Nas: AllHipHip 2025 Person Of The Year

Queens stand up, now!



The Nasty One snagged another honor from the folks at AllHipHop.com. As Nasir stands in his fifties, he still has the stamina to appear on Clipse albums and power through his own project in 2025.

If there was a hip hop mount rushmore, Nas wouldn’t just be on it, he’d have his own memorial and be printed on the currency as well. He has championed causes like the Paid In Full Foundation which bestows praise and benefits on the leaders of every school of rap.

His patience, decision-making skills, and power behind the microphone have solidified his placement as one of the greats.

With his effortless flow, his ties to businesses like Hennessy and his own label now, Mass Appeal, Mr. Jones has pushed himself to be named among the game’s finest philosophers and philanthropists.

His role as a statesman is made permanent by his efforts musically and entrepreneurially.

If there was any doubt about his microphone phenom status, just point to his project which just dropped, Light-Years (2025). It showcases the fact he can still rhyme circles around virtually anyone from any era, city, or borough.

Nas is that classy gangster who knows about his powers and can use them to great effect. He wields his words in a way that a master of the pen like James Baldwin or August Wilson would.

The decorated vet gets the top prize from the venerated website because he has won over the minds of the populace. For his dynamism and true ability, he has laid the groundwork for J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar among others.

Every time his songs get streamed, it’s often where someone alerts their digital assistant to replay a Nas line. It’s inevitable.

With this latest achievement, Nas has once again shown his appreciation of the game and what it means to him. By working for more than thirty years in the hip hop world, he has delivered lesser classics and flat out masterpieces.

The delivery, the imagination, the constant thought that propels the MC to take on new challenges and set bountiful goals, has allowed him to progress in a field that may be called stagnant in some respects. He never minds that, opens the door, and greets the new artists and helps them to develop.

His uncanny strength in making time seem like it slows down and that he is taking you on a majestic ride of lyrical excellence. What Nas possesses is a might on the mic which powers him and enlightens him.

To be considered the greatest artist of 2025 according to AllHipHop.com is quite the feat considering the fact that he has received Grammys® and other honors. The site has only bestowed its award for best person to those that deserve such an accolade.

Nasir has wrought not just a career but a lifestyle. This year alone, he has developed himself into a top shelf liquor in his own right. He’s like that vintage bottle that might cost more than someone’s mortgage. His timeless ability, calculated lyricism, and dominance over bass and percussion all allude to a consummate professional. Those ties he shares with outsiders, living legends, and up-and-comers altogether demonstrate his special qualities in and out of the booth.

The Queens native will forever be recognized as the true street poet who rose up through the ranks from spirited private to changing over to become a general in the field.

As critically acclaimed as Nas may be, he’s still hungry and ready to take on so many tasks.

While this is still a profound honor, he still deserves a Nobel Prize for Literature. Let’s just see where that takes him.

The Best Nas Features Of 2025, From Clipse To Slick Rick

This year alone, Nas shined alongside The Clipse on their game-changer, Let God Sort ‘Em Out, and flexed his executive muscle as co-founder of Mass Appeal Records. Not only did he greenlight the Legend Has It… campaign—an initiative empowering rap icons like Slick Rick, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Mobb Deep, Big L, and De La Soul to release new albums—but he stamped each one with a signature guest verse from the boss himself.

It was written: one of hip-hop’s greatest lyricists, razor sharp since the ’90s, is still operating at the highest frequency. But which of Nas’ scene-stealing moments truly stood above the rest? Let’s put it all in perspective.

10. Steel Banglez — “TIMES” feat. Nas & Sid Sriram

Bars: “No longer guilt ridden by the silk and linen / Never condemn it, never condescending / Before you hear something, this dope again and people love it / You’ll see the Pope on the beach in Nantucket play the trumpet.”

Nas blesses the British producer with an introspective, worldview-shaping verse—calm, reflective, and subtly inspirational.

9. Mobb Deep — “Love The Way (Down For You Pt. 2)” feat. Nas & H.E.R.

Bars: “Silk shirts and my chest show, still a flirt / I blew a kiss to Jorja Smith from afar at the H.E.R. concert.”

Nas gets romantic, flipping a clever nod to his Halle Berry line from Mobb Deep’s 1999 classic “It’s Mine” — proof his charm remains undefeated.

8. Slick Rick — “Documents” feat. Nas

Bars: “Sticking up the game again, Yankee and The Englishman / Who the best storytellers? Keep it a Wilt Chamberlain.”

Rapping alongside one of his biggest inspirations, Nas can’t hide his excitement. This is real Black James Bond elegance.

7. Mobb Deep — “Down For You” feat. Nas & Jorja Smith

Bars: “If I love the girl, who care what you like? / Y’all ain’t Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky or Mike, but she my new edition.”

If it isn’t love… Why does she stay on Nas’ mind? Ha!

6. De La Soul — “Run It Back!!” feat. Nas

Bars: “As wild as the ’80s, ’90s, and 2000s, how it was sick / How did it slip? / Now it’s just Doechii, Dot and SZA with most powerful hits.”

With his brother Jungle hyping him in the background, Esco storms through like he’s reclaiming the throne — an authoritative reminder of his staying power.

5. Raekwon — “The Omertà” feat. Nas

Bars: “And the year was like 16-something, so could this mean hustling / Began when the Indian finessed the Dutchman / With opium on horseback? This way before crack.”

While an earlier leaked verse had fans speculating about subliminals towards Jim Jones, Nas switches gears here –dropping more historical gems than a KRS-One lecture.

4. Mobb Deep — “Pour The Henny” feat. Nas

Bars: “Life is a small hill to a mountain climber/I’m a ten-time champion, real life survivor/I’ve been on the ropes a few times/Probably been almost smoked a few times/But everything will evolve in due time/I know that descending is not the end/Just some new beginnings for P, we pour out some Hen’.”

Nas lovingly salutes his fallen QB brother, Prodigy. A toast to legacy.

3. Ghostface Killah — “Love Me Anymore” feat. Nas

Bars: “This to my nation, Black on Black hatred still happens adjacent / Project 2025 mandated by Reagan / House n****s on the rise, they love a plantation / Can’t allow the selfish and foul in our conversation.”

Like Ghost, Nas shows zero tolerance for betrayal within the community. The brothers aren’t gonna work it out.

2. Clipse — “Let God Sort Em Out/Chandeliers” feat. Nas

Bars: “Single-handedly boosted rap to its truest place / F*ck speaking candidly, I alone did rejuvenate/Hip-hop into its newest place/Made it cool for Grammy nominated LPs from previous generation MCs.”

Nas flaunts his longevity—no apologies, no humility, just justified pride. All you can do is nod in approval and press rewind.

1. Big L — “u ain’t gotta chance” feat. Nas

Bars: “I’m the first in rap to form a venture cap’ / While y’all research that, I let my seat go back / The first Carlito of rap, well, after G Rap / My voice a needle in wax, gets the Devil attacked / I hold your skull with my fingers in your eye sockets / I won’t even snitch to God, I’m a die solid.”

A vicious, technical showcase. No more disrespectful comparisons, Nas makes it clear the gap was always wide. And still is.

The Alchemist: AllHipHop 2025 Producer Of The Year



Whether guiding whole albums or elevating rap’s elites, The Alchemist’s fingerprints were all over Hip-Hop’s most respected music in 2025.

The Alchemist stood tall in 2025. He was at the center of Hip-Hop’s sonic revolution and evolution. In this year alone, he crafted several collaborative albums and genre-bending releases, working with rap’s most respected artists. Quite frankly, Alchemist’s fingerprints are all over 2025’s highest ranked music. He effortlessly shifted from dusty soul to cinematic sounds to traditional boom-bap sensibilities. He defined culture.

The year kicked off with Life Is Beautiful, a full album with Larry June and 2 Chainz, released February 7. Produced entirely by Alchemist, the project displayed his rare ability to tailor spacious, groovy production to two unique voices. He helped marry Larry’s laid-back tones with 2 Chainz’s veteran swagger seamlessly. This was the beginning of landmark year.

In the summer, Alchemist reunited with his pal: Freddie Gibbs. On Alfredo 2, released July 25, Alchemist’s beats provided the perfect canvas for Gibbs’ introspective “painting.” As a sequel to their Grammy-nominated 2020 album Alfredo, the chemistry was undeniable. Samples, cerebral instrumentation and brutal drums guided Gibbs through his narratives. The project solidified Alchemist at a contender for 2025’s best.

But he didn’t stop there. Alchemist continued to push boundaries with underworld overlord Armand Hammer on their collaborative album Mercy, released November 7. The record’s abstract soundscapes challenged conventional rap production. Critics highlighted Alchemist’s work as some of his most evocative in years. Avant-garde, yet shaped by Hip-Hop tradition, Mercy kept fans tapped in.

Then, The Alchemist and Hit-Boy dropped Goldfish on October 24. The full-length joint album came a short film. Goldfish showed both men proficient on the boards and in the booth. The project featured elite guests like Havoc of Mobb Deep, Conway the Machine and Boldy James. And then ALC brought it home.

Alchemist was felt on appeared on other significant 2025 projects. He had a heavy presence on Mobb Deep’s Infinite, Unlearning Vol.2  with Evidence, Earl Sweatshirt and more. Every placement reinforced that his influence extends far beyond one lane of the culture. His brilliance is that he’s uniquely able to balance both the classic and the contemporary. 2025 confirmed ALC is on a generational run.

Alchemist isn’t just making beats, he’s like the pulse helping keep the heart pumping in Hip-Hop.

He deserves to be Producer of the Year. Salute.

The MVP’s Of 2025 Hip Hop

Another year in Hip Hop has drawn to a close, and as the smoke of 2025 settles, it’s clear the culture keeps refining itself. Outside the glossy distractions of streaming-era celebrity and algorithm-fed trends, a different lineage continues to evolve: the school of craftsmanship, integrity, and respect for the art form’s foundation. At HHGA, that’s the world we chronicle. Ours is the universe of emcees and producers who still build albums like novels, not playlists; who treat verses as scripture and beats as sacred geometry.

This year, that tradition thrived. The veterans redefined longevity. The new vanguard built frameworks. Across our Top 60, the sound of 2025 told a story of maturation, experimentation, and restoration. From De La Soul’s brilliant late-career renaissance on Cabin In The Sky to billy woods’ incendiary GOLLIWOG, the underground’s pulse beat with purpose. Clipse sharpened their legend on Let God Sort Em Out; Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist pushed minimalist luxury to new heights on Alfredo 2; and Nas & DJ Premier reunited to prove that age, when paired with vision, can still summon magic. This was a year about mastery, perspective, and the art of distillation.

No one embodied that better than our two 2025 M.V.P.’s: The Alchemist and Nas. Each—through different crafts—anchored the year’s best music, commanding reverence without ever chasing relevance. Alchemist’s fingerprints were everywhere, his production quietly bending time, merging smoky loops with emotional weight across multiple projects. Nas, in turn, stood as Hip Hop’s curator and poet laureate—his pen sharper, his sense of legacy clearer, his Legends Has It vision reminding the culture that true icons evolve, not expire.

2025 belonged to those who treat Hip Hop like an unending craft. And as we crown its M.V.P.’s, we celebrate not just their output, but their devotion to the art that continues to define generations.

The Alchemist



Alan Daniel Maman grew up in Beverly Hills. First, he approached Hip Hop in the early 1990s as a rapper named Mudfoot, forming The Whooliganz alongside Scott Caan, whose early material drew local notice before he turned toward production. DJ Muggs soon brought him into the Soul Assassins collective, where his contributions to Cypress Hill III: Temples of Boom taught him the art of layering samples into extended patterns that carry a track from start to finish.

When he relocated to New York in the late 1990s, his partnership with Mobb Deep on Murda Muzik solidified his signature sound, as heard in “The Realest,” where warped kicks support a faint piano line drawn from psychedelic rock records, soul vinyl, and snippets of film dialogue, all while drums land slightly off-center to sustain tension across the entire piece.​

Over the following decades, Maman—known as The Alchemist—developed a catalog that reflects his deepening command of texture and repetition, beginning with Dilated Peoples’ 1st Infantry and its track “Hold You Down,” where horns gradually curl into a looping form that holds steady under the verses. Although he served as Eminem’s tour DJ in 2005, he directed his energy toward underground releases, including beat tapes like Israeli Salad that expose his process of chopping samples from aged vinyl and adding subtle layers of static to create depth.

Collaborations further revealed his adaptability, such as Covert Coup with Curren$y, where bass lines hum continuously at a low register while synths linger in the background, or Action Bronson’s Rare Chandeliers, which incorporates organ lines over hats that maintain a consistent pace throughout. Projects with Boldy James, including The Price of Tea in China and Bo Jackson, space drums thoughtfully for greater impact, while Roc Marciano’s The Elephant Man’s Bones employs quiet percussion alongside thin strings that weave through the arrangement. Larry June’s The Great Escape benefits from keys that catch the light and bass that glides smoothly under the delivery, and Armand Hammer’s Haram integrates industrial hums with sharp snares to form a dense backdrop—all unified by his persistent focus on grainy texture shaped through careful repetition.

That foundation guided his extraordinary output in 2025, when he completed seven full projects and contributed tracks to releases from a diverse array of artists, beginning in February with Life Is Beautiful alongside Larry June and 2 Chainz, an album where he handled every beat to blend warm, drifting keys under June’s voice while leaving room for guests like Curren$y, later expanded by a deluxe edition in August that added fresh material to prolong the sequence.

In May, his instrumental album Mixed Fruit Vol. 1: Pineapple Ginger unfolded across 15 tracks, with “The Sun Shines Thru” emerging from shore-like haze, “Madness” accumulating layers from funk sources, and “A Man Without a Country” resolving into slow fades, each relying solely on rhythm to carry the listener forward.

July saw the arrival of Alfredo 2 with Freddie Gibbs, a natural extension of their 2020 collaboration, this release came accompanied by Alfredo: The Movie, a short film shot in Japan that explores underworld themes in parallel with the music.​ The momentum continued into October with Goldfish, a 15-track effort shared with Hit-Boy, where The Alchemist shaped portions like “Show Me The Way” and “Celebration Moments” featuring Havoc. November brought Mercy with Armand Hammer under his complete production.

Beyond these, his influence appeared on billy woods’ GOLLIWOG through “Counterclockwise” incorporating uneven jazz placements, Evidence’s Unlearning Vol. 2 via “Memories,” “Define Success,” “Rain Every Season,” and “Laughing Last,” Mobb Deep’s posthumous Infinite on “Gunfire” and “Taj Mahal,” The High & Mighty’s Sound of Market with “Rose Bowl,” Fly Anakin’s “Corner Pocket,” Zelooperz’ “In the Wind,” Jay Worthy’s Once Upon a Time on “The Outcome,” Erykah Badu’s Abi & Alan in “Next to You,” and even the bootleg Rx Chemist with Rx Papi.

Taken together, Life Is Beautiful, Alfredo 2, Goldfish, and Mercy—alongside these widespread contributions—establish The Alchemist as 2025’s M.V.P., as he forges connections among street rappers, abstract stylists, and veteran voices through production that emphasizes breathing texture and deliberate space.

Now 47, his approach revolves around deep crate exploration, measured sample edits, and thoughtfully selected partnerships, allowing loops to evolve gradually and drums to settle into enduring patterns, a method that the year’s work sustains without alteration, with each component naturally advancing what comes next.

Nas



Nasir Jones grew up in the Queensbridge projects after early years in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights, where the sounds of his father Olu Dara’s jazz work and the rising Hip Hop scene of the late 1980s shaped his early path. He left school in eighth grade to focus on rhymes, building skill through freestyle sessions and demo recordings that captured street life with direct detail.

Guest spots marked his arrival: at age 17, his verse on Main Source’s “Live at the Barbeque” from Breaking Atoms in 1991 opened with lines about street discipline and mental firepower, drawing notice from East Coast circles. The next year, his contribution to MC Serch’s “Back to the Grill” on Return of the Product layered survival themes with intricate schemes, linking him to Native Tongues voices and building expectation for his own material. That momentum led to Illmatic in 1994, produced by DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Large Professor, Q-Tip, and others, where tracks like “N.Y. State of Mind,” “The World Is Yours,” and “It Ain’t Hard to Tell” mapped Queensbridge existence with cinematic focus over precise beats.

His catalog unfolded with steady adaptation over three decades. It Was Written in 1996 reached number one with tracks like “If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)” alongside Lauryn Hill, blending street narratives and wider appeal through production from Premier, Dr. Dre, and Trackmasters. Challenges followed in I Am… and Nastradamus of 1999, yet Stillmatic in 2001 reclaimed ground with “Ether” amid rivalry debates, while God’s Son in 2002 explored personal ground on songs honoring his mother. Street’s Disciple in 2004 addressed maturity, Hip Hop Is Dead in 2006 questioned trends, and Untitled in 2008 confronted identity. Distant Relatives with Damian Marley in 2010 crossed into reggae perspectives, Life Is Good in 2012 reflected on change with “Daughters,” and the 2020s Hit-Boy run—King’s Disease, its sequels, Magic series—delivered Grammy wins through boom-bap revival and sparse features, all released via Mass Appeal Records, which Nas co-founded in 2014 to support independent artistry free from major pressures.

Mass Appeal grew into a platform for legacy and innovation, starting with releases like Fashawn’s The Ecology and Bishop Nehru projects, then expanding to J Dilla tributes and international efforts. Nas’s own Nasir in 2018 served as a concise label moment. The label’s focus sharpened in 2025 with the “Legend Has It…” series, a seven-album initiative Nas curated to honor New York pioneers, announced in April and rolled out monthly: Slick Rick’s Victory in June, Raekwon’s The Emperor’s New Clothes in July, Ghostface Killah’s Supreme Clientele 2 in August, Mobb Deep’s Infinite and Big L’s Harlem’s Finest: Return of the King in October, De La Soul’s Cabin in the Sky in November. Billboards, a Marvel comic tie-in, and Nas’s own appearances framed the effort as preservation through active creation, drawing from influences like Wu-Tang grit and Mobb Deep realism to bridge eras without retreat to past forms.

Nas deepened that role through standout guest verses across the series, including contributions to Infinite and Cabin in the Sky that wove his voice into the projects with measured insight. His presence elevated each release, connecting living artists and estates in a shared lineage. The year closed with Light-Years in December alongside DJ Premier, extending their history from “N.Y. State of Mind” and “Nas Is Like.” Tracks like “My Life Is Real” open over piano loops with reflections on endurance, “Git Ready” nods to early influences, “Pause Tapes” recalls origin experiments, “Writers” catalogs graffiti roots, “My Story Your Story” reunites with AZ, “Bouquet (To the Ladies)” lists women in Hip Hop history, “Junkie” frames craft as dependence, “Sons (Young Kings)” centers fatherhood, and “3rd Childhood” affirms consistency beyond age. Premier’s production—precise drums, jazz chops, scratches—holds lean space for Nas’s sharpened delivery on survival, legacy, and craft.

Through Mass Appeal’s “Legend Has It…” curation, guest integrations, and Light-Years, Nas defined 2025 as Hip Hop’s central figure. At 52, he channels decades of output into acts that sustain the form: selecting partners, guiding releases, and writing with focus on structure and reflection. The series restores without display, each album advancing through detail and intent. His work reminds the culture that leadership emerges from care for what lasts.

Ranking the Best Mass Appeal Albums from the “Legend Has It…” Series

Nas built a label campaign around legacy and loss. Most of them aimed higher than nostalgia. The seven albums that followed proved that legends still had something to say.



Nas spent years trying to convince anyone who would listen that a full album with DJ Premier was on the way. Those close to the situation mostly shrugged it off. Then, in April 2025, Mass Appeal announced the Legend Has It… series, a campaign that promised new studio albums from seven of New York hip-hop’s most revered figures. The roster looked like a museum exhibit given a second life: Nas and Premier, finally united across a full-length; Ghostface Killah delivering the sequel to one of the most beloved Wu-Tang solo records ever made; Raekwon returning for the first time in eight years; Slick Rick ending a 26-year absence; the surviving members of Mobb Deep and De La Soul honoring fallen partners; and a posthumous collection celebrating the late Big L, Harlem’s cold-blooded punchline savant who died before he could witness the full weight of his influence.

Mass Appeal did not try to manufacture youth appeal or chase algorithmic relevance. Instead, the label leaned into biography and legacy, giving each artist room to work within their established sound. Every album arrived with different goals. Some tried to recapture old glories. Others functioned as elegies. A few felt like proof-of-life records designed to remind a fractured culture that East Coast rap’s original architects never stopped writing. What linked them was geography and intention: all seven projects came from artists whose voices helped shape what New York hip-hop sounds like, and each one circled back to what made those voices matter in the first place. Measured against each other, the records reveal how differently these legends approached their second chances.

As usual, this is our list, not yours, unfortunately. If your ranking differs from ours, please feel free to comment below.

POLL

Which Mass Appeal album is the best from the “Legend Has It” series?

The Emperor’s New Clothes
0%
Supreme Clientele 2
0%
Infinite
15%
Cabin in the Sky
77%
Other (Comment below)
8%
POLL CLOSED

7. Big L, Harlem’s Finest: Return of the King

Before he could follow up on one of the most quotable debut albums in rap history, Lamont Coleman was murdered in his own neighborhood. He was 24 years old, one album deep into a career that promised decades of quotables. His lone studio release, Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous, had already cemented his reputation among lyric obsessives: the punchlines landed with surgical cruelty, his delivery cold enough to frost windows. Everything after his death arrived in remnants. Bootlegs, vault dumps, freestyles stitched onto unmixed instrumentals, records sold off by family members struggling with medical bills. Harlem’s Finest: Return of the King attempts something cleaner. Mass Appeal worked alongside his estate and brother Donald Phinazee to gather remastered freestyles, rare verses, and a handful of tracks rebuilt from scratch. The results vary in cohesion. Some songs work beautifully. “U Ain’t Gotta Chance” pairs L’s ruthless 1997 bars with a fresh Nas verse, and Method Man’s appearance on “Fred Samuel Playground” captures genuine chemistry from beyond the grave. A posthumous Mac Miller feature on “Forever” lands with unexpected tenderness, two dead artists meeting across time on wax. The craft here involves curation rather than creation. L cannot respond to a beat he’s never heard, cannot punch up a verse that isn’t landing, cannot approve the final product. This one preserves what already existed, which matters, but preservation is not the same as life.

6. Slick Rick, Victory

Twenty-six years is long enough to become a myth. Slick Rick released The Art of Storytelling in 1999, then disappeared into legal battles, deportation attempts, and the quiet life of a man who had already proven everything he needed to prove. His influence never stopped compounding. Snoop Dogg built an entire aesthetic from “La Di Da Di.” Nas cited him as a foundational hero. Kendrick Lamar sampled him on a Grammy-winning record. But Rick himself stayed silent, performing occasionally, guarding his legacy without adding to it. Victory breaks that silence with assistance from Idris Elba, who executive-produced the project and helped shoot an accompanying short film across three continents.

The album leans short and breezy, most tracks clocking under three minutes, Rick’s sing-song delivery floating over jazz-inflected loops and vintage funk. He sounds unbothered throughout, less interested in proving his relevance than simply existing as himself. “Stress” and “Landlord” carry the playful menace of his classic work without straining for contemporary shine. The Nas feature on “Documents” lets two generations of New York storytelling share space. Victory functions as a gentle reintroduction rather than a grand statement. Rick does not chase trends or attempt reinvention. He restates his case with the confidence of someone who knows his receipts are already filed. That ease works as a listening experience. Despite its brevity, Victory is a gift to longtime fans. It is not a challenge to anyone, including Rick himself.

5. Nas & DJ Premier, Light-Years

The mythology predates the music by nearly two decades. Nas floated the idea of a full Premier album in a 2006 magazine interview, then let anticipation simmer across anniversary celebrations, sporadic singles, and endless speculation. By the time Light-Years actually materialized, expectation had calcified into something almost impossible to satisfy. The album arrives as a competent, often thrilling work from two artists who understand each other instinctively. Premier’s drums can be basic for the most part, but some of them snap with the weight they carried on Illmatic. His samples are chopped and reassembled with the same surgical care that defined his golden era. Nas raps with discipline and clarity, his pen sharper than it has been in years, his delivery measured and purposeful. AZ stops through to revive old Firm chemistry. The Steve Miller Band sample on one track adds unexpected color. None of it disappoints. None of it transcends. Light-Years sounds exactly like what a Nas and Premier album should sound like (well, at least for today’s time, not three decades ago), which is both its greatest strength and its most persistent limitation. The decades of buildup created a version of this record that could never exist, a platonic ideal against which the actual product cannot compete.

4. Raekwon, The Emperor’s New Clothes

Eight years of silence followed The Wild, a 2017 record that stripped Raekwon of his Wu-Tang context and left him sounding isolated. The Emperor’s New Clothes corrects that miscalculation with aggressive reconnection. Ghostface Killah appears three times across the tracklist, their chemistry still magnetic after three decades of trading verses. Method Man and Inspectah Deck return to remind listeners what Raekwon sounds like surrounded by his brothers. Griselda’s entire roster—Westside Gunn, Benny the Butcher, Conway the Machine—stops through on “Wild Corsicans” to collect torches and pass them back in the same breath. Rae himself sounds settled into his authority, his delivery measured and deliberate, his writing still locked into the coded language of street commerce and loyalty. He does not strain for youthful energy or chase contemporary sounds. He raps like a man who knows exactly who he is and feels no obligation to become anyone else. “The Omerta” pairs him with Nas for a summit of two artists whose catalogs intertwined across decades, both of them rapping with the ease of old colleagues who no longer need to impress each other. “Mac & Lobster” closes the album with Raekwon and Ghostface gliding through luxurious production, their interplay as natural as it was on Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… thirty years earlier. The Emperor’s New Clothes does not reinvent Raekwon’s approach. It restores the collaborative context that made his voice matter in the first place. He stopped running from his history and remembered why the history existed.

3. Ghostface Killah, Supreme Clientele 2

The original Supreme Clientele dropped in 2000 and became the consensus peak of Ghostface Killah’s solo work, a record stuffed with hyperkinetic imagery and sample-drenched loops that sounded like nothing else in hip-hop. A sequel seemed unlikely. Ghost had teased one for years without delivering, and expectations calcified into skepticism. Supreme Clientele 2 arrives 25 years later with Ghost pulling from vault material and new sessions, piecing together a record that actually honors its predecessor. His delivery remains slippery and cinematic. He flips between robbery recollections and absurdist flexing without losing momentum. “Iron Man” and “Georgy Porgy” pack the frenetic energy of classic Ghostface storytelling: dense, visual, stitched together with references that demand repeat listens. “Rap Kingpin” flips both Eric B. & Rakim’s “My Melody” and Ghost’s own “Mighty Healthy” from the original Supreme Clientele, folding his past into his present without nostalgia dulling the blade. The guest list runs deep. Nas, Raekwon, Method Man, GZA, and Redman all contribute, and none of them feel like obligations. Within the series, Supreme Clientele 2 carries the heaviest legacy baggage outside of Light-Years, and it outperforms by leaning into weirdness rather than playing it safe. Ghost does not try to recreate 2000. He channels its spirit with enough new texture to justify the title.

2. De La Soul, Cabin in the Sky

The unexpected passing of David “Trugoy” Jolicoeur in February 2023 left Posdnuos and Maseo to carry De La Soul forward. For decades, sample clearance issues had kept their classic albums locked away, inaccessible to younger listeners who knew the group only by reputation. The rights finally sorted themselves out just in time for Dave to see his legacy restored, only for it to slip away. Cabin in the Sky became the first album released under that weight. The record does not wallow in grief. It moves through loss with warmth and communal energy, filling 70 minutes with guest appearances from Black Thought, Q-Tip, Killer Mike, Common, and Nas, each one arriving like a visitor at a wake who refuses to let the room stay somber. Dave’s vocals appear throughout, recorded before his passing and woven into new arrangements. Posdnuos writes with visible intention, acknowledging absence without surrendering to it. “Different World” offers some of his most vulnerable lines. The Slick Rick and Common feature on “Yours” updates Rick’s own “Hey Young World” for a generation that grew up on its original lessons. Giancarlo Esposito narrates interludes that frame the album as a guided meditation on mortality and continuation. Within the series, Cabin in the Sky accomplishes something rare: it honors the dead while insisting on life. De La Soul has always thrived on optimism and humor, and this record carries that tradition forward without pretending the loss does not sting. Although the length occasionally sprawls beyond necessity, the emotional ambition exceeds every other entry.

1. Mobb Deep, Infinite

We lost Prodigy in 2017, his body finally giving out after decades of battling sickle cell anemia. He was 42 years old, half of a duo whose early records helped define the sound of mid-90s New York rap: bleak, paranoid, cinematic in their violence, crackling with the specific energy of Queensbridge housing projects. Havoc spent years fielding questions about whether he could ever make another Mobb Deep record without his physical presence. Infinite answers that question with unexpected grace. Working alongside The Alchemist, Havoc assembled unreleased Prodigy verses and built an entire album around them, writing his own contributions after hearing what Prodigy laid down. The result sounds cohesive rather than constructed, grim and purposeful in the tradition of The Infamous and Hell on Earth.

Prodigy’s voice cuts through with the same gravel and specificity that made him irreplaceable. On “Pour the Henny,” featuring Nas, he raps about living fully and accepting death. On “Clear Black Nights,” he delivers lines about being visible in the sky after he’s gone, words that feel written with foreknowledge. Havoc matches him with verses that honor their chemistry without trying to outshine the source. Infinite rightfully earns the top spot in view of the fact that it accomplishes the most challenging task by making a posthumous album feel essential rather than obligatory. It does not coast on nostalgia or rely on fragments stretched thin. Havoc found a way to say goodbye without saying goodbye, closing the Mobb Deep catalog with something that sounds like it belongs there.