“Detox” Dr. Dre
No rap album list is complete without Dr. Dre’s Detox. In fact, even today, a full twenty-plus years since it was first conceived, people are still hoping that it gets released. Sure, there are some albums on this list that were so hyped, they literally changed the course of hip-hop history. But this album still tops them all and is the number one most hyped rap album of all time.
“Life After Death” The Notorious B.I.G.
It’s so crazy to talk about this release, as this album’s release was very different from any other album on the list. Biggie had been recording for this album for two years and was promoting it for over two years prior to its release in March of 1997. Everyone knew he had an album coming out, and since it had been three years since his last release (which was a classic) fans could not wait anymore. They had to have it. It is estimated that because of Biggie’s death, the album sold two to three times more than originally expected. Something you may not know about this album; Bad Boy Records had set up a media event (the first of its kind ever in hip hop) and Biggie was supposed to be flying to London the night he was killed. Bad Boy Records had gathered all of the major music journalists and publications from Europe and around the world, and Biggie was to greet all of them at an event in London for Q&A. No rapper (or record label) had ever done such a thing. Unfortunately, he never made it to that press event.
“Tha Carter III” Lil Wayne
The Carter III is the first known rap album to have a million downloads prior to being released. Thats right, Lil Wayne’s Carter III went platinum from illegal downloads. After that went on and then sold 400,000 albums on its first day, and then went on to sell a million its first week, and then topped six million sales worldwide. That was after all the illegal downloading had occurred. This album was so hyped in 2007 and 2008, that Wayne resorted to taking all of his leaked tracks that were meant for his album and released a special mixtape of solely leaked tracks for the Carter III. Wayne had made a name for himself on the mixtape circuit prior to Tha Carter III being released, and it set him apart from every other rapper in the game. Wayne was killing every single feature back then, so of course his album was going to be killer too, right? Well, that’s just what fans thought and from every hyped album Wayne has ever released, this was the one that tops the list for him.
“Get Rich or Die Trying” 50 Cent
We put this one as the second most hyped rap album release of all time behind Dr. Dre’s Detox. We were there when Get Rich or Die Trying was leaked. In fact, we remember when “In Da Club” was released and the DJs were playing the track four or five times in a row! We were there when people were burning copies of the album and selling them for $30 a piece the week before it came out. We were there when 50 decided to sell his album early because fans just could not wait anymore for it. Even with the leak and people selling bootlegs of the album, 50 Cent still went on to sell close to a million copies its first week. You just had to be there.
“Barter 6” Young Thug
There are probably some of you who are reading this going, “what the hell is Barter 6?” The Barter 6 was Young Thug’s commercially released mixtape (and the only mixtape on this list) that was released in 2015. If you were on the rap blogs/message boards/websites back then, you knew about Barter 6. If you were not, you probably never knew the album was coming out. This is the one album on this list that was strictly hyped online. This album was never promoted anywhere in the real world. Well, maybe Thug did do an interview or two about it, but this was one of the first albums, that hype was strictly built digitally. Today that happens all the time, but back then almost a decade ago, it was not a common thing. It probably helped Young Thug out, that he and Wayne were beefing and Lil’ Wayne was going around announcing to everyone not to listen to the album.
“Doggystyle” Snoop Doggy Dogg
Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle was the 1990s hype version of Get Rich or Die Trying. For those of you not old enough to remember music stores, music stores used to release new albums on Tuesdays, and some high traffic stores used to have midnight releases for fans to pick up copies of albums at midnight the night they were released. Well, Snoop’s debut album “Doggystyle” was sold out at many stores around the country because fans were waiting and picking up their copies at midnight. Stores could not keep them in stock from the very first second. Snoop was the new hot thing in rap, and in the end, neither Dr. Dre nor Snoop disappointed. In fact, if we remember correctly, MTV news did a news story on his debut album being released at midnight showing people waiting outside the store for hours to purchase it. We believe that is the first time in MTV’s history that they did a special news story on a rap release.
“Ready To Die” The Notorious B.I.G.
Biggie actually makes this list two separate times and is the only rapper to do so. As we mentioned above, as far as the late 1990s go (LAD was released in 1997) there was no album that had more hype surrounding it then Biggie’s second album. However, when it came to his first album, that album was also extremely hyped because rap fans were looking for someone to take the crown for New York City. LA rap had dominated the music scene, and a lot of fans were looking for someone from hip-hop’s birthplace to take the title. Fans may say, well T.B. Picasso, listen, Illmatic was released in the same year, and was lauded as one of the best albums of 1994 and since then, many claim was the greatest rap album of all time. Why isn’t Nas an Illmatic on the list instead of Biggie’s Ready To Die? There is just one little detail that makes a huge difference between Illmatic and Ready To Die. You see, even though Illmatic was practically flawless, Biggie at the time had a much wider reach than Nas did. Illmatic was a rough NYC tunnel/subway album, where Biggie’s album had more commercial hits which drew in fans from everywhere. Everyone knew who he was and that he was the next big ticket in rap. Everyone was waiting for this album. The story goes that there was so much demand for this album, that Biggie had been bootlegging his own album out of his apartment in Brooklyn.
“All Eyez on Me” 2Pac
As far as 2Pac album’s go, this one was definitely his most hyped album, which is saying a lot since all of his albums were crazy hyped. Fans were waiting to see just how hard he would go at Biggie and Diddy. Was he going to attack Nas? Was he going to diss Jay-Z? Was he going to attack everyone from the East Coast on the same album? How far was Pac going to destroy everyone? It was 2Pac’s first double album, his first collaboration with Dr. Dre and his first-time recording music since being released from jail. Almost thirty years later and over 10 million sales (certifying the album diamond), it’s considered one of the greatest albums of all time in any genre.
“The Black Album” Jay-Z
This one took a while for us to figure out. Which of all of Jay-Z’s album had the most hype? Well, to start, we were there for all of them, so we have a pretty good idea on which one the winner was. After a lot of thought, we got to go with the Black Album. Jay-Z had promoted the album for a full year prior to its release, released a mixtape a few months prior talking about it and even had a short documentary on the creation of the album. Fans really were expecting for the Black Album to be Jay-Z’s ride in the sunset moment and never appear on another track ever again. Hell, even we felt that way. For those of you who weren’t around back then, The Black Album was Jay-Z’s first and one of the first rap albums where the entire album had leaked online a few days before it was released. The Blueprint album and the following sequel to it, which were released in the two years leading up to the Black Album, did not fully leak before its release day. Jay-Z had to battle 50 Cent’s G-Unit album on the first day of release, but still ended up with another #1 release on the charts.
“The Marshall Mathers LP” Eminem
Something interesting to note about this album: Eminem’s prior release, the Slim Shady LP took around two months to reach platinum status. Which is pretty ridiculous for a first major release from an artist. But, when The Marshall Mathers LP was released, it sold more than that in just its first week. In fact, it almost hit two million sales in its first week which is complete craziness. All the while, Napster was being used all the globe. The stats on this album are just insane: 1.78 million sales in one week, almost went platinum in second week sales, sold over three and half million in its first month and all these years later sits at over 25 million sales worldwide. This album changed Eminem’s career and changed the trajectory of hip hop in the 2000s.