What is the best underground rap album of all time?

Far from the mainstream but rich in creativity — underground rap has consistently pushed artistic boundaries. Which underground album is the greatest?

1

MF DOOM – Operation: Doomsday

MF DOOM's 1999 debut album, recorded while homeless in NYC, launching hip-hop's most beloved masked villain.

2

Madvillain – Madvillainy

MF DOOM and Madlib's 2004 Stones Throw masterpiece, the definitive underground hip-hop album of the 2000s.

3

Aesop Rock – Labor Days

Aesop Rock's 2001 Rhymesayers album exploring labor, identity, and modern life with dense, college-flyer lyricism.

4

Cannibal Ox – The Cold Vein

Cannibal Ox's 2001 El-P-produced debut, a dark and claustrophobic vision of New York that became an underground legend.

5

Company Flow – Funcrusher Plus

Company Flow's 1997 debut, El-P and Bigg Jus's abrasive experimental rap that influenced a generation of underground MCs.

6

Atmosphere – God Loves Ugly

Slug and Ant's 2002 Minneapolis underground classic of raw, confessional storytelling that sold without label support.

7

El-P – Fantastic Damage

El-P's 2002 solo debut from Company Flow, a paranoid and industrially produced underground masterpiece.

8

Brother Ali – Undisputed Truth

Brother Ali's 2007 Rhymesayers album, a fiercely personal and political underground rap record that earned wide critical praise.

9

Jedi Mind Tricks – Violent by Design

Jedi Mind Tricks' 2000 Philadelphia album, a dark and dense underground classic with complex martial-arts-themed lyricism.

10

Billy Woods – Hiding Places

Billy Woods and Kenny Segal's 2019 album, a critically acclaimed underground rap masterpiece of dense, cryptic lyricism.

11

Sage Francis – Personal Journals

Sage Francis's 2002 Strange Famous debut, a deeply confessional and politically engaged underground rap statement.

12

milo – so the flies don't come

Milo's 2014 debut on Hellfyre Club, a softly spoken abstract rap album drawing on poetry and philosophy.

13

Boogie Down Productions – Criminal Minded

BDP's 1987 debut, an independent release that pioneered hardcore underground hip-hop before being picked up wider.