Tapestry by Carole King

Illmatic

Nas

Guttural, jazz-heavy hip-hop that defined the NYC sound in the ’90s.

Four tracks into his debut album, Nas told listeners, “The world is yours”—but he was wrong. In fact, the world belonged to Nas himself, a New York rap prodigy hailing from the talent-rich Queensbridge housing projects. And while Illmatic was immediately recognized as a gem by those in the know, its impact on hip-hop at large would only fully be appreciated in the years following.

“There are rhyme schemes on there that most rappers to this day can’t do.”

Eminem

Nas introduces turns of phrase and perspective previously unheard within the art form: “My mic check is life or death, breathing a sniper’s breath/I exhale the yellow smoke of buddha through righteous steps,” he spits on “It Ain’t Hard to Tell.” Illmatic’s sample-heavy sound comes courtesy of a dream team of production talent—DJ Premier, Large Professor, Q-Tip, Pete Rock, and L.E.S.— a lineup that helped break a long-standing tradition of single-producer hip-hop albums. Together they present a unified vision of the murky, guttural, jazz-heavy hip-hop that would come to define the ’90s New York sound.

Tapestry

Carole King

A behind-the-scenes legend steps out on her own and launches the ’70s singer-songwriter era.

Carole King’s second solo album, 1971’s Tapestry, virtually defined the singer-songwriter era of the 1970s. Its warm, intimate tone; the simple, piano-based arrangements; and the cozy living-room feel of the album captured a moment in time and rightfully turned the limelight onto a songwriter who’d crafted so many classics for others over the preceding decade.

King had shaped American pop music by speaking for women as a group, articulating previously masked vulnerability on The Shirelles’ “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” and daring, earthy sensuality on Aretha Franklin’s “(You Make Me Feel Like) a Natural Woman.” But on Tapestry, her second album as a soloist, King reclaims those songs, using them to tell her own story. She also introduced new compositions destined to become standards in their own right (“I Feel the Earth Move,” “It’s Too Late,” “So Far Away,” and “You’ve Got a Friend,” which would become a hit for James Taylor, who played on the album’s sessions).

So it’s no surprise Tapestry played like an instant greatest-hits album even upon its release; after six years parked in Billboard’s albums chart (including a record-setting 15 weeks on top of it) and five decades of ubiquity, it can hardly be thought of as anything else.

“I can never say enough about this album. You can sit and listen to Carole King play piano like a rock star and sing like an angel. But the key to all of it is her songwriting.”

Shania Twain

Apple Music 100 Best Albums

Illmatic

Tapestry