The Battle of '98

[madstadik]

Tical 2000 had tremendous hype and fell miserably short of expectations.

[djjeffresh]

i was a huge fan of beneath the surface compilation from project blowed that came out in '98. aquemini was pretty dope but a bit overrated so i went ahead and voted for devin tha dude.

[djjeffresh]

killah priest was surprisingly good and steal this album was nice also

[Versive]

Props to you or whoever voted Heavy Mental. I own three copies just because.
Bob Digi above on my list for nostalgic reasons, but they're damn close.

Lack of love for It's Dark and Hell is Hot in this thread tells me several of you are lying to yourselves. Album was the Jagged Little Pill of rap when it dropped. Every song was a hit single, great video or street anthem.

[KhillA]

Outkast and its not even close (word to almighty thun). Even the extremely incompetent Source got the mics right on this one on their first try.

then id go

Dude
Rza
Goodie
Pun
DMX (if you wonder which one then you heard them both after they came out)

[Versive]

Ha I still can't get into Flesh of my Flesh 18 yrs later...

[madstadik]

Ha I still can't get into Flesh of my Flesh 18 yrs later...

I second that. My buddies all thought it was the shit too

[the Wiper]

Outkast has definitely aged better than a lot of things on the list

you ain't wrong for sure, but put that goodie mob album on the next time you got an an hour so to listen to something straight through...there's some moments in there now where the 19-year old me and the 37-year old me are hearing the same bars and are feeling the same emotions. it's kinda weird even, considering it came out half a lifetime ago.

[step one]

actually picked up the Goodie Mob 'Best Of' CD cheap the other week and had it rotation. Definitely aged pretty well.
Been playing Dirty South a lot recently.

[Rhyme 4 Rhyme]

Moment of Truth
Black Star
Capital Punishment

In order.

[Kool Max Power]

moment of truth, and it's not even close. perfect late-90s album except for 2 tracks.

also love showbiz & ag's full scale lp ... still one of the best ditc albums, especially when it comes to post-92 material.

[madstadik]

moment of truth, and it's not even close. perfect late-90s album except for 2 tracks.

also love showbiz & ag's full scale lp ... still one of the best ditc albums, especially when it comes to post-92 material.

Which two arent u feeling?

[Kool Max Power]

moment of truth, and it's not even close. perfect late-90s album except for 2 tracks.

also love showbiz & ag's full scale lp ... still one of the best ditc albums, especially when it comes to post-92 material.

Which two arent u feeling?

"she knows what she wants" and "the mall". not bad tracks per se, but I think they kinda interrupt the flow.

[madstadik]

They do a little bit. Didnt mind she knows what she wants. The mall was just alright. This is the last time guru produced on a gang starr album. He did she knows... and make em pay i believe?

[ardamus]

1998 to me was the year it was all starting to change in hip hop. Some tough choices to pick from this list. I went with Devin The Dude though because of how different his style was at the time. Tough choices between Outkast, Gangstarr, Goodie Mob, Black Star, Pete Rock, Big Pun, The Coup, ACTQ, and Lyricist Lounge.

[J_Preme]

I had "Moment of Truth" and "Heavy Mental" in heavy rotation back then ... i voted "Heavy Mental" on this one ... definitely some hard choices from the list .. Lyricist Lounge, Big Pun, Pete Rock, Black Star & Goodie Mob was definitely in my playlist on the daily .. word

[madstadik]

Totally forgot xzibit 40 Dayz and 40 Nightz. His best work imo

[Beastly Swagger]

A few picks for me here, I went w/ Mr. Rios though.

[tehgiftofgab]

Awesome year, had to go with the the Dark Man

[clark bent]

love aquemini but gangstarr is a no brainer here

also not sure if anyone mentioned hiero....awesome record....lootpack and heltah skeltah were good ones as well

[Roy Johnson]

also not sure if anyone mentioned hiero

Yeah, Pep Love lost his mind on that album. That one and the Aceyalone are my top albums from 1998.

[clark bent]

also not sure if anyone mentioned hiero

Yeah, Pep Love lost his mind on that album.

and on all his hiero cameos up to that point...which made the three year wait for his solo album that much more disappointing when it dropped and was underwhelming as hell...seems like he needed to be just a verse on a song with other people to shine because while it wasnt wack by any stretch his solo album was incredibly monotonous and boring as every verse sounded exactly the same when they werent getting broken up by other mc's...also didnt help that there were way too many songs on it...anyway to your point yes he was out of control on the hiero album

[Ramen]

went Aquemini but 400 Degreez holds a special place in my heart

[aeokq]

Moment of Truth. I consider Soul Survivor to be the best producer album ever, that's my second choice.

Haven't listened to Aquemini in ages, remember not liking it that much. Same goes for Capital Punishment. Heavy Mental is overrated as well, and Killah Priest is one of my top 10 favorite MCs.