I like:

SPM
Three 6 Mafia
ICP
KMK
ABK
Twiztid
Chrome

Just some of them..........

a tribe called quest
slick rick
busta rhymes
lupe fiasco
public enemy
lyrics born(asia born)
lateef the truth speaker
talib kweli
mos def
atmosphere
percee p
madlib aka quasimoto aka yeserdays new quintet aka ...
i could go all day, but theres a whole lot

St. Louis
Off Tha Chain Gang
Gena
Bone Thugs n Harmony
Geto Boyz
Hot Boyz
Master P
Snoop
Dr. Dre
Eminem
D12
Knocturnal
Gangsta Blac
Gangsta Boo
La Chat
Lucky Luciano
Juan Gotti
Lil' Wyte
Bravehearts

heres a thread I started, similar topic and with a lot of hits:

http://www.radiomute.com/6967-best-rappers-albums.html

but what the hey,

Notorious BIG
De La Soul
Talib Kweli w/ Hi-tek is his prime
Smif n Wessun
Wu-Tang Clan
A Tribe Called Quest
Dr. Dre
Madlib
Heiroglyphics and Souls of Mischief
J 5
Madvillian
Jay Z
Nas
Big L
The Roots
People Under The Stairs

I was kinda hoping that this sub-forum in particular would have taken its subject to a deeper conversation... but oh well

Del
BIG
Mos Def
Nas
Eminem
KRS-One
Jedi Mind Tricks
Old Snoop
Common
Jay-Z
...and others :O

well lets get deep on the jedi mind tricks, then. theyve been around a while, minus a guy or whatever, they still have crazy production, and vinnie paz is either hated or loved. before the great collapse is personally my favorite track of his conceptually as well as lyrically.

I found out about them about a year ago and was incredibly impressed. Two of the biggest hurdles for me to tackle in terms of underground rap is poor production and subpar beats. But I do understand that its not cheap to get quality studio time. This group, however, had both right on the money. Some of the best beats I've heard come from Stoupe.

Before the great collapse is an awesome song ... Is it their longest clocking in at 17 minutes?

I haven't listened to their really old stuff, but a couple of my favorite songs are: A Storm Of Swords, Animal Rap, And So It Burns, On The Eve Of War, and Before The Great Collapse

I'm a HUGE sucker for classical mixes as you can tell

This has motivated me to go on the search for some older stuff. As with most musical groups, would you say that their earlier work is better?

Jedi Mind Tricks caught my eye, too. Some things about them I really like but then in other ways they're kind of dorky. On the upside they have a certain mystique that's really appealing. Like Violent By Design has the coolest album cover and Visions of Ghandi is such a cool title. And about half their songs are really cool. However, when they try to incorporate world music samples into their music it doesn't come across as hard at all. It sounds cliched and corny like The Three Stooges go to Asia and Africa. Another thing, the white boy Muslim thing is just too phony. Give me a break! Talk about Poseurs!

I like a band that they promote called OuterSpace. Are yall familar with that one?

planetary outerspace...also good stuff...also largely produced by stoupe. and idk what youre talking about cliche with world samples...idk ANYONE who really does that anymore. movie samples are big, jazz stuff, a lot of earlier soul has come into play, but idk man, even as far as underground, world samples, especially italian opera and latin things such as stoupe uses, i dont think theyre overused much at all.

and somehow i msis the previous post...the older stuff is just different. i reccomend you pick up the violent by design deluxe edition. heavenly divine sticks out, as do the interludes. i, love it as much as i love the dvd... and just now my random player decides to play another stickout from the disc: blood reign...really nice on the guitar samples. i highly reccomend you listen to the stuff while jusallah and vinnie paz were together...even if vin preferred his ikon moniker back then.