Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums Of All Time: 5-1

Editor's note: For our music issue, out today, Ian Cohen, Rebecca Haithcoat, Jeff Weiss and Ben Westhoff run down the top 20 L.A. rap albums of all time. We're unveiling the list all this week on West Coast Sound.

5. The Pharcyde
Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde
If gangsta rap looked at life in L.A. through a grime-caked, cracked rear window, The Pharcyde took a bird's-eye view. Filled with jazzy horns, pianos and live drums instead of gunshots and squealing police sirens, their playful hip-hop offered an easygoing alternative to reality rap. On Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde, producer J-Swift's beats are lushly layered, and balance well with the group's intricate lyrics. Still, the quartet skips through an album that seems written in Crayolas and broadcast in Technicolor. --Rebecca Haithcoat

4. Tupac Shakur
All Eyez on Me
For all its smirking, swagger and casual sex, Tupac's penultimate album, All Eyez on Me, is only hedonistic on the surface. His lyrics are laced with paranoia and fury, and he spits them with a determination that occasionally verges on delirium. Recorded immediately following his Suge Knight-assisted release from prison, the work was Pac's first on Death Row Records, and his trademark tenderness and vulnerability are replaced by mirthless, menacing chuckles. This is a portrait of a man who seemed to know the end was near. --Rebecca Haithcoat

3. N.W.A.
Straight Outta Compton
Like an overlooked stepchild, the West Coast demanded attention by stompin' Straight Outta Compton, and received it -- even without radio airplay. N.W.A reported their versions of reality in the CPT; drinking while ducking the LAPD, drive-bys and gold-digging girls. The album is indignant, but, due to Dr. Dre and DJ Yella's production and surprisingly sunny samples, also quite funky.--Rebecca Haithcoat

2. Snoop Dogg
Doggystyle
With so much drama in the LBC, somehow, some way, Snoop Dogg captured the craziest house party of all time. The true next episode after The Chronic, Doggystyle became the fastest-selling record ever. A bathtub of gin and juice and blunt smoke. What's his name? No one ever needed to ask again. The D-O-Double G. Slim with the tilted brim. Dre slipped through with condoms, the funk and the freaks from the city of Compton. Slick Rick covers, Sally from the Valley and murder cases. The Fabulous Dramatics harmonizing. Money is on everyone's mind, and no one's leaving till 6 in the morning. And when you do depart, you cruise home bumping W-Ballz. --Jeff Weiss