#44 Nas, 'Illmatic' (1994)

Nas had been kicking around since he was a teenager. Along with his best mate and DJ, Will “Ill Will” Graham, he worked his way through the underground Hip Hop scene, drawing comparison to Rakim due to the multi-syllabic internal rhymes in his rapping, although he struggled to gain a record deal. In 1992, when Nas was 18, Graham was murdered by a gunman. The same night Nas’s brother was shot but survived. This was a major wakeup call for Nas. He was finally signed and ‘Illmatic,’ his debut album was released in 1994.