Triple Play: Artists With Three Consecutive Great Albums

The Albums: People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm (1990), The Low End Theory (1991), Midnight Marauders (1993)

After De La Soul almost single-handedly ushered in a new era of "conscious" hip-hop, fellow Native Tongues members A Tribe Called Quest expanded rap's sonic palette with a trio of albums that incorporated jazz in unprecedented ways, innovating in both sampling and live instrumentation. Debut album People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm introduced a style that incorporated narrative rapping and grooving, laid-back melodies, which riffed on the nascent Native Tongues. Tribe doubled down on sophomore album The Low End Theory, taking the title to heart, filling the album with heavy bass and mutating their jazz influences into sounds previously unexplored in hip-hop. On follow up Midnight Marauders, Tribe crafted their most ambitious album yet, packing every song with dense, memorable samples, thumping drums, and inventive lyrics.

The Albums: The Bends (1995), OK Computer (1997), Kid A (2000)

While early prognosticators might have imagined Radiohead destined for one hit wonderdom in the wake of breakout hit "Creep," the band bucked expectations with a string of stellar, boundary-pushing albums from 1995 to 2000. The Bends announced the beginning of Radiohead's blossoming into an indie flag-bearer, expanding their grunge influence with a wider array of sounds and concepts that hinted at the ambition that would bloom fully over the next half decade. 1997's Paranoid Android the Radiohead creative engine in flight, crafting an evocative set that sounded little like its contemporaries, both modern and timeless in its composition and writing. 2000's Kid A marked Radiohead's deepest departure into experimentation yet, grafting the band's widest array of sounds and textures yet onto their unique sense of structure and an ever-present talent for off-kilter anthems.

The Albums: The College Dropout (2004), Late Registration (2005), Graduation (2007)

Long before challenging the expectations of fans and critics alike with the aggressive raps and jagged beats of Yeezus, Kanye West struggled to make audiences recognize that he was not only a star producer, but also a top-tier rapper. His first three albums made his status as a complete artist undeniable. With The College Dropout, West defined the stellar foundation of his style, mingling humorously conscious raps with an array of soulful beats that also managed to challenge convention. Late Registration exploded College Dropout's ideas to symphonic levels, expanding the production palette that spurred his rise to fame while still delivering massive hits and pushing boundaries. Seizing on the stadium impulses latent in his biggest songs, West crafted Graduation as a bold album full of anthems, a triumphant announcement of his ascension to the top of rap.

The Albums: Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993), Parklife (1994), The Great Escape (1995)

Though Blur would release four albums widely regarded as great, the trio of Modern Life Is Rubbish, Parklife, and The Great Escape comprises their sparkling Britpop period, the body of work where their sharp, tongue-in-cheek pop-rock anthems were at their best. Shunning their grunge past, 1993's Modern Life Is Rubbish drew clear influence from a number of important (and somewhat obvious) British forebears, never dipping into retread, invigorating in its snark and satisfying sensibilities. 1994's Parklife used an ambitious palette of British rock subgenres dating from the 1960s to create a cohesive and always engaging journey that cut with charm into the life of mid-90s urban Englanders. Completing the tightly released trilogy, 1995's The Great Escape reprised Parklife's genre exploration with a slightly darker bent, moving its cast of characters to the suburbs, keeping Albarn's sharp tongue and keen observations intact.

The Albums: The Slim Shady LP (1999), The Marshall Mathers LP (2000), The Eminem Show (2002)

After toiling in underground obscurity for much of the mid-90s, Eminem exploded onto both the pop and mainstream hip-hop scenes in 1999 with break out hit "My Name Is" and the album that housed it, The Slim Shady LP, a brazen collection of raps about drugs, sex, violence, and rough and tumble life on the streets of Detroit. 2000's The Marshall Mathers LP added dark, intelligent edge to the formula that made Slim Shady popular, adding political content and extreme controversy to an already boiling mixture. 2002's The Eminem Show continued Eminem's dominance, a self-aware mixture of stellar pop-rap singles, politically charged songs, and the usual assortment of drugs, women, and outlandish punchlines.

The Albums: Elliott Smith (1995), Either/Or (1997), XO (1998)

Elliott Smith never had a bad album. Throughout his career, cut short when he passed away at 36 years old in 2003, Elliott continued to evolve, moving from the stripped down acoustic songs of his self-titled album to the slightly more polished acoustic songs of Either/Or to XO, his 1998 album that proved his songwriting could translate beyond acoustic guitars. This growth would continue into Figure 8, the last album he released while alive. His lyrics were often dark and desperate, but Elliott Smith was an extremely talented songwriter, and his melodies ranged from joyful and uplifting to downright heartbreaking. Whether that was on a raw acoustic track or a masterfully arranged pop song, it was always powerful and effective.

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The Albums: Thank Me Later (2010), Take Care (2011), Nothing Was The Same (2013)

After the success of breakthrough mixtape So Far Gone, Drake faced the tremendous burden of crafting a hit record that satisfied core fans he'd won over with his hybrid rap/R&B stylings. Though 2010's Thank Me Later proved occasionally inconsistent, its highs showcased a rapper of considerable skill, a gifted pop songwriter, an improving singer, and an artist unafraid to take risks. Having proven himself commercially sustainable, Drake's creative freedom increased with stellar sophomore effort Take Care, a cohesive vision of the ups and downs of fame that featured a sound that both reflected the moment and shaped the movement of the hip-hop and R&B landscape to come. Drake's most recent album, this fall's Nothing Was the Same, marked perhaps the rapper's most cohesive and focused work yet, a predictably evocative set of songs that explore the inner workings and activities of a man considering his massive stardom against a simpler past.

The Albums: Operation Doomsday (1999), MM.. Food (2004), Born Like This (2009)

Over the course of his enigmatic, impressive career, MF DOOM has released no shortage of great albums, many of which came in direct succession. As a solo artist under the name "MF DOOM" (or, recently, "DOOM"), however, the masked rapper has only released three albums. His 1999 debut Operation Doomsday collected the songs that would define Doom's supervillain persona and signature sound, marking his re-emergence in the wake of the death of his brother Subroc and the dissolution of his first group, KMD. Five years later, MM.. Food marked a deeper foray into bizarre concept albums, using culinary touchstones to humorously explore a variety of topics. 2009's Born Like This served up DOOM's darkest, most ambitious set yet, using a line from an apocalyptic Charles Bukowski poem as inspiration for both a title and musings about a world circling the drain towards extinction.

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The Albums: Homework (1997), Discovery (2001), Human After All (2005)

The recent success of Random Access Memories suggests that legendary duo Daft Punk has plenty left in the tank. Its dedication to painstaking disco revivalism, however, moves rather starkly (though not entirely unexpectedly) away from the three albums that defined the masked men's sound and established their stature. Homework introduced Daft Punk as a Chicago house-influenced tour-de-force, grabbing all sorts of exciting samples, layering them over thumping bass and drums, and creating dance music with atmosphere and a seriously funky core. 2001's Discovery served up the group's biggest hits yet, using disco and synth-pop as guides for an eclectic set that featured both big hooks and subtle compositions. Stripping their sound down a bit and incorporating greater rock influence, the duo's third album Human After All was met with critical and commercial skepticism, but has held up well against the test of time due to its unusual sonic textures (prefiguring the rock-inspired dance music of Justice by a hair) and an ever-present ability to write killer hooks.

The Albums: Tidal (1996), When the Pawn... (1999), Extraordinary Machine (2005)

In a pop landscape dominated by the rising specter of the coming boy band surge and the cultish culture of “Spice World,” 18 year-old singer Fiona Apple's stark, incisive songs struck like a sledgehammer to the brain. With the help of one of the most salacious, remote control-stopping visuals of MTV's heyday for single “Criminal,” Apple's 1996 debut Tidal became a sensation of alternative pop, a showcase of prodigious vision, an unmistakable, evocative voice , and singular songwriting ability that managed to balance dense poetry and memorable hooks. 1999 follow-up When the Pawn... saw Apple again at peak powers, broadening her sonic horizons with the help of producer Jon Brion while keeping her unique gift for lyrics simultaneously obtuse and cutting firmly intact, solidifying the singer as one of the finest artists of her generation–even at a mere 21 years-old. Though oft-delayed, maligned by leaks, and existing in two forms (one only partially completed), the version of Apple's third album, Extraordinary Machine, that hit store shelves in 2005 reminded listeners that Apple possessed rarely-paralleled capacity for adventurous pop.

The Albums: Off The Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), Bad (1987)

As Michael Jackson matured from the child star of the Jackson 5 to the superstar entertainer that would come to define and tower over multiple generations, he released three albums that displayed his nearly boundless capabilities as a singer, producer, and entertainer. With the help of mastermind Quincy Jones, Jackson set the formula with 1979's Off The Wall, a tight, ten song set mixing dance floor-filling mega-singles and ballads, hinting at the singer's predilection for genres outside of the pop-y R&B that made him and his siblings famous. Iconic album Thriller landed with a seismic impact in 1982, spawning an unparalleled slew of hit singles, combining pop, soul, rock, afrobeat, and funk, riding Jackson's magic touch to become the highest selling album ever. 1987's Bad largely mirrored Thriller's ambitious pop stew, leading to another impressive string of hit singles that maintained Jackson's impossible benchmark of blockbuster quality.

The Albums: ATLiens (1996), Aquemini (1998), Stankonia (2000)

Though 1994's Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik remains one of Outkast's finest works, a spectacular debut packed with style and substance, the duo of Andre 3000 and Big Boi began to explore their more experimental leanings and rarely paralleled creativity on the three albums that followed it. 1996's ATLiens cast Outkast as galaxy travelling heroes, setting a comic-book backdrop for spiritual musings, street observations, and a rich collection of beats that crossed East Coast thump with Southern spirit. Aquemini loosened the genre borders and upped the ambition, jamming 74 minutes with live instrumentation, unique song structures, imaginative raps, and big choruses that refused to submit to rap convention. Taking cues from all of the group's previous works, 2000's Stankonia proved Outkast's most daring album yet, another sprawling set that made hits of utterly original songs and seemed to peek into every crevice of its creators' minds.

The Albums: Gorillaz (2001), Demon Days (2005), Plastic Beach (2010)

Spurred by a quirky, animated video and a single that sounded like little else in the marketplace, Damon Albarn's brainchild the Gorillaz turned genre-bending, fringe-loving music into major pop success at the start of the new millennium. On the “group's” self-titled debut, Albarn enlisted the help of production mastermind Dan the Automator and a wide array of collaborating artists to help bring cinematic scope and hip-hop backbone to the Blur singer's left-of-center pop sensibilities. Sophomore effort Demon Days continued the single-producer approach, calling on then-emerging maestro Danger Mouse and a roster of intriguing feature performers to help create an even more eclectic set of sounds, delving into a uniquely organic blend of electronic influences. Third album Plastic Beach showcased Albarn's most sprawling vision yet, with Albarn primarily handling production duties and enlisting a dizzying array of different guests including Mos Def, Snoop Dogg, Bobby Womack, Mick Jones, Little Dragon, and the late Lou Reed; in typical Gorillaz fashion, it all comes together.

The Albums: Boy In Da Corner (2003), Showtime (2004), Maths + English (2007)

There are some people who would say that Dizzee Rascal made two great albums (Boy In Da Corner and Showtime) and then one that, although commercially successful, lost some of the visceral magic that made Dylan Mills such an entertaining artist. By 2007, however, Dizzee was a genuine breakout star, the man who had brought grime to the mainstream over two rough and tough albums of abrasive beats and multi-syllabic lyrical madness, and he had things to celebrate. Moreover, he had earned himself the right to experiment with new sounds and court new audiences, so the fact that Dylan Mills managed to make an album which incorporated Americanized rap production (e.g. "Where's Da G's," "Hardback (Industry)"), distorted guitars ("Sirens"), and a chorus from Lily Allen, yet remained cohesive and focussed, makes Maths + English Dizzee Rascal's third straight great album.

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