The 25 Best Long Island Rap Albums

They don't call it Strong Island for nothing.

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead

With his impossibly cool delivery, complex metaphors, previously unheard of internal rhyme schemes and Five Percent Nation of Gods and Earths–informed knowledge, Rakim instantly changed the game for MCs with Paid in Full, his 1987 debut album with Eric B, released 25 years ago today.

The emergence of The God MC was remarkable, at the time at least, for another reason: He didn’t claim Brooklyn (where he had deep family roots), or Eric B.’s home borough of Queens, but Wyandanch, a small town 30 miles east of the city, in Long Island’s Suffolk County. People still generally don’t associate the suburbs with hip-hop credibility but starting with Paid In Full and Public Enemy’s aptly titled Yo! Bumrush The Show (also released in ‘87),

Long Island’s “Black Belt” became, for several years, hip-hop’s center of creativity. Embracing their outsider status, acts like De La Soul, EPMD, Leaders of the New School and KMD issued a wave of innovative albums in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, ushering in sounds and sensibilities that invigorated hip-hop’s core audience while evincing a universality rappers from the city couldn’t always muster.

Though not as vital as it once was, Long Island’s rap scene still produces the occasional gem—see Roc Marciano’s Marcberg, for one recent example. What better was to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Paid In Full than to take a look at 25 of the greatest albums to come from Strong Island? Recognize.

Written by Jesse Serwer (@JesseSerwer)

Follow @ComplexMusic

25. JVC Force, Doin' Damage (1988)

Not Available Interstitial

24. Grand Daddy IU, Smooth Assassin (1990)

Not Available Interstitial

23. The UN, UN or U Out (2004)

Not Available Interstitial

22. EPMD, Business As Usual (1990)

Not Available Interstitial

21. Freddie Foxxx, Industry Shakedown (2000)

Not Available Interstitial

20. Son of Bazerk, Bazerk Bazerk Bazerk (1991)

Not Available Interstitial

19. Eric B. & Rakim, Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em (1990)

Not Available Interstitial

18. Roc Marciano, Marcberg (2010)

Not Available Interstitial

17. Busta Rhymes, The Coming (1996)

Not Available Interstitial

16. Leaders of the New School, A Future Without A Past (1991)

Not Available Interstitial

15. Prince Paul, A Prince Among Thieves (1999)

Not Available Interstitial

14. De La Soul, 3 Feet High and Rising (1989)

Not Available Interstitial

13. KMD, Bl_ck B_st_rds (1994)

Not Available Interstitial

12. Eric B. & Rakim, Follow The Leader (1988)

Not Available Interstitial

11. Public Enemy, Yo! Bum Rush The Show (1987)

Not Available Interstitial

10. Busta Rhymes, When Disaster Strikes... (1997)

Not Available Interstitial

9. De La Soul, De La Soul Is Dead (1991)

Not Available Interstitial

8. Biz Markie, Goin' Off (1988)

Not Available Interstitial

7. Public Enemy, Fear of a Black Planet (1990)

Not Available Interstitial

6. LL Cool J, Radio (1985)

Not Available Interstitial

5. MF DOOM, Operation: Doomsday (1998)

Not Available Interstitial

4. EPMD, Strictly Business (1988)

Not Available Interstitial

3. De La Soul, Buhloone Mindstate (1993)

Not Available Interstitial

2. Public Enemy, It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back (1988)

Not Available Interstitial

1. Eric B. & Rakim, Paid in Full (1987)

Not Available Interstitial

Latest in Music