The 100 Best Albums of the 2000s

None

Label: Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam

Key Track: "Heartless"

OK, so it took us a couple months to admit it, but at this point it's undeniable—'Ye went out on a serious limb with this one, replacing raps with sing-songy Auto-Tune blues and chopped soul with '80s pop synths. And it actually worked. Matter of fact, it was amazing.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

808s was recorded in Hawaii over one month during a break in the summer leg of the "Glow In the Dark" tour.

Label: Astralwerks

Key Track: "Warm Night"

With eight members and three female lead singers, this Swedish indie group had the potential to be a disaster. Luckily their self-titled debut is easy to love, with sweet melodies and spacious arrangements.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Longtime Concretes vocalist Victoria Bergsman left the group in 2006 to focus on her solo project Taken By Trees.

Label: Island

Key Track: "Mr. Brightside"

The Cozy Time Book Club would be a more appropriate name for this Vegas band, but we digress. Their memorable debut delivers moody, keyboard-infused pop rock that's obviously influenced by '80s bands like The Cure and Joy Division. No wonder the British press was on their dick like Susan Boyle.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

In addition to standard formats, the album was released on 7" vinyl, in a box of 11 discs.

Label: Definitive

Key Track: "Run the Numbers"

Five years after his abrasive and confusing solo debut Fantastic Damage, the Company Flow captain returned with this surprisingly well-crafted album of psychedelic hardcore hip-hop that hit our vital nerve.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

ISWYD features contributions from members of Mars Volta, Nine Inch Nails, and Cat Power.

Label: Epic

Key Track: "Float On"

(Not so) mopey indie rock for the masses. After capturing the critics with their major label debut The Moon & Antarctica, Double-M broke through to the O.C. crowd with this more pop-friendly effort.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Good News is the only Modest Mouse album recorded without drummer Jeremiah Green.

Label: Boss Hog/Star Trak/Geffen

Key Track: "3 Kings" f/ T.I. & Bun B

Released at the height of the mainstream's infatuation with all things Houston, Slim Thugga's debut is an unexpected mix of half Screw-influenced H-Town music produced by Mr. Lee, and half-quirky electro tracks from the Neptunes. Despite mixed reactions upon it's release, this LP was definitely ahead of its time. Or maybe we just need to kick this syrup habit.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

It's called Already Platinum because Slim Thug claims to have sold over a million units of his local Houston mixtapes.

Label: Warner Bros.

Key Track: "Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell"

The Flaming Lips—or, as we like to call them, Herpes—was already known for their orchestral psychedelia, but the tenth time around Wayne Coyne and his band of merry pranksters struck the perfect blend of poppy sounds and melancholy sentiments. If Pink Floyd was around in the Internet Age, this would be their Dark Side of the Moon.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

A secret message hidden on the right spine of YBTPR reads "You Have Found The Secret Message, Do You Have too Much Time on Your Hands? ...Let it Go."

Label: Virgin

Key Track: "Kids with Guns"

Damon Albarn lost Dan the Automator and Del for the G'z sophomore effort, but picked up Danger Mouse and De La Soul, so... yeah, it was all a wash in the end. A bathing ape, you might even say. *wink*

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

The album cover is a nod to the Beatles' Let It Be.

Label: Disturbing tha Peace/Def Jam South

Key Track: "What's Your Fantasy" f/ Shawnna

Southern hip-hop dominated radio airplay in the 2000s, and no artist epitomized this movement more than Ludacris, who was originally a radio DJ himself. With ferocious verses, shout-along hooks and early Bangladesh-produced bangers, Luda's breakout LP is by far his best.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

BFTFT is virtually the same as Luda's indie debut Incognegro, plus a few new tracks like the Neptunes-produced "Southern Hospitality."

Label: Wichita

Key Track: "Helicopter"

High-energy Brit rock that sounds like a hipster dance party waiting to happen. With punchy post-punk instrumentation and a serious tone, Bloc Party's debut was a long-overdue reminder of how urgent and exciting simple rock could be. Ring the alarm!

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Silent Alarm producer Paul Epworth also called the shots on Maximo Park's A Certain Trigger and The Rakes' Capture/Release.

Label: V2

Key Track: "You're So Gangsta"

A-Trak's brother and the Canadian version of Turtle get funky over commercial-friendly throwback electro beats. With a barrage 808s and vocoders, the duo is the ironic yin to T-Pain's Roger Troutman-inspired yang.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

"Needy" was featured in a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup commercial, "Rage" in a McDonald's spot, and "You're So Gangsta" in an ad for Heineken.

Label: Wichita/V2

Key Track:: "Young Folks"

Three Swedish dudes make eerie indie rock influenced by '60s pop music. Next thing you know, their songs are getting licensed for every commercial and TV show, and Kanye and Drake are releasing cover versions. Could PB&J be the new Ace Of Base?

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

The whistle in "Young Folks" was supposed to be a placeholder, but it sounded so good they decided to keep it.

Label: Virgin/EMI

Key Track: "Lapdance"

In 2001, the Neptunes were the biggest producers in pop music, but their first release as artists (under the group name N.E.R.D.) was decidedly anti-pop, with a lead single about strippers and an apparent influence of hallucinogenic drugs throughout. Which is why they forgot what they were searching for mid-sentence.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Originally recorded with traditional Neptunes synths, the label had the group re-record the album with a live rock band.

Label: Duck Down

Key Track: "P-Body"

Duck Down experiences a renaissance thanks to this exceptional sophomore solo album from the 30-something Heltah Skeltah member, the first Boot Camp release to crack the Billboard 200 chart since the '90s. Dru Ha, meanwhile, still gets the p*ssy 'cause he tells 'em that he's Spanish.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

SP was known as "Ruckus" in the mid-'90s. As far as discarded rap names go, that's a hell of a lot better than "Big Moon Dog" a.k.a. Big Pun.

Label: Modular

Key Track: "Lights & Music"

Australian electropop group storms the indie rock world with moody '80s-influenced melodies and guitar-laden beats inventive enough to fit in with a house set. Throw another shrimp on the barbie... and please don't step on my blue suede boat shoes.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

"Lights & Music" was featured in FIFA 09.

Label: Def Jam

Key Track: "Be Easy"

Wu-Tang's only consistent member delivers his most cohesive LP in years thanks to two new collaborators—MF Doom and J. Dilla—who added a soulful anchor to Ghost's always-fresh lyrical attack. This was Ghost's first album without RZA, but no one seemed to mind. Except maybe RZA, of course.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Ghost stopped smoking weed during the recording of Fishscale.

Label: 1st & 15th/Atlantic

Key Track: "Superstar" f/ Matthew Santos

Okay, so the "concept" behind Lupe's second album doesn't really make much sense, but it sure does sound good. The Chicago MC landed his first real hit with "Superstar" and backed it up with a diverse, inventive album created in collaboration with in-house producer Soundtrakk. How's that for a concept?

YOU AUGHTA KNOW: "Dumb It Down" was originally recorded with a different chorus, but label execs told him it was too intellectual, so he recorded the present chorus to spite them.

Label: G-Unit/Interscope

Key Track: "Let Me In" f/ 50 Cent

No one expected the new kid from Nashville, TN to drop the best non-50 G-Unit album, but that's exactly what happened. By sliding a few Southern hip-hop producers like Three 6 Mafia in with Sha Money's regular NYC beat factory, Buck found a winning formula for gritty, post-regional street rap. Later he would just get so confused. *sob*

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Young Buck was originally down with Juvenile's UPT camp, and 50 offered him a deal after Buck worked with the G-Unit on 50 Cent Is the Future.

Label: Kranky

Key Track: "This Bum's Paid"

A little like some of the dark, indietronica fuckery from the rest of the decade, except these dudes and dudettes play their own instruments. Definitely our favorite six-song, vocal-free album of the 2000s!

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

We are very excited to report that members of Out Hud are also in !!!

Label:VP

Key Track: "Jah Jah City"

After toying with some more hip-hop-influenced material in the '90s on his two Def Jam releases, the Jamaican vet found his voice with this solid set of straight-ahead dancehall, laced with his fiery rhetoric.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Capleton started as a "slackness" DJ, whose first big hit was "Bumbo Red."

Label: G-Unit/Interscope

Key Track: "Poppin' Them Thangs"

Released just 10 months after 50's game-changing debut, Beg For Mercy capitalized on G-Unit mania with a solid set of tracks that established Young Buck and Lloyd Banks as solo artists. Free Yayo!

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Most of BFM was recorded on the Roc-A-Fella/G-Unit tour in the summer of 2003.

Label: Record Collection

Key Track: "The Rat"

Reverb-heavy garage rock band pushes past the obvious Strokes comparisons on their serious-minded sophomore set that proved they had bigger fish to fry than a measly Saturn commercial.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

The band recorded much of Bows + Arrows at Sweet Tea Sutdios in Oxford, MS; they returned there to record their latest album You & Me.

Label: Ed Banger Records

Key Track: "Phantom"

The funkiest French house duo since Daft Punk broke onto the international scene with this ambitious pastiche of innovative instrumental disco that's catchy enough for pop radio play. And that's a cross we're happy to bear.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

"Genesis" features a sample of 50 Cent's "In Da Club" that's so short it's unrecognizable.

Label: Diplomat/Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam

Key Track: "Oh Boy"

Killa Cam's most commercially successful album might have led to the breakup of Roc-A-Fella, but it was probably worth it. This is classic New York City rap; an impressive career resurgence aided by sped-up Just Blaze beats and the introduction of an 18-year-old Juelz Santana. Oh boy!

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Cam and Dame wanted to make "Welcome to New York City" a single, but Jay Z refused to be in the video.

Label: Nu America/Interscope

Key Track: "A Beautiful World"

We wanted to hate when it dropped, but this is a great blue-eyed soul record. His follow-up became a huge commercial success with the adult contemporary R&B set, but this is the slept-on gem that started it all.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

The song that would become Lil Wayne's "Shooter" appeared on this album as "Oh Shooter."

Label: We Are Free

Key Track: "Wait for the Summer"

The Brooklyn hipster band made diverse, psychedelic rock music that would make the Talking Heads proud. At least we think so.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Their song "Say Yes" was featured in an episode of Entourage.

Label: Grand Hustle/Atlantic

Key Track: "U Don't Know Me"

After blowing up with "Rubberband Man," Tip was forced to go to prison for a year before recording his true crossover album. With some classic DJ Toomp trap music sitting side by side with big name producers like Swizz Beatz and Scott Storch, this is where Tip solidified his spot as the South's #1 rapper.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

"U Don't Know Me" was never supposed to be a commercial single, but after radio wouldn't stop playing it, it went on to be Tip's biggest song ever.

Label: Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam/Jive

Key Track: "Green Light"

The ill-fated collaborative album from these two legends is understandably overlooked, but we'll say it—this would be considered a classic if video of R. Kelly (or a guy that looks a lot like him, in a house that looks a lot like his) peeing on teens hadn't leaked weeks before the LP's release. 

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

As the album began to leak, R. Kelly's alleged underage sex tape was serviced to the media, causing Jay Z to disown the project. 

Label: Drag City

Key Track: "Esprit de Corpse"

Two guitars, a drummer that kicks some righteous ass and no muddling the message with vocals = prog metal pwnership at its finest.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Prior to IV the band added "Fucking" to their name to avoid a lawsuit by the '60s group The Champs.

Label: Downtown Records/Atlantic

Key Track: "Crazy"

Cool videos, a cool concept, and a cohesive album gave Cee-Lo's underappreciated talent a second chance and proved that Danger Mouse could be more than a clever English spy... mouse.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

"Crazy" was the first song in the U.K. to reach no. 1 based on downloads alone.

Label: Sound in Color

Key Track: "Show Me the Good Life" f/ Aloe Blacc & Joseph

Sad truth: the main reason underground hip-hop falls short is that it's too much spit, not enough real shit. That's not a problem here; Blu goes in with a style that blends the laconic mood of sunny California with the cerebral bravado of a New York guttersnipe. If this is the rest of the subterranean was really like, we'd go back to rocking the strappy North Face full-time.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Exile also produced Mobb Deep's "Pearly Gates." 

Label: Touch and Go/4AD

Key Track: "Staring at the Sun"

TVOTR came on the New York rock scene and took things to another, more sophisticated level. Calling this "experimental rock" only makes us sad that making good music is somehow daring. Though we do have a question about these so-called bloodthirsty babes: does that mean they suck it or not? KILLA!

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

"Satellite" concerns a man waiting for his girlfriend's cell phone to get service.

Label: Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam

Key Track: "1-900-Hustler"

Why this was marketed as a Jay solo still eludes us, since it's arguably the best weird-blend-of-crew-and-roster-based album out there. Even Memphis Bleek tore it down, and earlyish glimpses of everyone from Beanie to Kanye ("This Can't Be Life" was one of his first major production placements) make for a vivid snapshot of when the Roc had the radio on lock. We were even listening to it the day we ran into Memph at Quizno's. He makes a mean panini. Pause.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

"Parking Lot Pimping" was the intended first single, but two days before the video shoot Jay recorded "I Just Want to Love U" and scrapped everything in favor of that.

Label: G.O.O.D. Music/Geffen

Key Track: "The Corner"

After Electric Circus confused and amused the music world in 2002, Common chilled out on the weird hippie shit and teamed up with Chi Town's new genius on the block, Kanye West, for a much-touted return to a more traditional "hip-hop" sound and it sounded like home.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Common returned to Chicago for inspiration and wrote much of Be while staying in his old neighborhood.

Label: Ipecac/Interscope

Key Track: "Go with the Flow"

We've never been that into the glam-meets-evil aesthetics of metal, but we love its ethos: kick ass by any means necessary. So when some unassuming lads from Southern California manage to make most metal bands seem like boo-hooing pussies, you know they're hardbody (no Rob Halford). And when they put together a concept album about driving through the desert and kicking the ever-living shit out of everything in their way? SOLD!

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

QOTSA front man Josh Homme stole Rancid front man Tim Armstrong's wife!

Label:Jagjaguwar

Key Track: "Blindsided"

Look, we have feelings, too, and we like driving around in a Volkswagen listening to acoustic feel-bad music as much as the next guy. But when we need true melancholy, we turn up the Bon Iver. This is the album we play while we're breaking up with chicks. Of course, once they're gone, we cue up the Queens of the Stone Age and call up some trifeys for a gymnastic threeway. Fuck feelings, anyway, amirite?

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

The name "Bon Iver" came to singer Justin Vernon while he was watching an episode of Northern Exposure.

Label: Domino

Key Track: "U.R.A. Fever"

Boy meets girl, boy and girl team up to make some brilliant lo-fi rock. So what if Gossip Girl used one of the tracks off this album ("Sour Cherry") and catapulted them to mall-hero status? From garage ("M.E.X.I.C.O.") to unassuming funk ("U.R.A. Fever"), the shit still bumps.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

The Kills' lead singer went on to join Jack White's Dead Weather.

Label: Loud/Relativity

Key Track: "Ante Up"

The Mash Out Posse has been kidnapping fools and putting themselves in danger of vocal polyps for nearly 20 years. And this may have been their crossover moment, sampling rock anthems ("Ante Up" and "Cold as Ice") to get people amped as FUCK. Brownsville in this sumbitch!

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

According to legend, M.O.P. secured the Foreigner sample for "Cold As Ice" by getting Mark Ronson to hit up his stepfather.

Label: Warner Bros.

Key Track: "Colony of Birchmen"

In the '70s, everyone liked to air-drum to Rush. In the '80s and '90s, it was Guns 'n' Roses and Megadeth. But there's a new King of the Air Drummers in town, and it is fucking MASTODON. You like your metal old-fashioned? Clean-sounding vocals, mythological concepts, and every so often a sinister ballad with a cryptic title ("Pendulous Skin")? This is your shit, trust.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Blood Mountain is the highest peak in the Georgia section of the Appalachian Trail.

Label: Domino

Key Track: "Peacebone"

Sometimes, when you're trying to describe music to someone, you use the word "whimsical." You don't know why you do it, or if it's even accurate, but that's all you can think of. Well, that band was probably Animal Collective, and you were probably talking about this album. How six-minute jams sound whimsical is beyond us, but they manage to do it.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

The album's title was inspired by a packet of jam lead singer Panda Bear opened on a transatlantic flight to Greece.

Label: Columbia

Key Track: "Made You Look"

This is us being excited about Nas. *blink, blink* At least it happened once this decade. Anyhow...More of the real emotion he promised on Illmatic, less of the flossy fantasies he pooped out on Nastradamus. Personal, real, and finally some real ammo for the "King of New York" barbershop argument. They shootin'!

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Nas's mother, Ann Jones, died less than a year before he released God's Son.

Label: Universal

Key Track: "Rehab"

We'd call it blue-eyed soul, but homegirl's pupils were so dilated that we can't be sure what color they actually were. So much rawness—we mean the soul, not whatever she was ingesting—even Ghostface jumped on there. The first of many British white pop/soulstresses of the '00s, and far and away the realest.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

"Tears Dry on Their Own" samples the backing music to the Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell song "Ain't No Mountain High Enough."

Label: Interscope

Key Track: "Bang! Bang!"

The self-described "Nirvana of rap," this hipster-hop New Orleans duo brought a polished, but still DIY aesthetic to their criminally under-appreciated debut, doing their own production, playing their own instruments, and squeezing themselves into their own skintight jeans. If you hear them Lindsey boys are playing live nearby, do yourself a favor an peep these Knux.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

The Knux were originally New Orleans residents, and moved to Hollywood after Katrina to record 3 Days...

Label: Beat Club/Interscope

Key Track: "Back in the Mud"

The first and only redneck rapper to really kill shit. Deliverance is to Bubba what Lord Willin' is to Clipse: a single-producer album (in this case, Timbaland, with some help from Organized Noize) that marries verse and sound in a once-in-a-lifetime syzygy. Look it up!

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

No men squealed like pigs during the making of this album.

Label: Vice/Atlantic

Key Track: "Dry Your Eyes"

The U.K.'s grime movement kinda came and went, but with its dense, spoken word-ish raps that read like a noir book on tape, AGDCFF left its mark. Trends come and go, but flow—even when it's masked as "anti-flow"—is forever.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

AGDCFF is a concept record documenting a day spent seeking to recover lost money.

Label: Capitol

Key Track: "The National Anthem"

Released in the fall of the decade's first year, Kid A's experiments in electronica and the 'Head's funkiest beats provided a template for where much of rock would go in the Aughts. In an alternate, better-sounding universe, Jay Z is pals with Thom Yorke, not Chris Martin.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

During the recording of Kid A, lead singer Thom Yorke read Ian McDonald's Revolution In the Head, a chronicle of the Beatles' recording techniques.

Label: XL Recordings

Key Track: "Loud Pipes"

"Ratatatat-tatatat like that and I never hesitate to put a..." OK, not quite Dr. Dre, but Ratatat's guitar-synth attack did sound a lot like pop beats from rap's Golden Era thrown into a indie rock/electronica spin cycle. The effect was totally unique, and totally of a piece with the decade's genre-bending ethos.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Parts of this album were recorded in a home owned by Bjork in Upstate New York.

Label: Ibid Records

Key Track: "Cowbell"

In the decade where indie rock either went to the garage or the computer-generated beats store, T'NT made a left turn just by keeping the rig pointed straight ahead: jangling guitar-based pop with just enough newfangled bells and whistles to make you know which Bush Administration they were recording during. Fuck CDs: As any true audiophile knows, the original analog cassette tapes provide a warmer sound.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

"Insistor" is featured in the game Major League Baseball 2K7.

Label: G-Unit/Aftermath/Interscope

Key Track: "How We Do"

Remember when 50 Cent had the golden ear and the midas touch? This might just be the peak of the dynasty. Seven Dr. Dre tracks, some Just Blaze and Havoc mixed in, and plenty of assists from the usual suspects (Em, Nate Dogg) and the verse of 50's life? It's enough to forgive the constant name-dropping

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

The Documentary's original title was Nigga Witta Attitude Vol. 1.

Label: Cranky/Constellation

Key Track: "She Dreamt She Was a Bulldozer, She Dreamt She Was Alone in an Empty Field"

Rock's long had orchestral aspirations, but nobody's done it like GY!BE before: dense, meanderingly-focused compositions that build inexorably towards crushing denouements (get that French-English dictionary poppin'). OK, first Jesus, now you're telling us the emperor's black, too? What's next, the president?

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

LYSFLATH is entirely instrumental, consisting of four tracks clocking in at more than 18 minutes each.

Label: EMI

Key Track: "LDN"

Barely a singer and definitely not a rapper, Lily Allen was utterly unique when she burst on the scene with Mark Ronson's poppy, mod-hop beats and her infectious, funny sing-songy flows about all the fun things bad girls like to do. Yeah, it's a guilty pleasure for dudes, but we're not afraid to admit it: Lily = the trifey we'd wife in a minute.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

The album's title references a phrase Allen's brother used for "cool" and was also inspired by the Albert Einstein aphorism: "Nothing changes until something moves."

Label: Columbia

Key Track: "Time To Pretend"

Beats that bounce, a tuneful low end, and quirky samples that gnaw at your brain like pleasant mosquitos (plus more beats that bounce): MGMT became the dance soundtrack for '08. You don't even have to be high to enjoy their charms (but it certainly don't hurt).

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

The video for OS's lead single, "Time to Pretend," has garnered over 12 million plays on YouTube.

Label: Sympathy for the Record Industry

Key Track: "Fell in Love With a Girl"

The album that first gave folks outside the indie rock establishment a hint that there was something special going on with the ambiguously-related duo from Motown. With no bass and rudimentary drumming, the Stripes still brought a strut to rock that had been missing from the genre for years.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

WBC was dedicated to Loretta Lynn, prompting a friendship between the Stripes and the country music legend.

Label: Rough Trade

Key Track: "What Became of the Likely Lads"

The U.K.'s version of the Strokes managed to be not quite as good as their American counterparts, although that might just be because of the crack.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Prior to recording their eponymous second LP, vocalist/guitarist Pete Doherty served time in prison for breaking into fellow vocalist/guitarist Carl Barat's flat.

Label: Stones Throw

Key Track: "America's Most Blunted"

Madlib and MF Doom team up for one of few underground rap records that live up to the hype, a disc with equal parts buttery soul samples and delightfully off-kilter obtuse rhymes. Peanut Butter Wolf thanks them for making him a thousandaire.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Madlib produced "Rhinestone Cowboy" and "Strange Ways" in Brazil using a portable turntable, a cassette deck, and a SP303 sampler.

Label: Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam

Key Track: "We Major" f/ Nas & Really Doe

Remember when 'Ye was pigeon-holed as the "sped-up soul sample" guy? With his sophomore LP, he quickly put that to rest, crafting the most baroque hip-hop album of all time, with Jon Brion playing all the instruments Kanye didn't know how to play. He had finer efforts during the decade, but LR was the disc where Yeezy officially declared school to be in session. You must learn!

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Kanye spent nearly $2 million recording Late Registration.

Label: Hypnotize Minds/Sony

Key Track: "Stay High" f/ Young Buck, Eightball & MJG

Before they gained fame as the most enthusiastic Oscar winners of all time, these Dirty South vets crafted their most unexpectedly soulful record yet, a high energy ode to the good life in the middle of the decade, before the recession and failed reality shows set in. And maybe a lesson for hip-hop as it enters its fifth decade: it's supposed to be fun, folks.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

MKU was the last Three 6 album to feature longtime member Crunchy Black.

Label: Sub Pop

Key Track: "Such Great Heights"

Ben Gibbbard of indie rock darlings Death Cab for Cutie teamed up with producer Jimmy Tamborello and came up with a novel concept for lo-fi hipper than thou rockers: syncopated electronic beats. Along with LCD Soundsystem, the Postal Service ushered in the "indietronica" movement that ended up as the background music for countless mid-decade advertising campaigns.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Give Up is the second highest-selling Sub Pop album after Nirvana's Bleach.

Label: Star Trak/Arista

Key Track: "Grindin'"

Rap had been talking about the coke trade for years, but never with as much style and intricacy as the Thornton Brothers. And with the Neptunes taking a break from their Midas Touch phase to provide the disc with its nerve-jangling (albeit still toe-tapping) sonic backdrop, Lord Willin' would be a sign of things to come in rap for the rest of the decade.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Pusha and Malice were originally not fans of the beat for "Grindin'" but Pharrell convinced them to record it.

Label: Fearless/Grand Royal

Key Track: "One Armed Scissor"

We're not sure why it's called "emo," 'cause this shit is as hard as it gets. After grinding for years in the punk rock underground, ATDI emerged into the mainstream in 2000 with their most sonically mature effort yet. Sadly the group split up soon after ROC, but the groups they went on the form (Mars Volta, Sparta) would fly the post-hardcore freak flag high for years to come.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Iggy Pop provided background vocals on "Rolodex Propaganda" as well as voicing the kidnapper in "Enfilade."

Label: Radio Killa/Def Jam

Key Track: "Rockin' That Shit"

The new master of R&B proved that his shockingly good 2007 debut wasn't a fluke with this even-better follow-up. With an endlessly inventive supply of quirky electro beats from Tricky Stewart and LOS Da Maestro, Dream shines like a young Atlanta R. Kelly with an inferiority complex. We mean that as a compliment.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

LVM features a song about having sex while listening to R. Kelly called "Kelly's 12 Play." R. Kelly remixed it and confessed he still does it to his old music too.

Label: Virgin

Key Track: "Lacville '79"

Back before every rapper was singing his hooks, Devin was (still is) a singer that could rap his ass off. With his languid, comic flow and beats perfect for the pre, after and after-after parties, JTTL was the Dude at his best. In a perfect world, he'd be a multi-media superstar by now; as it is, we say give it twenty years, "Doobie Ashtray" becomes this generation's "Born in the U.S.A."

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

JTTL is the only album other than Nas' It Was Written to feature production from both DJ Premier and Dr. Dre.

Label: Motown

Key Track: "It Was Written"

Sure, "Welcome to Jamrock" was the ubiquitous anthem of '05, but Halfway Tree was Marley's finest album (and the most underrated reggae LP of the past 15 years). With production from Swizz Beatz and cameos from Treach and Drag-On, HT's Jamaican-American mash-up seemed a lot like what we imagine Damian's pops would sound like in the 21st Century—which is high praise indeed.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Halfway Tree is a landmark in central Kingston, Jamaica where a cotton tree once stood.

Label: Fiction/Interscope

Key Track: "Maps"

Rock went back to its stripped down roots in the Aughts, with an emphasis on the basics: guitar, drums, and vocals, and nobody had a voice quite like the Yeahs' Karen O. "Maps" ended up being the love song of the decade, and we can finally admit it: chick-fronted indie rock groups are cooler than chick-fronted rap groups (sorry Crime Mob!).

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Fever to Tell was produced by TV On the Radio guitarist Dave Sitek.

Label: Relativity

Key Track: "Keep It Thoro"

As rap's Shiny Suit Era began to fade, Prodigy kicked off the Aughts with a jolt of highly-lyrical New York gangsta rap. Featuring an all-star production cast that included Alchemist, Rockwilder, and Just Blaze, H.N.I.C. seemed to presage a decade of dominance for P that, sadly, was not to be. He did keep it thoro, though.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Prodigy was allegedly robbed at the video shoot for "Keep It Thoro."

Label: Nonesuch

Key Track: "Strange Times"

The Keys' sparse whiteboy blues got the Danger Mouse treatment in 2008 and saw their sonic ante upped immensely without losing their blasted-out Rust Belt snarl. Sounds good to us, then again, we've been huffing rubber fumes all afternoon.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

A&R features guitar work from longtime Tom Waits collaborator Marc Ribot.

Label: XL Recordings

Key Track: "Paper Planes"

Another high-water mark in the decade's musical miscegenation mish-mash: Your favorite rapper's favorite Clash-sampling daughter of a Sri Lankan freedom fighter/terrorist made a more challenging noisy follow-up to her challenging and noisy debut. And it sounded so sweet.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Kala is named after M.I.A.'s mother. It also means "time" in Sanskrit.

Label: Diplomat/Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam

Key Track: "Down and Out" f/ Kanye West

Even though he was persona non grata at the Roc-A-Fella offices by the time it dropped, Cam's fourth full-length stands on its own within a Roc catalogue that includes Jay's and Kanye's records. Mr Giles at his non-sequitur-dropping finest: "Computer's putin'." The New York Times called him "one of hip-hop's most appealing surrealists." We call him "King Jaffe Joffer."

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

The first single from PH, "Get Em Girls," was released a full year prior to the album.

Label: Virgin

Key Track: "One More Time"

At the dawn of the Aughts, DP got slick and assaulted the mainstream with a synthpop sound that was both relentlessly danceable and influential. Pros: Inspired lots of girls to take Ecstasy and ask for it one more time. Cons: Inspired way too much Vocoder fuckery.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Discovery serves as the soundtrack to the film Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem.

Label: Subliminal Sounds

Key Track: "Gjort Bort Sig"

Swedish psych rock with a little heavy metal flute. We have no idea what they're saying, but gjasktra denken foofilheifer!

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Lead singer Gustav Ejstes played all of the instruments on TDL.

Label: DFA

Key Track: "Just Like We (Breakdown)"

Employing more vintage synths than a Moog convention, HC got complicated with their second full-length LP and saw their electro-pop blow up and go pop in '06. A sonic stew not unlike Kraftwerk meets R. Kelly. We're not saying that Kells actually hit off Kraftwerk's daughters and the ensuing offspring grew up to be Hot Chip, but you know...

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

The Warning was recorded in vocalist Joe Goddard's bedroom.

Label: V2

Key Track: "Level"

Jack White proved that he wasn't bass-averse, teaming with a trio of indie rock veterans for a side project that was funkier (albeit a more conventional) than his "day job" in the White Stripes. Although apparently he was never married to any of his Raconteurs bandmates.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

In Australia, the group is known as "The Saboteurs" because a local band already has the Raconteurs name.

Label: Virgin

Key Track: "Clint Eastwood"

Damon Albarn's cartoon supergroup with Del and Dan the Automator was the high point of the '00s rap-rock collabos: the best of both worlds, without the lamery of either. And if you're curious as to why they didn't name the band after another animal (like, say, a cheetah), the answer's simple: 'Cause that little muthafucking cheetah can't hang with a gorilla.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

"M1 A1" features a clip from the movie Day of the Dead.

Label: Corporate Thugz/Def Jam

Key Track: "Go Crazy"

Don't front: you thought there was a good chance this ad-lib genius who said he wasn't a rapper would be a flash in the pan, right? But it turns out Jeezy only made it look easy, and if you peep his debut closely, you can see it was there all along: more wit than bluster, and more flow (did someone say je ne sais quoi?) than a basement full of open mic MCs.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Jay Z rushed to get his verse for "Go Crazy" in time for the album release, but missed the deadline.

Label: Downtown Records

Key Track: "L.E.S. Artistes"

The Philly punk rock vet behind Stiffed dropped a M.I.A.-meets-Blondie electro-pop masterpiece. We haven't been this psyched to shop at Urban Outfitters since their "Ithaca is Gorges" t-shirts dropped!

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Despite it being her nickname since the '80s, Santogold was forced to rename herself Santigold after an infomercial jeweler with the same name threatened a lawsuit.

Label: Aftermath/Interscope

Key Track: "White America"

In 2002, Eminem had been a part of the fame machine for three years, and TES would prove his most complicated work to date, simultaneously outward looking ("White America") and inward ("Cleanin' Out My Closet"). This album, combined with his biopic later in the year, would turn Em from controversial villain into unlikely people's champ and leave the entire nation chanting for an encore.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

TES was scheduled for a June 2002 release, however Interscope pushed the release date up to May 28 due to bootlegging concerns, and many stores sold the album as early as May 26.

Label: Grand Hustle/Atlantic

Key Track: "Rubberband Man"

His debut was largely unremarkable but yielded the regional hit "Dope Boyz" and that became the blueprint to Trap, his superb sophomore release. Backed by Toomp and Kanye, T.I. vividly detailed the exploits of the trap, earning Pharrell's endorsement as "the Jay Z of the South," and making new-found fans go wild like the Taliban.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

The Kanye West beat for "Doin' My Job" was originally given to a then-unknown Rick Ross.

Label: RCA

Key Track: "Last Nite"

Rock music suffered a crisis of leadership after the passing of Nirvana, but this LP became the flagship statement of a hip, lo-fi rock revolution that had been simmering for years in the underground scenes of New York, Detroit, and LA. Coke rap, coke rock, who nose the difference? Now pass the spoon!

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

The LP originally featured a song called "New York City Cops" that was removed from the U.S. version after 9/11.

Label: Def Jam

Key Track: "Guess Who's Back" f/ Jay Z & Beanie Sigel

If hip-hop's dead, somebody forgot to tell Big Bad Brad. And there's no more compelling evidence of this than his shocking 2002 set which found the 30-plus gangsta rap pioneer contemplative and mature, and backed by the incredibly soulful production of Kanye, Mike Dean, and the Neptunes. O meet G.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

The Fix was the last album to receive a 5-mic rating from The Source...until Lil' Kim's The Naked Truth.

Label: Corporate Thugz/Def Jam

Key Track: "Crazy World"

So, after three LPs it turns out that your favorite rapper's favorite trapper is actually a better rapper than your favorite rapper. And more importantly, he knows how to put together a more sonically thematic, focused, and purposeful long-player than him, too. Now just imagine if Jeezy tried.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Two weeks after The Recession's release, Lehman Brothers went under.

Label: Re-Up/Star Trak/Jive

Key Track: "Mr. Me Too" f/ Pharrell

It's dark and hell is hot, but when the kings of the cocaine flow were forced to spend four years locked in label purgatory, the music they and the Neptunes made for the group's sophomore album only got harder and colder. Thank God, you devil.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

HHNF sat on the shelf for more than three years before finally being released.

Label: Cheeba Sound/Virgin/EMI

Key Track: "Untitled (How Does It Feel)"

After scoring with his overtly poppy debut, D'Angelo took a decidedly darker, more challengingly obtuse tact with Voodoo and in doing so, crafted the artistic peak of the neo-soul movement. Oh, and then to celebrate he got a blowjob in the LP's first video.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Voodoo was recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York at the same time as Erykah Badu's Mama's Gun and Common's Like Water For Chocolate.

Label: Merge

Key Track: "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)"

Anthemic shout-rock that features every instrument but the kitchen sink (actually they probably play that, too). We're not ashamed to say we can even dig the hyper-sensitive vocal stylings, although we're pretty sure our lives aren't quite that dramatic.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Funeral was recorded for $10,000, and went on to sell 750,000 copies.

Label: Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam

Key Track: "Public Service Announcement"

There hasn't been this much hullabaloo about a retirement since Jenna Jameson hung up the kneepads. Only difference is, for his supposed swan song, with all-star production from Kanye, Timbaland, Rick Rubin, Eminem, and Just Blaze, Jay did a lot less sucking (though it did blow... up).

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

"99 Problems" marked Rick Rubin's return to rap production after a 10-plus year hiatus.

Label: Cash Money/Universal

Key Track: "Stuntin' Like My Daddy"

This painfully overlooked LP would be our favorite Weezy album ever—as it finds him at his lyrical pinnacle, effortlessly loose, but still focused, over a bevy of great T-Mixx and Scott Storch tracks—if we could just get our hands on the version with his reference vocals for all the Baby verses. Still, who'da thought Baby could crack the Top 20 of any list (other than Scariest Alleged Drug-Dealing Murderers, of course)?

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

No doves were kissed on the mouth during the photo shoot for the LFLS cover.

Label: Diplomat/Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam

Key Track: "Dipset Anthem"

The quintessential body of work courtesy of Dip Set's three-headed monster, thanks to its endless quotables and infectious soul-flavored tracks, Cam'ron, Jim Jones, and Juelz quietly crafted hip hop's most slept on double album. We really mean it.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Diplomatic immunity was first established as international law at the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961.

Label: DFA

Key Track: "North American Scum"

One man band man James Murphy struck gold with Silver, combining his typically ironic song writing with a bevy of uptempo, hummable beats. Apparently the sound of silver is also the sound indie rock wallflowers 'round the world saying, "Oh shit, you mean we have to..to...dance?"

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

SOS was dedicated to the memory of Dr. George Kamen, one of the psychiatrists responsible for pioneering group therapy.

Label: 4AD/Interscope

Key Track: "I Was a Lover"

"We want cookie!" Seriously, we think the reason the mainstream press keeps referring to soul music in these art rockers' sound is 'cause they got mad black dudes in the group, but whatever, shit is weird and it rocks.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Coincidentally, Cookie was named the fourth best album of the year by three different publications: Rolling Stone, Slant, and Stylus.

Label: LaFace/Arista/Jive

Key Track: "Yeah!" f/ Lil Jon & Ludacris

One of the few end-to-end burners in modern R&B, this LP yielded both bangers and ballads alike, and brimmed with all the bravado Usher ever had... before he married your grandmother.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Confessions sold more copies (1.1 million) in its first week than any record by an R&B artist.

Label: Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam

Key Track: "All Falls Down" f/ Syleena Johnson

Everyone hated on Kanye for being an arrogant dickhead, but when he brought hip-hop back to its roots—with soulful loops, sped-up vocal samples and gritty drums—while at the same time pushing it forward, and then out to the masses, they all shut the fuck up. Enjoy the silence, 'Ye.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

CD was nominated for 10 Grammys and remains 'Ye's best-selling album to date.

Label: Gold Standard Laboratories/Universal

Key Track: "Inertiatic ESP"

Crunching jazz-metal-salsa hooks, blissed-out ADD songwriting, and Rick Rubin's perfect pitch production. Tied with Whitney Houston's debut for best album recorded while the artist(s) were high on crack. Allegedly. Allegedly high on crack.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

MV member Jeremy Michael Ward died of a heroin overdose four weeks prior to the release of DLITC, prompting the group's other members to give up opioids.

Label: Cash Money/Universal

Key Track: "Shooter" f/ Robin Thicke

With its unending, effortless verses, and uncharacteristically soulful beat selection, it was the second Carter that put Weezy in the "best rapper alive" conversation. That was back when men were men and kissing your daddy on the lips didn't need to be paused.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

C2 is the first Cash Money album to include no production credits from Mannie Fresh.

Label: Razor Sharp/Epic/Sony

Key Track: "Nutmeg" f/ RZA

When Wu Tang debuted Ghostface Killah was the nine-man group's sixth biggest star, but Tony Starks' second set set him apart not only from his crew, as the Clan's true star, but also from all of hip hop's painfully linear thinkers. Why the rapping-in-a-bath-robe-holding-an-ice-cream-cone thing never took off we'll never know.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

After putting out "Mighty Healthy,", Ghost delayed the release of SC to serve a short prison term.

Label: V2

Key Track: "Seven Nation Army"

It took the two palest whites in rock n' roll (an already anemic affair) back to its black roots. But where their first couple discs's distortion limited the group's appeal, Elephant's polish propelled them to new heights: indie rock that's played at major sporting events. Camper Van Beethoven's fan asks: "Is nothing sacred?"

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Elephant was recorded strictly on analog 8-track equipment, including some designed in the pre-Beatles era.

Label: Jive

Key Track: "What Goes Around.../...Comes Around"

On his second solo set, Timberlake partnered with uber-producer Timbaland and his protege Danjahands to conjure a pop masterpiece, whose superior songwriting and precise production transcended all the genres it tapped for inspiration (R&B, dance, hip hop). And you know it's gotta be that incredible for us to put former cockboy poster-child J.T. in our Top 10.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

FS/LS was recorded entirely at Timbaland's Thomas Crown Studios in Virginia Beach.

Label: LaFace/Arista

Key Track: "B.O.B."

With Stankonia, one of rap's most progressive groups ever outdid themselves and broke every convention of commercial hip-hop (see: "B.O.B." as first single). And in doing so they unwittingly created a perfect blueprint of cross-cultural mash-up that would set the tone for music on both the rap and rock sides of the aisle for the rest of the decade. So fresh, and so clean, indeed.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Stankonia was originally titled Sandbox.

Label: Aftermath/Interscope

Key Track: "The Way I Am"

This is the album that threw the entire world into a tizzy of Marshall-mania and catapulted Eminem to the echelon of Michael Jackson, Madonna, and Elvis. There's nothing quite like his brilliantly dark, funny and controversial, dissection of fame, fortune, family—and himself. Eleven years later, anyone who's ever heard the album is still a Stan.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Guinness Book of World Records-certified as the fastest-selling album of all time.

Label: Aftermath/Shady/Interscope

Key Track: "What Up Gangsta"

Combining aggressive flows, hypnotic song-writing, and big-budget production from the likes of Dr. Dre and Eminem, 50 Cent crafted an ultra-violent Thriller of rap, with virtually every album cut getting spins on radio stations across America. The other Mr. Jackson proved that it's perfectly fine for rappers to sing all their hooks and pose shirtless on their album cover—as long as they've been shot nine times.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

The beats for "Back Down" and "Heat" were originally intended for Dr. Dre's collaboration with Rakim.

Label: Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam

Key Track: "Can't Tell Me Nothing"

As we recall, you know, Ye loves to show off—but we never thought he would take it this far. The Omega to Stankonia's Alpha, Yeezy took 'Kast's genre-bending blueprint and made it better, faster, stronger, redefining the boundaries of rap, while cementing his position as the decade's top tastemaker in the process. Now he truly can't be told nothing.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Graduation's artwork was designed by renowned Japanese artist Takashi Murakami.

Label: Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam

Key Track: "The Takeover"

A pitch-perfect bird's eye view of celebrity, from the celebration to the angst, featuring a re-revolution in hip-hop production—via Kanye, Just Blaze, and Bink—that brought rap back to its soulful roots, The Blueprint is a flawless listen from top to bottom. Any naysayers left with a reasonable doubt after his first five LPs had to concede that Jay was hip-hop's master architect of the album format.

YOU AUGHTA KNOW:

Jay recorded the bulk of the album during a single long weekend in Miami.