Top 50 Albums of the 2000's: Albums That Didn't Quite Make It

Before I reveal the top 10, I'd like to acknowledge some of the other great albums from this era, that could have very easily found a spot in the top 50, but fell just short and why I elected not to include them. (These aren't in any particular order)

Take Me to Your Leader - King Gheedora (2003) / Vaudeville Villain - Viktor Vaughn (2003)

Both of these are MF DOOM alter-egos and honestly, the biggest thing holding both of them back was that I already had several DOOM projects on the list.  These two got left off, as opposed to The Mouse and Mask or MM..Food mostly due to production.   This is especially true for Villain.

The Hunt For the Gingerbread Man (2007) / Scars & Memories (2005) / The Downfall of Ibylis: A Ghetto Opera (2002) - MF Grimm

All of these were on the list in earlier drafts at different points, and they all ended up off mostly because of my inability to choose between them.  Gingerbread Man has one of my favorite concepts ever, and Scars & Memories is one of the most personal albums you'll ever hear.

You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having - Atmosphere (2006) / Movies for the Blind - Cage (2002)

These fell off as a result of having another album by their respective artists appearing in the 40-50 range.  Rather than clog up the bottom of the list with multiple albums from the same rappers, I decided to give a bit more variety.  AKA, me trying to please everybody.

Desire - Pharoahe Monch (2007)

I'll be honest, I just forgot this one until I was already well into posting the final list.  I deserves a spot (probably in the mid-late 30's) and I feel bad for leaving it off.

The Lost Tapes - Nas (2002)

This is my favorite Nas release aside from Illmatic, but the fact that it's tracks that got left on the floor from his old (pre-00's) albums and the fact that it's not actually an album kept me from putting it on the list.  It would have definitely gotten a top 10 spot, had I included it.

Evolution Fight - CYNE (2005)

This album is a personal favorite of mine and was one of the last ones cut from the final draft.  The rapping is not outstanding and the production can't quite cover enough ground to make the top 50 push (like it did for Fantastic Vol 2).  This was also a casualty of me trying to bring a bit more variety to the list, other than having it be all soft, alternative type stuff.

Fantastic Damage - El-P (2002)

This was on several early drafts of the list, but ultimately got left off because, at the time I was making the final draft, I hadn't heard it in ages and didn't have it on my iPod anymore, so I didn't feel comfortable ranking it.  Def Jux got plenty of representation on the final list, regardless.

Accepted Eclectic - Aceyalone (2001)

Had this been a bit more cohesive album, it might have made the top 20 on the back of Acey's technical abilites.  Acey's rhymes are on point, but it feels more like  just a collection of songs than an actual album.  The production is pretty uninteresting, too.

Demon Days - Gorillaz (2005) / Gorillaz - Gorillaz (2001)

It probably would have been Demon Dayz that I included, had I decided to include a Gorillaz album.  They're both great albums, but kind of fall in the gray area between hip-hop and rock, so I didn't feel it would be appropriate to include them on a list of hip-hop albums.

Stankonia - OutKast (2000)

It has a few all time great hip-hop tracks, but it's too marred in inconsistency.  A lot of this album feels like filler, unfortunate considering it's 23 tracks.  If this had been cut down to like 15 tracks, it would have definitely had a place on the list.  Probably a top 20 place.

Typical Cats - Typical Cats (2001)

Qwel is a guy that could have had several albums appear in the 35-50 range.  The first Typical Cats album is my personal favorite project he's been a part of.  Bland production held it off the final list, but Qwel goes HAM on this and puts on a clinic for punchline rappers.

There are plenty more that could have made the final list (I almost just decided to make it a top 100, instead), but those are a few that were cut within the last couple drafts of the final list, just to give you all a little insight into my thought process while I was compiling this.  All of them are great albums, despite my criticisms and are definitely worth a spin or two if you haven't heard them.