Needlz Names His Top 5 Favourite Rap Albums

Needlz is a seasoned Hip Hop music producer; responsible for 50 Cent's Piggy Bank track, and some other great rap songs. Although music producers are in the background, you always know that they love the art and have ears for great Hip Hop music. Needlz, in a recent interview with HipHopDX, spoke on his top 5 favourite Rap albums of all time-

"I actually started my new little classic collection. Of course, [Nas'] Illmatic is probably my favorite. My son’s name is Nasir. I would say that [album]." Released just six month's beforeIllmatic, Needlz next pointed to A Tribe Called Quest's third LP, Midnight Marauders. Like Omarion said in his own list, Needlz pointed to Jay-Z's 2001 takeover war-hawk album, The Blueprint. "That would be three. What would four be? Aquemini (OutKast). And then five would be? I’m actually listening to [Ice Cube's] Death Certificateright now." Ice Cube's second full-length album was the earliest on Needlz' list, hailing from 1991. (hiphopdx.com)

He also took time to note some Rap albums that didn't make his top 5, but are worth mentioning.

"[Kanye West's] Graduation. I’ll say Graduation, but an album that was really dope, I don’t know how much critical acclaim it got, but Common’s Be, that’s a classic album to me. Those would be in the Top 10." (hiphopdx.com)

Personally, I think Common's Be album is his best to date. I listened to a lot of Common albums from the 90s, and the ones of recent, and I don't know if it's just me, they all lacked something...But Be is just perfect. He had the right amount of energy to go with his lyrical ability on that album, and Kanye West on the production was just insane. If you haven't given that album a listen, you should...you definitely should, for real.