind up with the same 5 albums beat to death. Hip-hop was made after '95. 'Audition' may not equal 'Illmatic' in most people's eyes, but that doesn't make it nonessential. **** has some good genre-spanning content. It's the same reason I would second [2] Lucy Ford. While I respect the classics as being essential, I've mostly listened to hip-hop in the 2000s--s Atmosphere 'Lucy Ford', Common 'Be', and Lupe Fiasco 'Food & Liquor' are three more modern albums I would highly recommend to anyone trying to get into rap/hip-hop...

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Life is just blah, blah, blah
You hope for blah
And sometimes you find it, but mostly it's blah
And waiting for blah
And hoping you were right about the blahs you made
And then, just when you think you've got the whole blah'd damn thing figured out
And you're surrounded by the ones you blah
Death shows up... anddd blah, blah, blah.

clutnuckle

I don't know anything.

GZA/Genius - Liquid Swords (personal favorite. absolute gold)
Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass (just in general a gracious rendition of Aesop Rock pieces)
Madvillian - Madvilliany (amazing flow and replay value)
Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique (very dense, hard to get into, but is very rewarding)
Nas - Illmatic (takes 3 or 4, then it's great)

anticipation

I had no idea you were a SoM fan, they're arguably the most underrated group from the West Coast. No Man's Land is fantastic too.

Time for my list:
1. D.I.T.C. "Diggin' in the Crates"
2. Souls of Mischief "93 'til Infinity"
3. Talbi Kweli & Mos Def "Black Star"
4. Mac Dre "Thizzelle Washington"
5. Gang Starr "Hard to Earn"

SATCHMO

Please, the former is one if the most overrated MCs in hip hop, the latter released one of the best hip hop albums of the decade last year.