Redman is a rare breed of raw emcee with classic albums, critical acclaimed, and a level of popular notoriety. The interesting part about Redman is the fact that there are many Redman fans that may not be totally aware of how great Redman’s catalog is. We got your back, we’re going to rank Redman’s albums.
Redman’s catalog spans from 1992-2015 and is honestly still going. The longevity of this artist can’t be denied. We choose to include Red’s albums with Method Man in this countdown mostly because of how important their partnership is to both of their careers.
10) Reggie (2010)
Reggie was the final album that Redman released on Def Jam from whom he had spent his whole rap career with. Was signed to Def Jam during a time when Def Jam was rebuilding in 92′ and was around for the “Survival Of The Illest”, “Hardknock Life Tour”, and Jay Z’s Def Jam Presidency. Although this album featured Method Man, Bun B, Faith Evans, Kool Moe Dee, and Saukrates this album missed the mar and wasn’t up to Redman standards.
09) Malpractice (2001)
The year 2001 was a very busy year for Reggie Noble. The movie “How High” was just completed and set for release and Redman had shot his classic episode of MTV’s “Cribs that people still talk about till this day. Although “Malpractice” had some modest hit songs on it like “Let’s Get Dirty” & “Smash Something” this may be the most commercial we have ever seen Redman. With that certain reach for commercial success we didn’t get that raw raw Redman that we were all used to.
08) Mudface (2015)
Mudface was Redman’s first shot at an independent album in his career. So Redman made sure that he was back to the BARS that his fanbase would love on this album. Red was on a mission to show the Hip-Hop world that not only does he still have it but was showing the Hip-Hop world that he is one of the best to ever do it. To make an album like this 23 years into your career is an accomplishment to any artist in any time of genre especially Hip-Hop.
07) Blackout! 2 (2009)
They always say that the sequel isn’t better than the original. Although that is also the case in this scenario but it’s not too far off. The same approach to this album was the same approach to the first. Just straight up raw rhymes from Red and Mr. Meth. We are happy that we got a sequel and it cam at a great time in both Red and Meth’s career. Very timely effort.
06) Red Gone Wild: Thee Album (2007)
This action was jammed packed and we think it was Red’s best effort of the 2000’s. RGW featured production from Pete Rock, Eric Sermon, Rocwilder, Scott Storch, and Timbaland among others. The features on this album included Eric Sermon, Method Man, Hurricane G, Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg, Keith Murray, Biz Markie, etc. Redman brought the heat with this album. It was his first album in six years which marks the longest break in his career without an album.
05) Blackout! (1999)
The dynamic duo of Redman and Method Man actually announce they were making an album together for the first time. The duo seemed to be meant for each other after their collaboration on the classic song “How High” from “The Show soundtrack. This album is basically two friends with supreme rhyming skills trying to out rhyme one another on every track. And when LL Cool J, Ja-Rule, Ghostface, and others appeared on the album the point was to out rhyme them as well. This album gave us arguably the duo’s biggest hit “Da Rockwilder” and countless other jammin joints. Oh and they recorded this album while on tour.
04) Doc’s da Name 2000 (1998)
“Doc’s da Name 2000” is Redman in rare form in his total comedic and punchline heavy approach. The first single “I’ll Be That” is a clear indication of this effort. Include the music video in that as well. Before the hilarity mixed with lyricism of Eminem we had Redman. This music video had everything from Redman working out with overweight women attempting to get back in shape to a beautiful woman riding her bike into a parked car as the homies looked on. One of the real highlights from this album was to hear Redman and Busta Rhymes go for theirs on “Da Goodness”. Talk about rhyming at a super high level.
03) Whut? Thee Album (1992)
The debut album from Redman ushered in the rah rah style. The funk doctor was approaching the funk in ways that it hadn’t been explored in Hip-Hop. Redman produced half of his debut album. And this album featured some of Red’s biggest songs “Time 4 Sum Aksion”, “Tonight’s Da Night”, and notable records like “How To Roll A Blunt”. Redman taught a lot of people in 1992 how to roll a blunt with that joint. The Moment this album dropped we knew that there was a new emcee in the game that was going to be here for a while.
02) Dare Iz a Darkside (1994)
“Dare Iz A Dakside” gets caught in the mix because of all the great albums that came out in the year of 1994. Not just great albums, transitional albums. You had Nas bringing Queensbridge back to life with “Illmatic”, there was Biggie putting Brooklyn on his back with “Ready To Die”, Outkast was putting Atlanta on the map with “Southerplayalistic…..”, and people like Gang Starr & Pete Rock & CL Smooth were just staying very consistent. Not to mention albums that from A Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang, & Snoop Doggy Dogg that came out in late 93′ were still rockin. Redman came with an album where he was on a lyrical tear. Not really many guest appearances he just did what he was doing on the first album this time he just did it better.
01) Muddy Waters (1996)
Redman’s 1996 album “Muddy Waters” is Redman’s best album. From start to finish this album is rhymes on rhymes on rhymes. Dope production, dope singles, and this is the first time we heard Redman and Method Man on each other’s album. Redman’s lyrical ability on this album was other worldly and he did it in a year that may have been the most jam packed of any year. “All Eyez On Me”, “The Score”, “Reasonable Doubt”, “It Was Written”, “ATLiens”, “Ironman”, and many other classics dropped that year. With that being said it would not have been a far fetched idea for Redman to receive lyricist of the year in 1996.