The Saga…is getting into the top 10

10. Kanye West – The College Dropout (2004)

This is the first rap album that showed I could give a shit about the genre. The first time I heard a song from this album was when I saw the music video for “All Falls Down.” That song blew my mind, because it was rap but sounded fresh. Like Ryan Tedder, Kanye wrote song for various rap artists including Jay-Z and Eminem, but he saved the best for his own albums.

Recommended Tracks: “We Don’t Care,” “All Falls Down,” “Spaceship,” “Jesus Walks,” “Get ‘Em ‘High,” “Through the Wire”