Nas - Illmatic
I got into that around 2008. That again was all about hopelessness, there was some positivity in there, but I think he had a lot to say on this album. He never bettered it. That second track, the line, "Cuz you never know when you're going to go!" Chilling, really.

I haven't listened to it for a long time, but you have the sense of a cold afternoon in the projects, an afternoon spent doing nothing, walking up the stairs to your apartment, the hopelessness of being a young black kid.

He wasn't really a funny guy, Nas. But brutal. He must have been educating himself. Books are a great source, aren't they. Some literature was held in some circles, myths about certain books, what I tend to find with a lot of rappers is this religious connection, even though some won't admit it, black culture is very connected to religion, more so than white people. It's kind of that as well, the fear of the wrath of god.