Classic Albums

I'm not sure why but fans seem to be overly eager to crown the next classic album. So eager, in fact, that Rick Ross' Teflon Don has been heralded as a classic by fans and even some critics.  Unless the criteria for classic material has changed since I last checked, I don't see how this is possible.  Let's look at some albums that were universally accepted as classics.

If you mention Reasonable Doubt, Ready To Die, Illmatic, Doggystyle, Midnight Marauders, The Blueprint, Enter The 36 Chambers, or Illuminati: 7 Day Theory, you will not get very many arguments as to whether it's a classic or not.  And why are these albums labeled as classics?  Aside from being considered the Magnum Opus of the recording artist (ya know, an artist at their peak, the top of their game), they had enormous impact culturally.  Illmatic introduced us to one of the most gifted wordsmiths of our generation and ushered in a stampede of rappers trying their best to mimic Nas's then unmatched flow.  Ready To Die was one of first perfect marriages of commercially acceptable music and street shit.  Reasonable Doubt marked the beginning of Jay-Z's meteoric rise to the top of everything.  ALL of these albums stood for something that was bigger than just the music.  The fact that the music was excellent across the board almost seemed like the icing on the cake.

Look at those albums, then look at Teflon Don.  What is it bringing to the table?  How will this album be remembered 10-15 years from now?  Yea the beats are good, but a lot of rappers have good beats on their albums.  Yea the rhymes are good, but I can easily name 15, probably 20 rappers who rap circles around him.  This album doesn't usher a shift in the landscape of music nor does it offer any intangibles that are missing from albums that came before (or are likely to come after).  It's simply a pretty good album in the midst of mediocre-good albums.  Calling it a classic cheapens the impact of albums from our past.  Albums that we continue to use a benchmark for others and albums that a lot of us still play in our iPods.

I'm not sure we've had a classic in the last 4-5 years.  They're that rare.  Some have come close;  American Gangster comes to mind.  But when a classic DOES come along, we'll know.  Because they're undeniable.  The reaching and rationalization going on with Teflon Don won't be necessary.