The $%++ is a "classic"??? Vol. Let's settle this debate...

lukethejediknight

lukethejediknight

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I see posts/threads about classics albums all the time. $@#+, there's a thread going on about this already with MBDTF 
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The thing is...few people actually explain what they mean when they say something is classic. What makes one though? Sales? Rhymes? Content? Theme? Sequencing? Production? Impact? Replay value? Appeal? Singles? All of these? Some of these? Some more than others? Other factors that I left out?

I know this is hardly the first thread that even asks this question, so instead of simply defining what a classic is, pick one hip-hop LP (no mixtapes) since 2000 (just to keep *!+$ simple for now) and convince the rest of NT why you believe in your stan hearts of hearts that it deserves the "classic" label. It can be any album since 2000, from Blueprint to Take Care and every damn thing in-between. Let's see what yall come up with for your arguments.

Feel like a teacher giving an assignment
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My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

It's innovative, it's daring, it's damn near flawless, the features are spectacular, the production is mind-blowing, and there are really no skip-worthy songs on it.

Classic.
 
I might come back to elaborate more, but for now, a classic to me is just the bare essentials - beats & rhymes....how does that cd sound
purely lyrically & purely with the production when I put some headphones on and kick back. Now out of what you have listed, the most
important ones to me are rhymes (which includes content & theme), production (obviously) and impact (to an extent). But I mostly have to
go just with beats and rhymes, cause that's what it's supposed to be all about anyway, cause something called a "classic" could have an
impact, but that impact could actually just be considered a trend.

To me no album is a perfect 10/10, even though perfect 10's or "XXLs" are given each year. But even with that a classic (for me) has to have
hit me like a ton of bricks, both amazing me and surprising me, from when I first heard, it to right now (sort of). And since 2000 off the top of my
head, there's been only 2 albums to hit me like that, and that's Common's 'Be, and Ghostface Killah's 'Fishscale'. That's not a slight to other albums
deemed classic either, cause I probably even have some of those. I could name some others I feel like are classics, but I couldn't be fully behind them
cause they probably didn't hit me like the 2 I mentioned above.

I know you said from 2000 and on, but if I had to name a 90's album, it would be Biggie's 'Ready To Die'. I was 7 when I first listened to that,
and at 24, I swear it seems like it got better.

Good question btw, wish it popped up earlier instead and when I feel like passing out falling asleep.
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Technically a musical classic is an album that survives the test of time usually 15-20 years

Hip hop fans as usual just %+!%*% up a term
 
To me flow, production, lyrics, creativity, content, sales, singles, theme, etc. are all pretty irrelevant.

Plain and simply, a classic is an album that leaves a lasting impact that passes the test of time (decades). All the other stuff is nice, but if an album isnt relevant tens of years later, it isnt a classic.
 
Originally Posted by PersiaFly

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

It's innovative, it's daring, it's damn near flawless, the features are spectacular, the production is mind-blowing, and there are really no skip-worthy songs on it.

Classic.
Click to expand...
 
College dropout
The Chronic
Doggystyle
Reasonable Doubt
ATLiens
Ready To Die

etc etc. I used hip hop albums because these types of posts or discussions are never brought up in other genre's. Usually the classics are common knowledge.
But these albums have stood the test of time. And thats what a classic is. An album that can be played in any generation and still touch listeners whether its deep, or a party track.
 
Originally Posted by PersiaFly

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

It's innovative, it's daring, it's damn near flawless, the features are spectacular, the production is mind-blowing, and there are really no skip-worthy songs on it.

Classic.
Click to expand...
Thread/.
 
Good responses so far, but a only a couple of yall actually answered the question as posted (see PersiaFly and Peep Game's posts)
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Let's see some more examples with backed with reasoning, not "__________ is a classic nuff said" posts. There are lots of albums that I think are great that wouldn't get that label from me. And I picked albums since 2000 on purpose - to cartune's point, are hip-hop fans getting it wrong by labeling some of the more recent *%$! as "classics"? Does age count, and if so how much?

Or are we overthinking %#*+ in the first place?
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Ill pick one...

TM 101... Album rolled with production and lyrics front to back and by the time you finished with the album you knew exactly who Jeezy was and what he was about. The album had ery ingredient needed and then some. I mean trap music was around before Jeezy but with this album it was just perfected IMO.
 
Originally Posted by SteveSoFresh

Originally Posted by PersiaFly

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

It's innovative, it's daring, it's damn near flawless, the features are spectacular, the production is mind-blowing, and there are really no skip-worthy songs on it.

Classic.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
great for its time / instant replay value at any given moment.

nearly all of biggie / wutang albums

slim shady lp mmlp

mbdtf
 
Originally Posted by Ace Rawstein

Ill pick one...

TM 101... Album rolled with production and lyrics front to back and by the time you finished with the album you knew exactly who Jeezy was and what he was about. The album had ery ingredient needed and then some. I mean trap music was around before Jeezy but with this album it was just perfected IMO.
Click to expand...
100% agree
Flockaveli is the only other close trap-rap album in my opinion, delivered exactly what people wanted
 
Originally Posted by cartune

Technically a musical classic is an album that survives the test of time usually 15-20 years

Hip hop fans as usual just %+!%*% up a term
Click to expand...

Yep.
 
Originally Posted by Ruxxx

Originally Posted by cartune

Technically a musical classic is an album that survives the test of time usually 15-20 years
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
How can you tell if MBDTF is a classic?
It came out literally one year ago (11/22/10).

Something that is a classic is something with enduring quality. Unfortunately you cannot tell if the quality of something has "endured the test of time" if it has been only out for a year. 

MBDTF may quite well be a classic but we won't know for a long time.
 
I'll add one of my own so yall see where I wanna go with this discussion of arguing "classic" records.

Jay-z-the-blueprint.jpg


Why is it a classic imo? All of these things put together:

Sales: double-plat, charted a handful of singles (I.Z.Z.O., Girls, Girls, Girls; Jigga That @@%$+, Song Cry). Album reaches a wide-listening audience.

Content: The homie CAKE ain't too high up on this one
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But if there's any definitive hip-hop momento of a rapper in his prime asserting his position at the top of his game (especially considering the dudes that were lining up to go at Hov during this time), this is the record. With some moments of introspection in there as well. And NO features either, except for that one of course where Jay murders Em on his own +$$#
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(That's topic for another thread.)

Technique: The trademark "conversational" rhymes/flow that Jay bites from B.I.G. and Young Chris is here on display 
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Fits perfectly with the soul beats.

Production: Kanye West, Just Blaze, Bink. Sped-up soul samples. Ain't the first time you hear this in hip-hop of course, but not in such seamless fashion.

Influence: Makes 'Ye and JB famous and vaults them into producer greatness. Imitation of production on a handful of other records. Imitation of Jay's flow and style by a handful of artists throughout the decade and even to this day (don't need to call out any obvious YM artists here but they know who their %$$%! are.)

Historic significance: Album relased on 9/11 attacks. Nas/Jay beef gets poppin'.

Does it age well? Released in 2001, I can still put in it in the CD changer TODAY and play it front to back. Still sounds fresh a decade later.
I'll do this for MMLP and some other records as well.
 


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The Black Album

I was 12 when it came out and I still get just as excited to bump it now as I did then. Everything from the production(Jay-Z, Damon Dash, Kareem "Biggs" Burke, Just Blaze, Kanye West, The Neptunes, Timbaland, 9th Wonder, Eminem, Rick Rubin, The Buchanans, DJ Quik, Luis Resto, Aqua, Joseph Weinberger) to the promotion of this album was perfect in my eyes. I know everybodys heard it so I dont gotta go in but 463,000 copies sold in the first week and a Grammy Nomination for Best Album of the Year speaks for itself.
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