XXL Celebrates 40 Years of Hip-Hop (XXL December/January 2014 Issue)

Aug. 11, 1973 was an extraordinary day for hip-hop. It was probably pretty nice out, and DJ Kool Herc threw a boss party that birthed the genre we here at XXL have based our business off of since 1997.

In celebration of 40 years of hip-hop, not only did XXL pull together five throwback photos of OutKast, JAY-Z, Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg and LL Cool J for the covers, but we also compiled a year-by-year breakdown of the most classic singles and albums from 1973 to 2013. Click the article below to read the original version of XXL's Da Greatest from the December/January 20146 issue.

Check out more from Snoop Dogg and our other cover artists at XXL's 20th anniversary hub below.