Best Albums of 2002
Ranked by our critic's grades, best first.
The Eminem ShowThe stadium version, with guitars and grievances, and a warmth the other big ones never had.Read the review
The Lost TapesThe offcuts that outrank the albums they were cut from, which says something about both.
QualityTalib Kweli's solo debut: a pen sharper than most of the beats under it, and one Kanye West production that outgrew everything around it.
God's SonGrief does what a rap feud could not and hands him a subject he cannot posture his way around.
The RisingThe band back together for a subject that needed them, and about twenty minutes too long for its own good.
The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The CurseA double album with a very good single album inside it and no willingness at all to go and find it.
The Best of Both WorldsA commercial idea rather than a record, and its co-star's later convictions finished off something already thin.