because the internet is an essential album of that decade but we’re not ready for that convo yet

Exactly why it should be essential, leaving it out will not capture his whole artistry, the same for JIK.

essential as in essential listening for the general public

not essential in terms of his discog

its not accessible

otherwise every artist would have essential albums, instead they only pick from big artists

Artists are not created equal.

I think label picks not apple

its probably apple because otherwise b***lover2003 would just select his latest album "Titsoutnskool" as essential and u cant have that happening

before drake had no essential albums and now he has 5, lil wayne has only 1, kid cudi should have 1

story of drake's discography.

some of his albums have become classics in retrospect.

I FOUND ANOTHER ONE!!!

for the longest I thought it was Bob Dylan who had the most essential AM albums, which is nine. today, I found out that country singer George Jones also has nine essentials on AM. wondering if ill ever find another one, but hey, it's cool somebody gave Bob a run for his money who isn't Beatles

great artist

I Am What I Am was great, any other ones I should check out? I added Alone Again, gonna listen to it at some point

Because The Internet is a personal classic.

the stuff I liked most was the earlier compilation Cup Of Loneliness: The Classic Mercury Years with songs like this, but its really long

damn 808s got that essentials treatment im not mad though, at this point they really can throw yeezus in there too for what its worth

and hov is still on 4 essentials huh. justice for reasonable doubt

had to bump this thread with a great AM review of Whitney Houston's debut. kinda went down at the end but still a good one

It’s hard to imagine a time when Whitney Houston wasn’t well-established as one of the greatest singers in history—a voice so powerful and electrifying that even now, years after her death, attempts to cover her require a certain delusional confidence. But when her eponymous debut album was released in February 1985, when Houston was just 21, no one had heard of her—no one, that is, except Clive Davis of Arista Records, who was determined to make the vivacious backup singer and model into a global superstar. Davis’ strategy was simple and genius: By merging R&B’s groovy, soulful intimacy with pop’s catchy largesse, they’d maximise her crossover potential and deliver America a unifying voice. And that they did. Not only did the album produce three No. 1 singles—the Grammy-winning “Saving All My Love for You”, “Greatest Love of All” and, of course, “How Will I Know”—it effectively altered the course of contemporary music, imbuing the exhaustively white pop charts with distinctively black sounds and textures. Its influence can be heard in the many powerhouse divas who followed in Houston’s footsteps (Mariah, Christina, Alicia and Beyoncé, to name a few), and who approached pop not as a category but as an ethos. “Thinking About You” is a gloriously ’80s take on dance pop, and “Greatest Love of All”—one of the original self-empowerment anthems—is show-stopping, knowingly schmaltzy and fabulously over-the-top.

yall still on this stop!

unapologetic about Gambino being the greatest of all time

End of Transmission

Says guy w mid in his avy

she made music?

End of Transmission

that was correct, this is payola

End of Transmission

been a while since I updated this thread but recently they added more essentials to Bowie's catalog so he now also has 9 essentials next to Dylan and Jones

Dylan's essentials were switched up a bit now focusing on his stuff with The Band away from his early-mid 80s stuff

and they added a whole bunch of essentials to all types of QC signees and modern rappers in general but those are bullshit. Gunna's Wunna is an essential album now I guess theyre switching to albums important for the artist and not the genre/music history as a whole

still no Folsom prison in Cash's essentials

Tunnel of Love is now added to Springsteen's essentials