36. The Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun
(Birdman Records, 2001)
I tend to think of Vision Creation Newsun as a lesser sibling to Super Ae, if not necessarily a sequel or retread. But in truth the amazing June ‘99 show at the 9:30 Club that made me a devoted fan of the Boredoms (or at least, this particular phase of their career) for life was probably closer to the period where they made VCN, and this album is pretty awesome in its own right.

37. Jay-Z - The Dynasty: Roc La Familia
(Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam Records, 2000)
In the rockcrit narrative that elevates The Blueprint (along with Reasonable Doubt and, ugh, The Black Album) above the rest of Jay-Z’s early catalog, all those icky albums with numbers and colons in the titles that don’t have a calculated ‘classic album’ atmosphere, that album was the daring departure that bet it all on Kanye West and Just Blaze and Bink!’s soul beats. But in reality, it was on that uncool crew album from a year earlier, with Jay at his jiggiest, that he started working with all three, as well as the Neptunes, having temporarily left behind pretty much all of the established all-star team that had produced much of his last couple albums (Timbaland, Swizz Beatz, DJ Premier, etc.). Sure, it really isn’t a better album than Blueprint, thanks mainly to stuff towards the end like “Squeeze 1st” and that Memphis Bleek solo cut, but “1-900-Hustler” and “This Can’t Be Life” and “Change The Game” still stand out as Jay and Roc-A-Fella at their absolute best.



38. Beanie Sigel - The Truth
(Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam Records, 2000)
Of course, it would be just as wrong of me to say that Jay discovered Kanye and Just and Bink on The Dynasty, when in reality Sigel handpicked tracks from all three for his debut 8 months earlier, and really this album is the genesis of the Roc-A-Fella sound. It’s also the career peak that Beans has never been able to quite return to, even as he’s arguably improved as a rapper since then, because he was just so totally confident and committed to his aesthetic and his subject matter, even on the pop joint with Eve, and that same word rhyming style was still pretty fresh, although it took me a few years to come around to really respecting what he was doing.

39. Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway
(RCA Records, 2004)
When virtually half of an album is comprised of huge hit singles, it’s kind of difficult to evaluate the sum and not the parts. Still, that opening quartet of smashes is enough by itself to make this one of the best pop albums of the decade, and the rest of the album sounds like songs that mostly could’ve been hits themselves if they’d been given a shot.

40. The Roots - Game Theory
(Def Jam Records, 2006)
When Jay-Z signed the Roots to Def Jam a few years ago, there was some vague expectation that he was going to give them some big commercial push (which nobody needed, given how the whole Interscope/Scott Storch single thing turned out), but instead they were part of Def Jam’s new phase of just pushing a lot more underachieving albums out into the marketplace and just letting them sell whatever they’re going to sell, which I think is generally a great idea, since I think we were all getting sick of so many albums languishing unreleased. And their first for Def Jam was actually one of their best ever, a late career rally with tons of ideas and sounds and guest MCs that all fit together will (still kinda wish Peedi had joined the group as once rumored). And for once, ?uestlove actually lives up to his rep as a brilliant producer/percussionist, and gives nearly every song its own uniquely spine-tingling drum sound, while the rest of the band has never had more low end.

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