Imagine if you were to encounter someone who either a) fell asleep starting from the '70s and missed the rise of hip hop, b) never bothered to pick up a hip hop CD, or c) just somehow didn't know a single thing about the genre.
Your task: educate that person by recommending one album from the genre's 40-year history.
While it may seem impossible to narrow down the options, members of Fuse's Absolute Hip Hop: From Tupac to 2 Chainz panel managed to single out four LPs that perfectly define the artistry of the New York-born genre.