The Source Magazine's Five Mic Albums

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The Source Magazine Five Mic album rating system is one of the most recognized reviews in hip-hop community. Journalists give albums ratings ranging from "one mic" (poor) to "five mics" (classic). This scale is akin to the star ratings featured in RollingStone.

The Source later reviewed albums that were released before the magazine existed, and has also gone back and re-rated many albums to include them on the list. Currently there are 44 albums that have received a rating of five mics from The Source.

[edit] Criticism

Since its beginnings, the ratings system has received as much scrutiny as acclaim from the hip-hop. When founder Dave Mays gave special privileges to his partner, rapper Raymond "Benzino" Scott, the magazine was shunned for its apparent corruption of the album ratings. Many critics questioned the credibility of The Source when Mays allowed Benzino's rap group Almighty RSO (or Made Men) to receive high ratings for albums without the support of the magazine's editors.

In recent years, certain "five mic albums" have been criticized as undeserving of such a rating. For instance, Lil Kim's The Naked Truth, despite receiving mixed reviews, caused a degree of controversy after it earned Five Mics in 2005. Critics speculated that this occurred because Lil' Kim's manager was dating Dave Mays at that point. Further controversy ensued when the Editor-in-Chief of The Source, Joshua "Fahiym" Ratcliffe, announced his retirement, due to a conflicting opinions on the rating The Minstrel Show would receive. According to Ratcliffe, his original rating of four and a half mics was reduced to four by Benzino and Dave Mays.

[edit] Albums selected by The Source Magazine

Run-D.M.C. Run-D.M.C. 1984	LL Cool J Radio 1985	Beastie Boys Licensed to Ill 1986	Run-D.M.C. Raising Hell 1986
Boogie Down Productions Criminal Minded 1987	Eric B. & Rakim Paid In Full 1987	Big Daddy Kane Long Live the Kane 1988	Boogie Down Productions By All Means Necessary 1988
EPMD Strictly Business 1988	Jungle Brothers Straight Out the Jungle 1988	N.W.A. Straight Outta Compton 1988	Public Enemy It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back 1988
Slick Rick The Great Adventures of Slick Rick 1988	Ultramagnetic MC's Critical Beatdown 1988	The D.O.C. No One Can Do It Better 1989	Geto Boys Grip It! On That Other Level 1989
A Tribe Called Quest People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm 1990	Brand Nubian One For All 1990	Eric B. & Rakim Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em 1990	Ice Cube AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted 1990
Main Source Breaking Atoms 1991	A Tribe Called Quest The Low End Theory 1991	De La Soul De La Soul Is Dead 1991	Ice Cube Death Certificate 1991
Dr. Dre The Chronic 1992	Snoop Doggy Dogg Doggystyle 1993	Wu-Tang Clan Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) 1993	Nas Illmatic 1994
The Notorious B.I.G. Ready to Die 1994	Scarface The Diary 1994	Mobb Deep The Infamous 1995	Raekwon Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 1995
2Pac Me Against the World 1995	Fugees The Score 1996	Jay-Z Reasonable Doubt 1996	2Pac All Eyez on Me 1996
The Notorious B.I.G. Life After Death 1997	OutKast Aquemini 1998	Dr. Dre 2001 1999	Nas Stillmatic 2001
Jay-Z The Blueprint 2001	Scarface The Fix 2002	Lil' Kim The Naked Truth 2005