15 Great Hip-Hop Albums With One Weak Song

The art of making a classic album is one that, when mastered, separates the elite groups, duos and soloists from the pack. Singles move the needle and are a dime a dozen, but a cohesive project is a bit harder to come by, given all the variables involved. Getting the lyrical content, production, songwriting, guest features (if any) and other moving parts in sync is a task that has been taken on by many, but completed by a select few. Striving for perfection is the name of the game in all musical genres, however, in hip-hop, there is a holy grail of albums that actually achieve that goal and are beyond comparison.

These albums, such as Illmatic, Reasonable Doubt, Life After Death and Midnight Marauders of the world, are universally praised as being perfect from top to bottom, with no blatant weak spots to speak of. That said, there is another tier of rap albums that are also considered classics or near-flawless albums that include that one song that is so unappealing that it throws the album off course and wrecks the overall flow.

XXL looks back at 15 seminal rap albums that fell victim to having a weak song fall through the cracks.

See 15 Great Hip-Hop Albums With One Weak Song