What’s the Best Debut Album in Hip-Hop History? (aka the Debut Album is Dead) Posted by Nathan S. on 03/19/14 | Filed under Top Stories, Debates, RH Nation Answers

This is one of those questions that's so classic, so obvious, so prevalent, I was almost hesitant to ask it as a new "Question of the Week". But after last week's "Best 3 Album Stretch in Hip-Hop History?" it's been on my mind so much that I feel like I finally have to address it. 

First and foremost, I'm not sure the entire idea of a "debut album" even exists anymore in the interwebs age, and hasn't for at least five years ago. Pre....let's say "So Far Gone" in '09 or so....it was pretty widely agreed that an artist's debut album was their first project distributed by (usually) a major label. Everything before was just a demo made to secure that label deal. 

But in 2014, often the only way to even get signed, if you even want to get signed, is to put out an album-quality project. The equation has almost completely flipped; you build your career off free projects, then maybe you end up releasing a major label project almost as a formality. So then what the fuck is a debut album these days? By the time Big K.R.I.T. released "Live From the Underground", the project that would have been considered his "debut album" by traditional standards, he'd already dropped more than three full-length, album quality projects for free. (With even more free mixtapes already out before "KRIT Wuz Here".)

And that's a relatively simple example. Let's take Kendrick Lamar. Ok, so a "debut album" is an artist's first project for sale, with or without major label backing (even though that would once again make "Live From the Underground" KRIT's debut). Fine, so what's Kendrick's debut? "OD" dropped independently in '10, was originally for purchase, then released for free. "Section 80" was for sale independently in '11, and it wasn't until '12 that the major label, for sale, "GKMC" finally arrived, almost a decade and something like six projects after his first "mixtape" came out. 

All of this ridiculous complexity means it's now almost impossible to really compare things like "debut albums" and "best 3 album stretches" across generations. If Nas was coming up in 2014 he'd probably have four mixtapes out before his "Illmatic" major label debut, or "Illmatic" would have been the mixtape that got him signed to Columbia.  

All of this was an incredibly long way of saying that while my picks aren't going to contain any newer artists, it's not because newer artists aren't making great music (see here). It's because I really don't know what projects to label a "debut" from almost any rapper who came onto my radar at around '09 or after. Oh, and I'm not distinguishing between group and solo albums. Ok, now that I've written a seven-million word introduction, let's get into some actual nominees. 

Now, obviously everyone's going to bring up "Illmatic" and "Reasonable Doubt", and rightfully so. Although I think it's important to note that both of those projects didn't truly gain their place in hip-hop history until well after their initial release, when Nas and Jay became big rappers and people went back to their debuts. I'd also add that of course we have to talk about Wu-Tang's "36 Chambers" and Biggie's "Ready to Die". Of course "College Dropout", "Blackstar" is you want to consider that Mos Def's debut, "Black on Both Sides" is you want to consider that Mos' debut. 

And because I don't want to stay stuck on the east coast, Outkast's "Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik" deserves a mention. NWA's "Straight Outta Comptom" really did change the game, as did Dre's "The Chronic" (if you want to consider that Dre's debut and not the N.W.A. shit), and Snoop's "Doggystyle".

Fuck, I know I'm missing about 700 albums, but I gotta close this out sometime. Real quick, um...."Slim Shady LP", "OB4CL" if you don't count Rae's Wu-Tang shit as a debut, "Ironman" if you don't count Ghost' Wu-Tang shit, "It's Dark & Hell Is Hot", "Miseducation" if you don't count Lauryn's "Fugees" shit, "Capital Punishment", "Run D.M.C.", "3 Feet High & Rising"...

...ok, I gotta stop before I just end up typing all day. And with that I turn things over to you RefinedHype Nation. Do your thing as only you can. 

* Because I know it's going to be brought up, I know a lot of rapper's debut albums are also considered their best, but I just don't think Pac's "2Paclypse Now" is his best, so it's hard to for me to include here. Although I know some passionate Pac fans will argue vehemently.