13 classic albums that turn 20 in 2023

Outkast are one of hip-hop's most iconic duos, but on their double album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, the pair split to showcase their individual talents.In Speakerboxxx, Big Boi delivered a Southern hip-hop tape topped with a pinch of punk, featuring cameos from some of the biggest names in rap at the time, including Jay-Z and Ludacris. With The Love Below, on the other hand, André 3000 gave us a sultry story about the search for true love.Wiley may have created grime music, but Dizzee Rascal brought it to the masses. Boy in da Corner sold over 250,000 copies worldwide and won the Mercury Prize for best album from the UK and Ireland.A portrait of life growing up in the mean streets of East London – Dizzee touched on everything from teenage pregnancy to knife crime on his unforgettable debut project. A coming-of-age project, Blink-182 went from lewd, crude kids (their previous two albums were titled Enema of the State and Take Off Your Pants and Jacket) to dark, romantic rockers on their eponymous fifth album.I Miss You saw the band deliver its most beautiful song, and most memorable line (Where are you?!), to date, while Always and Down also took listeners aback with their raw emotional power.50 Cent's debut studio album Get Rich or Die Tryin' was the second highest-selling album of 2003, shipping over 12,000,000 copies worldwide.More than just sales, however, the album projected hip-hop music to the forefront of popular music, where the genre, and 50, would remain until the end of the noughties. Inspired by Aaliyah, produced by Kanye West, Timbaland, and Easy Mo Bee, and featuring an eclectic array of samples from Brahms, The Main Ingredient, and Issac Hayes, among others, The Diary of Alicia Keys is among the best R&B albums of the 21st century.To date, it's sold over eight million copies worldwide.The Black Album was advertised as Jay-Z's final album before he was supposed to retire.So successful was the album, however, Jay only stepped away from the limelight for a year before releasing another project, a collaborative EP with Linkin Park featuring mashups of both artists' songs, including three — 99 Problems, Dirt Off Ya Shoulder, and Encore — from The Black Album.Before they were topping the charts with monster hits such as Sex on Fire and Use Somebody, Kings of Leon were old-fashioned Tennessee rock 'n' rollers, combining country sweetness with raspy vocals and bluesy guitar riffs to devastating effect.Strangely enough, the band's debut album Youth and Young Manhood wasn't a hit in the US, peaking outside the top 100 on the album chart. It fared much better in the UK, however, reaching No. 3.The Neptunes lent their trademark melange of psychedelic pop and funk to Kelis' third album Tasty, producing five of the album's tracks, including the smash hit Milkshake.The project's standout moment, however, came courtesy of Outkast's André 3000, who delivered scintillating production and a show-stopping verse (If you got the dogs you got bitches/ bitches always out to put their paws on your riches) on Millionaire.The Black Eyed Peas had released two albums prior to Elephunk, but this was their first with Fergie and the one that propelled them to superstardom.The album's lead single Where Is The Love? featuring Justin Timberlake went to No.1 in 15 different countries, while Let's Get It Started, a reissue of Let's Get Retarded, won the group a Grammy for best rap performance by a duo or group.Nu-metal was at its peak in the early noughties and Linkin Park were the poster boys.Meteora — Linkin Park's second album after their breakthrough Hybrid Theory — scored the band its first No. 1 album in the US and to date has sold over 27 million copies worldwide. Yeah Yeah Yeahs' recorded their debut album Fever To Tell with money from their own pockets despite offers from numerous major record labels to help them out.Their low budget proved not to matter, however, with the album going on to sell over one million copies worldwide and earning the band a Grammy nomination for best alternative album. In 2019, The Guardian ranked Fever To Tell as the 38th best album of the 21st century. There are still only two of them. But now they sound like an army, said Rolling Stone's David Fricke of The White Stripe's fourth studio album, Elephant, upon its release.The lead single Seven Nation Army (which Fricke was referencing), remains one of the most well-known rock hits of all time, while The Hardest Button to Button and the band's cover of Dusty Springfield's I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself have aged equally as well. Having already conquered the world with Destiny's Child, Beyoncé set out to do the same as a solo artist in 2003 as she released her debut album Dangerously In Love — and conquer she did.The album shot to No. 1 all over the globe, selling over five million copies, while the singles Crazy in Love, with future hubby Jay-Z, and Baby Boy, with Sean Paul, spent a combined four months at the top of the Billboard Hot 100.

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13 classic albums that turn 20 in 2023

Outkast— "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below"

Dizzee Rascal — "Boy in da Corner"

Blink-182 — "Blink-182"

50 Cent — "Get Rich or Die Tryin'"

Alicia Keys — "The Diary of Alicia Keys"

Jay-Z — "The Black Album"

Kings of Leon — "Youth and Young Manhood"

Kelis — "Tasty"

The Black Eyed Peas — "Elephunk"

Linkin Park — "Meteora"

Yeah Yeah Yeahs — "Fever To Tell"

The White Stripes — "Elephant"

Beyoncé — "Dangerously In Love"