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Some albums don\u2019t just make noise; they shape generations. From Nas\u2019 Illmatic <\/em>to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill <\/em><\/i>to Madvillain\u2019s LP, the most timeless Hip-Hop records continue to echo through today\u2019s music. Kendrick Lamar, Doechii, Vince Staples, and The Roots\u2019 Black Thought are just a few of the many artists who trace their creative foundations back to classic albums that changed their lives and sharpened their craft.\n<\/p>\n Whether it\u2019s the introspective genius of Nas, the precise commentary of Public Enemy\u2019s Fear Of A Black Planet<\/em>, or the emotional depth of Erykah Badu and Ella Fitzgerald, these projects have helped define identity, storytelling, and sound across eras. As we celebrate Black Music Month in partnership with Hyundai, it is essential to recognize that art is a continuum and a generational conversation.\n<\/p>\n Nas\u2019 Illmatic<\/em><\/i> has been a major influence on Kendrick Lamar<\/strong> \u00a0\n<\/p>\n Lauryn Hill\u2019s The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill<\/em><\/i> set a course for Doechii and Vince Staples<\/strong> \u201cThis is my earliest memory of music. My mom had this on cassette and would play it every day while picking me up from school,\u201d Vince Staples previously wrote for TIDAL<\/em><\/a>. \u201cBetween that, India.Arie and Kirk Franklin, this connected with me the most. Whether it was dealing with social issues or simply the emotion behind the music, it helped shape some of the views that I still hold with me today.\u201d Both Staples and Ms. Hill have used their platforms to speak on racism, poverty, faith, and identity, particularly from the perspective of Black America. Lauryn did this throughout The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill<\/em>. Vince does it through stark, often ironic realism in his storytelling, especially in projects like Summertime \u201906<\/i> and FM! <\/i>The Long Beach, California MC has also been outspoken and fiercely authentic in his interviews and media relations.\n<\/p>\n \u00a0\n<\/p>\n JAY-Z\u2019s Reasonable Doubt<\/em><\/i> is a primary influence on Pusha-T<\/strong> \u00a0\n<\/p>\n MF DOOM & Madlib\u2019s Madvillan album presented a universe to Denzel Curry \u00a0\n<\/p>\n Rapsody has credited Erykah Badu\u2019s Mama\u2019s Gun<\/em> as a north star in her music<\/strong> Big Daddy Kane\u2019s Long Live The Kane<\/em><\/i> laid a foundation for Black Thought<\/strong> Xzibit explains the vocal influence Chuck D and Public Enemy\u2019s Fear Of A Black Planet<\/em> had on him<\/strong> SZA credits Ella Fitzgerald\u2019s Greatest Hits<\/em><\/i> as a major influence<\/strong> Cordae says JAY-Z\u2019s The Blueprint <\/em><\/i>has stuck with him<\/strong> Freddie Gibbs credits Dr. Dre\u2019s The Chronic<\/em> as a powerful example of the grind<\/strong> \u00a0\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cYou hear it in my music what\u2019s surrounded me, and just to be able to elevate your mind a little bit further past that through writing is bigger than one song,\u201d Kendrick told BET when Nas\u2019 debut album was celebrating its 20th anniversary<\/a> with an authorized documentary and expanded re-release. \u201cIn order to do that and craft that, it\u2019s on another plane, and I wouldn\u2019t have been able to do that if it wasn\u2019t for that album [Illmatic<\/em>], truthfully.\u201d Like Nas\u2019 debut, much of Kendrick\u2019s music has been through the vantage point of a poetic prodigy with the environment as his greatest muse. These artists emphasize place in their works, whether it\u2019s the towering buildings of the Queensbridge Houses or the expansive gangland corridors of Compton. Like Illmatic<\/em>\u2019s references to Wild Style<\/i>, Whodini, and T La Rock, much of Kendrick\u2019s music contains in-the-know connections to the Hip-Hop of his childhood, including prominent nods to figures including Tupac, DJ Quik, and others.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first full length album I ever listened to was The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill<\/em>,\u201d Doechii said in a 2025 Instagram post<\/a>, written to Ms. Hill. \u201cMy mom would play it from top to bottom everyday on my way to school for years. I would sing your songs as if I wrote them, imagining myself on stage. Each song deepened my love for music and my curiosity to write raps. My favorite lyric in \u2018Doo Wop\u2019<\/a> is \u2018don\u2019t be a hard rock when you really are a gem<\/em>\u2018 that stuck with me anytime I wanted to \u2018get even\u2019 or harden my heart towards those who wronged me. I carried your principles with me during my coming of age,\u201d wrote the TDE star. \u201cAnd I carry them with me now at this current stage of my career, your lyrics are close to my heart. Thank you Miss Lauryn Hill.\u201d Doechii flaunts her talents as a top MC and a talented singer, a double-threat capability that Lauryn Hill put on the highest level in the late 1990s. Both artists use music as a space for vulnerability, empowerment, and truth-telling. They explore identity, self-worth, relationships, and societal expectations.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI really like some of the lyrical aspects of it, like the lifestyle. I try to give people lifestyle bars. I felt like that\u2019s what Reasonable Doubt<\/em> was \u2013 it was nothing more than a lifestyle and it was the<\/i> lifestyle,\u201d Pusha-T told Red Bull Music Academy in 2013<\/a>. \u201c[JAY-Z] was portraying this whole idea and this ideal of what a certain period of his own life was \u2013 and could be \u2013 at the time. It was aspirational, but it was also rooted in the street level.\u201d The artist also cited specific songs as influential. \u201cDefinitely \u2018Dead Presidents\u2019<\/a> and \u2018Can I Live.\u2019<\/a> I mean, that whole introduction to \u2018Can I Live,\u2019 like the small monologue he\u2019s doing, that just sets up and outlines what he\u2019s all about on that record. It\u2019s so tight and it\u2019s also so natural.\u201d Pusha, who collaborated with JAY-Z since that quote, has embraced the use of lifestyle Jay paved. The Clipse artist often vividly references his past while offering the growth, trajectory, and expansion since then. Reasonable Doubt <\/em>marked a pivot point for Jay musically and personally, and that crossroads seems to have served as a long-lasting influence on Pusha-T.\n<\/p>\n
<\/strong>\u201cIf you listen to [MF DOOM\u2019s] albums, he has personalities. I have a lot of personalities that I go by: \u2018Raven Miyagi,\u2019 \u2018Aquarius\u2019killa,\u2019 \u2018Leroy Carter,\u2019 \u2018Denny Cascade,\u2019 and \u2018Ultimate Denzel Curry.\u2019 MF DOOM was the king of that, and he would find a way to rap differently with those aliases,\u201d Denzel Curry told Kerrang<\/em> magazine in 2022<\/a>. \u201cHe took different identities and made himself. Then you have his collaboration with Madlib, which created Madvillainy<\/em>, which spawned, arguably, one of the greatest Rap albums of all time, and that influenced one of my own best tapes called UNLOCKED<\/i>.\u201d Like DOOM, Denzel tucks deep revelations and thought-provoking subjects into his bars. While Daniel Dumile was often celebrated for his whimsy, Denzel gets credit for his aggressive delivery\u2014which often juxtaposes some complex, introspective lyrics.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople ask me, if I had to pick one album that\u2019s my favorite of all time, [Mama\u2019s Gun <\/em>by Erykah Badu is] one of \u2019em. I listen to that album so much at night and it goes through so many different emotions for me\u2026that\u2019s kinda how we wanted to mirror it. Even with the title of the project [Laila\u2019s Wisdom<\/em>], Mama\u2019s Gun<\/em> inspired it. It\u2019s short and sweet, but it says a lot.\u201d In the conversation with Ambrosia For Heads<\/em><\/a>, Rap\u2019 also stated that songs from Badu\u2019s sophomore album landed on a playlist she made to inspire her Grammy-nominated 2017 LP. That inspiration has continued long after the stylistic homage. More recently, Rapsody\u2019s collaboration with Erykah Badu, \u201c3:AM,\u201d<\/a> earned both artists a Grammy Award.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cHere\u2019s how much of a Kane-anite I am: I tried to start calling myself \u2018H.A.W.K. Smooth\u2019 because I heard Big Daddy Kane shout out his friend who went by that name,\u201d Black Though admitted in a Pitchfork<\/em> feature on influential albums<\/a>, pointing to Kane\u2019s 1988 debut. \u201cFolks would ask about it, and I didn\u2019t want to say I got it from this other rapper shouting out his homies, so I turned it into some African warrior. Questlove and I were a group at that point, and Kane revolutionized my style of storytelling and influenced my cadence. He was one of the first rappers I heard rhyming in iambic pentameter, in that Shakespearean flow. I feel like the lexicon from which Kane put his bars together\u2014the word bank from which he withdrew\u2014conjured so much new imagery for me. On The Roots\u2019 Rising Down<\/em>, there\u2019s a song called \u201c@ 15\u201d<\/a> and that\u2019s actually from a voicemail or something I left [Questlove]. If you hear that song, you can definitely hear the influence.\u201d Elsewhere in his career, Black Thought has shared the stage with Kane, freestyled to his instrumentals, and even rapped in a deliberately imitating style on The Roots\u2019 \u201cBOOM.\u201d<\/a>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI choose Public Enemy\u2019s Fear Of A Black Planet<\/em> out of all of their releases. Public Enemy is my favorite Rap group of all time. And so Fear Of A Black Planet<\/em>, when it came out, I was really just a fan of Hip-Hop; I hadn\u2019t even really thought about being an artist yet,\u201d Xzibit recently said\u00a0<\/a> of P.E.\u2019s 1990 third album. Mr. X-to-the-Z \u201cI was listening to this record in my Sony Walkman, walking around the hallways, feeling like this was my theme music,\u201d he recalls. \u201cWhen you play that record, specifically \u2018Brothers Gonna Work It Out,\u2019<\/a> \u2018Fight The Power,\u2019<\/a> \u2018911 Is A Joke,\u2019<\/a> these were really different sounding songs, and they\u2019re very powerful in the climate, and Public Enemy has always been like a Rage Against The Machine-esque Hip-Hop group for me. And that\u2019s why I feel like, from top to bottom, that album represents a sound in an era of Hip-Hop that has yet to be eclipsed.\u201d X says that Public Enemy and The Bomb Squad\u2019s layered production is something he applied to his 30-year catalog. \u201cWhen something connects and touches your soul like that, you just never forget.\u201d He also explained Chuck D\u2019s personal impact, given the booming sound of P.E. vocals. \u201cI, fast forward, as an artist, have really developed and put that sound into my music as well.\u201d He continued, \u201cMy voice sounds like I\u2019ve had this voice since I was a baby, but my voice sounds very gruff and rough. I knew, once I started making records, that I had a very different sounding voice, and being able to use my instrument, and being inspired by Chuck D definitely had an influence on the way I deliver. The content is a lot different, but I think in that aspect\u2014yes, it has been inspirational.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d eat oatmeal in the morning and listen to Miles Davis and [John] Coltrane. A lot of it was classic Jazz. We\u2019d replay each CD 30,000 times,\u201d SZA said to Interview<\/em> magazine<\/a>. \u201cThe album that defined my childhood was probably Ella Fitzgerald\u2019s Greatest Hits<\/em>, whereas my half-sister, who didn\u2019t have the same conservative upbringing, was listening to Cash Money and Crunk.\u201d SZA echoed this sentiment to Variety<\/em><\/a>. \u201cI love Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. When I was young, I used to sing that song all the time because I could see <\/em>it, [singing] \u2018Oh his teeth are\u2026 so pearly white<\/i>\u2019 \u2014it was scary but I loved it, like in a whimsical way\u2026 Oh, [Ella\u2019s] \u2018Tenderly,\u2019<\/a> that\u2019s one of the most beautiful songs, I used to cry to it all the time. That, and \u2018They Can\u2019t Take That Away From Me,\u2019<\/a> when she goes [sings],<\/i> \u2018We may never, never we meet again \/ On this bumpy road to love,<\/em>\u2019 and then Louis [Armstrong] goes, \u2018Sweet Ella.<\/em>\u2019 And it just feels like, oh my god, what if they really never see each other again? It feels so finite, and so \u2026 disastrous as a possibility.\u201d Like her observations about Ella and Louis, SZA\u2019s music has thrived at its delicate portrayals of the intricacies of relationships\u2014including with self. While incredibly contemporary in sound and presentation, there is a transparency to the heart in SZA\u2019s writing and themes that has made the songstress a superstar to her generation\u2014much like Ella Fitzgerald was for hers.\n<\/p>\n
In a 2019 interview with Genius\u2019 For The Record<\/em> series<\/a>, Cordae showed (and proved) his deep admiration for JAY-Z\u2019s sixth LP. \u201cI really love Blueprint<\/a><\/em>; that\u2019s one of my all-time favorite albums,\u201d the Maryland MC touted, before enthusiastically rapping a series of bars from the work that have stuck with him. Jay\u2019s 2001 album seamlessly blended his many styles of Rap, and flaunted his evolution. Though newer into his career than Shawn Carter was by his sixth LP, Cordae\u2019s albums have been intentionally versatile, presenting a young lyricist, an introspective writer, and someone who still aims to have hits in rotation.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father was a big Ice Cube fan and we used to bump Kill At Will<\/em>.<\/i> Cube was dissing [N.W.A.] by that point\u2014he\u2019d already put out \u2018No Vaseline\u2019<\/a> and all that. When Dre split from Eazy-E, the thing between him and Cube kinda died down. It was a real dynamic time in music,\u201d Gibbs told Pitchfork<\/em><\/a>. \u201cThe West Coast had [popularity] on lock for a minute in the early \u201890s. \u2018Let Me Ride\u2019<\/a> is my favorite song. You could pick any song from The Chronic<\/em> to be your favorite, but that\u2019s probably my favorite.\u201d He also credits the \u201cNuthin\u2019 But A \u2018G\u2019 Thang\u201d video<\/a> as potent too. \u201cWhen Dr. Dre walked into Snoop [Dogg\u2019s] house and got him off the couch looking [very struggling], he was like, \u2018Get your [self] in the booth and record.\u2019 It wasn\u2019t all this putting-on and flashy [posturing]. You could easily relate to it. A rapper comes out now and already has a Lamborghini. I miss the story; I miss the struggle. You didn\u2019t give me that. If you already made it to the mountaintop, why do I wanna hear your story?\u201d Freddie Gibbs\u2019 own rise from Gary, Indiana and hustling has been a key aesthetic in his music far more than any flash. Even well into his major label releases, the ESGN founder chose to be a man of the people.\n<\/p>\n