Okay I know this has been psuedo-discussed but I have vested interests to tackle this head on so here are my top 5:
1)
Illmatic - 9 Year old screw-faced Nas looks wise beyond his years in this picture. New York state of mind personified..not to mention the cla**ic QB street backdrop that was to be the subject of all his next 3 solo albums.
2)
ATLiens - I'm a comic book fiend & I love me some animation. This probably should be #1 spot but the Nas fan in me wouldn't let that be.
Impecably drawn image to rival Marvel/DC/Image's top animators (In fact who did the coverart of this sleeve?). The entire sleeve reads like a comic & thats BEFORE you get to the music which is just as good as the artwork! This is one every hip hopper/commic geek should own the original for. Theres even some Smut on the actual CD for Deac, Syn & Child :twisted:
3)
lets get free - UHURUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!! Its 1976 all over again..picture from the June 16th rising..The spirit of revolution is graphic in this image..only issue I had with it was that they manipulated the image to give the children gun instead of fists & sticks which is a misrepresentation for if they had guns they would have shot back.
4)
Madvillian - The ultimate supervillian in that unmistakeable mask looking exactly like what the title implies a "Mad Villian". This looks like the kind of Mu'fukka you dont wanna phukk wit. "Written in Cold Blood with a toothpick"
5)
By All Means Necessary - KRS recreates the cla**ic Malcolm X out the window with an uzi pose cla**ic photograph. If ever a picture represented the words this was it "By ALL Means Necessary"
