🚨 Level 1 - Top Level, the Undisputed Classic:

• An Undisputed Classic is really rare, but undeniable & pretty much impervious to any questioning. Not only is it highly impactful & influencial, but also an album the average mother & maybe even grandmother knows. An album that is still really relevant, known & popular to a level so high that its basically annoying or cliche feeling. Albums that are so influencial & impactful they transcended even their own genres & affected others while also being highly successful commercially. They may have even influenced life itself outside of music wether it be political or cultural. They have iconography so great they have been parodied & seen to death. Pretty much everyone would agree besides a very miniscule amount.

Examples: Thriller, Dark Side of the Moon, Straight Outta Compton, Kind of Blue, Songs in the Key of Life, Nevermind, Whats Going On

🚨 Level 2 - Middle Level, the General Classic:

• The General Classic is almost everything an Undisputed Classic is, but it isnt as widespread. It has success although probably not as extreme, it also has the recognition, impact & influence, but mainly just within its genre & demographic. It will not be known by literally everyone & their grandmother, nor will it cross into other genres as much, but within the genre itself & amongst the people of that genre, it still is all of these things. Some might not have the universal iconography, but the genre & people know & those within the genre most would agree.

Examples: Illmatic, The Chronic OG, Kid A, Is This It, Coat of Many Colors

🚨 Level 3 - Bottom Level, the Cult Classic:

• A Cult Classic is a General Classic but within a specific niche, or regional. It may not have much commercial success, but its still highly impactful & influencial within the group and/or area. It may not be known to the mainstream either, but it still has its place. It could have even developed a whole new sound or added to a sound but the knowledge isnt wide spread to the average person. It may also have its own iconography that is known to that group. It may even affect some of the bigger genre it is apart of or even other genres outside of it without much of the audience knowledge or care, but one thing is for sure is that its still highly impactful & influencial amongst its niche & those that do care, even if most on the outside are unaware. It will definitely have its detractors, but will also be heavily supported by & influence said niche, audience & other artists.

Examples: Operation Doomsday, Deltron 3030, Ferrari Boyz, Troutmask Replica, Aeroplane Over the Sea

🚨 Level Honorable Mention - A Nonexistent Level, the Personal Classic:

• The Personal Classic isnt real on a wide scope of things like how the 3 levels are. It is just a way of an individual to express greatly how much they personally love an album & how impactful and/or influencial it is to themselves & their own life. It will highly have detractors, but it does not mean it isnt valid on a personal basis/angle. Even some of the "worst" or obscure things are highly loved by someone.

🏆 Classic meaning:

A classic only has to be genuinely highly impacful, influencial & known. Commercial success also plays a part, mainly to the known part, but it isnt a strict requirement. From Undisputed to General to Cult & even Personal. Those 3 requirements are what all three levels have in common. Not every album is a classic on any of the 3 levels, most arent, but there are still a great amount of them in all genres for over a hundred years.

Some people say a classic must have time before it can be called classic, but I disagree myself. I think time can play a part into it eventually becoming classic in one of the 3 levels, but some albums are also a classic within just 1 to 5ish years. I remember Illmatic was being called, referenced & celebrated as a classic on TV & the radio in 2001/2002 while it came out in 1994, for example. And its not the only one in its genre nor outside of it. Some classics are quick to become one, while others are slow burners. Both are valid.

⚠️ REMEMBER ⚠️

• Just because something is considered classic, that doesn't mean you have to personally like or play it. And also just because you personally dont like a classic, doesnt mean it isnt classic.

• Just because something isnt considered classic doesnt mean it cannot be a good or even great album still, or important to yourself. A classic is just something that highly affects & impacts music culture/genres that is "everlasting" & widespread.

If you dont care what is or isnt classic, thats cool.

Im sure you will let us know how much you dont care 👍

Real for Ferrari Boyz

Gucci has many classic projects

bro i no u tried and everything, but nobody reading that

Only skimmed through but I can tell I agree

Lol Straight Outta Compton is a Undisputed classic, yet The Chronic and Illmatic are just “middle level classics” ?

Only 2 distinctions necessary imo

• the generational classics
• the intergenerational classics

mmm nice division, I think the level one is more about being iconic than the real quality of the music

Yea this confused me too

Besides that very solid thread OP

only one of these has a hollywood movie

A classic - any album that I really like

Silent Alarm - The Undisputed Classic.

A classic literally just means whatever stands the test of time and continues to be played long after its release

tbh this is just taking internet discourse way too seriously. At the end of the day, even these so called objective terms like classics end up skewed by each person's opinions and agendas. It's rather pointless.

I'm really only concerned with classic status within rap music. And it's probably more irrelevant than ever. Not only are albums a niche product in general through playlisting being the norm, but there's just a monoculture where it all blends together and becomes disposable and you kind of just move onto the next thing.

Historically speaking you could prob just say classics ended with GKMC/MBDTF and you wouldn't be that wrong. I still like a lot of stuff that came out after that. DAMN and CLB are streaming monsters but how many people are connected to those works on an album level?

I disagree

Also feel like OP made this whole thread just as an excuse to call The Chronic mid

whole lotta red is a classic

i think there’s just two

albums that are universally accepted as classics
albums that are personal classics to individuals

example of a universally accepted classic

U forgot one

• ‘KTT Classic’, someone got 3 tracks in to the most mid album you can possibly think of and raced 2 browser tabs over to the KTT music section to describe it as ‘The greatest of all time’

Ye has a classic in each category basically

Drake got 6 classics when it’s all said n done, 6 undisputed at that

Aeroplane and Trout Mask are level 2