Jermaine Dupri Slams Apple Music's Top 100 Albums List
Apple Music put out a list of the 100 best albums of all time, and the internet promptly responded, ready to debate. Music mogul Jermaine Dupri was one of those people. Dupri was highly perturbed that Apple Music seemed to have left off timeless classics that fall into the R&B and Hip Hop categories. Dupri commented on social media, saying, “Looking at this @AppleMusic top 100 albums list is sad, the disrespect to R&B is CRAZY!!!!! It’s giving not worthy.”
To Dupri’s point, R&B-style projects made the list, but did they? Usher’s “Confessions” landed at No. 95, Solange’s “A Seat at the Table” is No. 93, Mary J. Blige’s “My Life” at No. 86, SZA’s “SOS” No. 72, Erykah Badu’s “Baduizm” at No. 64, Sade‘s “Love Deluxe” at No. 61, D’Angelo’s “Voodoo” at No. 57, Janet Jackson’s “Control” (and not “Rhythm Nation!?”) at No. 42, Beyoncé’s self-titled LP at No. 36, and Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” at No. 17, no shade but Frank Ocean’s “Blond” came in at No. 5–beating out Beyoncé and Marvin Gaye! But the surprise for R&B and Hip Hop was seeing Lauryn Hill’s only solo album, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” take the No. 1 spot!
Notably missing was legend and Jermaine Dupri's muse, Mariah Carey. In fact, Apple’s top 100 albums missed Whitney Houston, Boyz II Men, Bobby Brown, Luther Vandross, and so many more. 100 is a small number when considering all the music in the world.
Ebro Darden, the co-anchor of Apple Music's Beats 1 and the Global Editorial Head of Hip-Hop and R&B for Apple Music shared the criteria for the top 100 albums. He said, “Voters of the #100Best on @AppleMusic were challenged to not vote for our favorites, but ..
* Albums that represented a cultural moment for the artist or genre.
* Albums that were complete thoughts, not just collections of hit songs.
* Albums that thoroughly represent culture in production and lyrics.
* Albums that inspired a generation to want to create more music.
* Albums that represent the BEST in storytelling, musicianship, recording and production.
* Albums that are timeless and reached far beyond the genre categorization.”
Even after hearing the criteria, folks were still not having it:
