1990, 1990 in music
- Above the Law - Livin' Like Hustlers (Ego Trip's greatest hip hop albums, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Boogie Down Productions - Edutainment (15, Ego Trip's greatest hip hop albums)
- Brand Nubian - All for One (29, 45, 48, 56, Rolling Stone's essential hip hop albums of the 90s, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums, Ego Trip's greatest hip hop albums)
- Chill Rob G - Ride the Rhythm (Ego Trip's greatest hip hop albums, The Source's The 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Compton's Most Wanted - It's a Compton Thang (Ego Trip's greatest hip hop albums)
- D-Nice - Call Me D-Nice (Ego Trip's greatest hip hop albums)
- Digital Underground - Sex Packets (19, 56, Ego Trip's greatest hip hop albums, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Digital Underground - This Is an EP Release (Ego Trip's greatest hip hop albums)
- E.P.M.D - Business as Usual (The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums, Ego Trip's greatest hip hop albums)
- Eric B & Rakim - Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em (41, 50, Ego Trip's greatest hip hop albums, Spin magazine's end-of-year best list, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Geto Boys - Geto Boys (50)
- Geto Boys - Grip It! On That Other Level (Ego Trip's greatest hip hop albums, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Ice Cube - AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted (41, 45, 50, 53, 55, 68, Rolling Stone's essential hip hop albums of the 90s, Spin magazine's top 90 albums of the 90s, Ego Trip's greatest hip hop albums, Spin magazine's end-of-year best list, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Ice Cube - Kill at Will (Ego Trip's greatest hip hop albums)
- K-Solo - Tell the World My Name (Ego Trip's greatest hip hop albums)
- King Tee - At Your Own Risk (Ego Trip's greatest hip hop albums)
- Kool G Rap & DJ Polo - Wanted: Dead or Alive (Ego Trip's greatest hip hop albums)
- LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out (16, 41, 49, Rolling Stone's essential hip hop albums of the 90s, Spin magazine's top 90 albums of the 90s, Pause and Play's 100 albums of the 90s list, Ego Trip's greatest hip hop albums, Pop magazine's 100 best albums and 300 complements, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Lord Finesse - Funky Technician (Ego Trip's greatest hip hop albums, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Masta Ace - Take a Look Around (31, 54, Ego Trip's greatest hip hop albums)
- MC Chaszey Chess & MC Cool Rock - Boot the Booty (57)
- MC Hammer - Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em (Pause and Play's Pause and Play's 100 albums of the 90s list, best-selling rap/hip hop album of all time (tie))
- MC Tunes - The North at Its Heights (54)
- N.W.A - 100 Miles and Runnin' (Ego Trip's greatest hip hop albums)
- Poor Righteous Teachers - Holy Intellect (31, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums, Ego Trip's greatest hip hop albums)
- Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet (14, 41, 46, 48, 51, 57, 67, Rolling Stone's essential hip hop albums of the 90s, Spin magazine's top 90 albums of the 90s, Pause and Play's 100 albums of the 90s list, Ego Trip's greatest hip hop albums, Pop magazine's 100 best albums and 300 complements, Spin magazine's end-of-year best list, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Special Ed - Legal (Ego Trip's greatest hip hop albums)
- Too $hort - $hort Dog's in the House (Ego Trip's greatest hip hop albums)
- A Tribe Called Quest - People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm (31, 54, Ego Trip's greatest hip hop albums, Pop magazine's 100 best albums and 300 complements, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Vanilla Ice - To the Extreme (35)
- X-Clan - To the East, Blackwards (20, 45, 56, Ego Trip's greatest hip hop albums, The Source's The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Black Sheep - A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing (1, 20, 41, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Cypress Hill - Cypress Hill (24, 41, 45, Rolling Stone's essential hip hop albums of the 90s, Spin magazine's top 90 albums of the 90s, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- De La Soul - De La Soul Is Dead (18, 41, Spin magazine's top 90 albums of the 90s, Spin magazine's end-of-year best list, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Del Tha Funkee Homo Sapien - I Wish My Brother George Was Here (15, 70)
- Digital Underground - Sons of the P (41)
- DJ Quik - Quik Is the Name (35, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Gang Starr - Step into the Arena (29, 58, 44, Ego Trip's greatest hip hop albums, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Geto Boys - We Can't Be Stopped (50)
- Ice Cube - Death Certificate (62, 66, Pop magazine's 100 best albums and 300 complements, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Ice-T - O.G. Original Gangster (2, 14, 57, 77, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Main Source - Breaking Atoms (31, 33, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Massive Attack - Blue Lines (Spin magazine's top 90 albums of the 90s, Pop magazine's 100 best albums and 300 complements, Select magazine's top albums of the year, Spin magazine's end-of-year best list)
- Naughty by Nature - Naughty by Nature (The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- P.M. Dawn - Of the Heart, of the Soul, of the Cross: The Utopian Experience (Spin magazine's end-of-year best list)
- Public Enemy - Apocalypse '91: The Enemy Strikes Black (Select magazine's top albums of the year, Spin magazine's Spin magazine's end-of-year best list)
- Scarface - Mr. Scarface Is Back (The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory (9, 15, 16, 18, 20, 24, 26, 30, 36, 37, 40, 41, 45, 46, 48, 50, 55, 58, 59, 62, 64, 68, Rolling Stone's essential hip hop albums of the 90s, Spin magazine's top 90 albums of the 90s, Spin magazine's 100 greatest alternative albums, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Arrested Development - 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life of (47, Pause and Play's 100 albums of the 90s list, Pop magazine's 100 best albums and 300 complements, The Face's albums-of-the-year list, Spin magazine's end-of-year best list)
- Basehead - Play With Toys (20, Spin magazine's top 90 albums of the 90s, Spin magazine's end-of-year best list)
- Beastie Boys - Check Your Head (41, 46, 51, Spin magazine's top 90 albums of the 90s, Pause and Play's 100 albums of the 90s list, Pop magazine's 100 best albums and 300 complements, Spin magazine's end-of-year best list)
- Brand New Heavies - Heavy Rhyme Experience, Vol. 1 (60, The Face's albums-of-the-year list)
- Common Sense - Can I Borrow a Dollar (60)
- Das EFX - Dead Serious (The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Diamond & the Psychotic Neurotics - Sunts, Blunts & Hip Hop (41, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy - Hipocrisy Is the Greatest Luxury (41, Pop magazine's 100 best albums and 300 complements)
- Dr. Dre - The Chronic (2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 14, 16, 17, 19, 21, 22, 23, 27, 29, 35, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, 44, 45, 46, 50, 52, 53, 55, 57, 61, 63, 64, 65, 66, 68, 77, Rolling Stone's essential hip hop albums of the 90s, Spin magazine's top 90 albums of the 90s, Pause and Play's 100 albums of the 90s list, Pop magazine's 100 best albums and 300 complements, Spin magazine's end-of-year best list, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Eric B & Rakim - Don't Sweat the Technique (47)
- Gang Starr - Daily Operation (36, 41, 64, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- The Goats - Tricks of the Shade (20)
- House of Pain - House of Pain (38, 49)
- Ice Cube - The Predator (23, 35, 51, Pop magazine's 100 best albums and 300 complements)
- Me Phi Me - One (The Face's albums-of-the-year list)
- Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - Mecca and the Soul Brother (17, 36, 41, 56, Rolling Stone's essential hip hop albums of the 90s, The Face's albums-of-the-year list, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- The Pharcyde - Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde (41, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine (12, Spin magazine's top 90 albums of the 90s)
- Redman - Whut? Thee Album (14, 48, 70, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Spice 1 - Spice 1 (35, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Stereo MC's - Connected (The Face's albums-of-the-year list, Select magazine's top albums of the year)
- Various Artists - Menace II Society soundtrack (38)
- Above the Law - Black Mafia Life (30)
- Basehead - Not in Kansas Anymore (Spin magazine's end-of-year best list)
- Black Moon - Enta Da Stage (31, 36, 62, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Brand Nubian - In God We Trust (41)
- Cypress Hill - Black Sunday (8, 12, 42, 50, 51, 52, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Das EFX - Straight Up Sewacide (45, 47)
- De La Soul - Buhloone Mindstate (18, 30, 47)
- Digable Planets - Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space) (45, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Erick Sermon - No Pressure (41)
- Freestyle Fellowship - Inner City Griots (64)
- Funkdoobiest - Which Doobie U B (54)
- Guru - Jazzmatazz, Vol. 1 (Spin magazine's end-of-year best list)
- Ice-T - Home Invasion (41)
- Kam - Neva Again (67)
- KRS-One - Return of the Boom Bap (The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Leaders of the New School - T.I.M.E (30)
- MC Ren - Shock of the Hour (41)
- Naughty by Nature - 19 Naughty Ill (52)
- Onyx - Bacdafucup (51, 67, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- P.M. Dawn - The Bliss Album...? (Vibrations Of Love And Anger And The Ponderance Of Life And Existence) (Spin magazine's end-of-year best list)
- The Roots - Organix (14)
- Scarface - The World Is Yours (41)
- Snoop Doggy Dogg - Doggystyle (3, 5, 14, 21, 22, 23, 27, 35, 42, 50, 53, 55, 58, 61, 62, 63, 66, 68, 71, 76, Rolling Stone's essential hip hop albums of the 90s, Pause and Play's 100 albums of the 90s list, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Souls of Mischief - 93 Till Infinity (47, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Tony! Toni! Tone - Sons of Soul (Pause and Play's 100 albums of the 90s list)
- A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders (3, 14, 18, 23, 25, 30, 38, 47, 50, 59, 63, 66, 68, 71, Spin magazine's end-of-year best list, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Tupac Shakur - Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z (23, 41, 46)
- Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 7, 16, 22, 26, 27, 31, 36, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 48, 50, 51, 52, 54, 55, 58, 59, 62, 63, 64, 67, 66, 68, 70, 71, 77, Rolling Stone's essential hip hop albums of the 90s, Spin magazine's top 90 albums of the 90s, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Yo-Yo - You Better Ask Somebody (35)
- Beastie Boys - Ill Communication (23, Rolling Stone's essential alternative albums of the 90s, Select magazine's top albums of the year, Spin magazine's end-of-year best list)
- Black Sheep - Non-Fiction (60)
- Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony - Creep on ah Come Up (The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Common - Resurrection (18, 36, 44, 62, 64, 67, 68, 70, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Coolio - It Takes a Thief (35, 52)
- Da Brat - Funkdafied (52)
- Del Tha Funkee Homo Sapien - No Need for Alarm (30)
- Digable Planets - Blowout Comb (Spin magazine's end-of-year best list 30, 31, 60, 41)
- Dru Down - Explicit Game (38)
- Gang Starr - Hard to Earn (20, 36, 47, 50)
- The Goats - No Goatz No Glory (41)
- House of Pain - Shamrocks and Shenanigans (54)
- Jeru the Damaja - The Sun Rises in the East (41, 50)
- The Line - The Line (35)
- Mary J. Blige - My Life (Rolling Stone's essential hip hop albums of the 90s, Spin magazine's top 90 albums of the 90s)
- Method Man - Tical (5, 6, 7, 24, 39, 42)
- Nas - Illmatic (2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 18, 20, 21, 24, 26, 36, 39, 40, 41, 44, 45, 48, 55, 58, 59, 62, 63, 64, 66, 67, 77, Rolling Stone's essential hip hop albums of the 90s, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- Notorious B.I.G - Ready to Die (2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 13, 16, 21, 24, 27, 33, 36, 37, 39, 40, 42, 44, 52, 54, 55, 59, 61, 62, 64, 77, Rolling Stones essential hip hop albums of the 90s, Spin magazine's top 90 albums of the 90s, The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- O.C - Word...Life (67)
- Organized Konfusion - Stress: The Extinction Agenda (56, 64, The Source's The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums)
- OutKast - Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (8, 37, 64)
- PMD - Shade Business (41)
- Redman - Dare Iz a Darkside (41, 50)
- TLC - Crazysexycool (Rolling Stone's essential hip hop albums of the 90s Spin magazine's, top 90 albums of the 90s, Pause and Play's 100 albums of the 90s list)
- Warren G - Regulate...G Funk Era (Pop magazine's 100 best albums and 300 complements, Spin magazine's end-of-year best list)