Unexpected Top Selling Rap Albums That Achieved Multi-Platinum Status

While all art is inherently subjective, critics and experts can usually agree on certain objective criteria to rank artists and their work. However, even though they get it right most of the time, it's ultimately the public that decides whether a piece of art deserves iconic status. There are countless examples of hugely popular songs, paintings, movies, and other forms of art that weren't appreciated by traditionalists but received plenty of love from casual art lovers, including some unforgettable hip-hop albums.

This article explores hip-hop's ultimate underdogs. These albums were given little or no chance by industry experts and rap purists, but were wholeheartedly embraced by fans and eventually gained legendary status. These best-selling hip-hop albums also made their artists a ton of money in the process.

While it may seem hard to remember, music did exist before YouTube and other streaming platforms. Back then, the only way to listen to your favorite bands or artists was to wait for their songs to play on the radio or MTV, or go to the store and spend your hard-earned money to buy their music. This meant that the best way to measure an album's popularity was to know how many people bought it. 

To track this, the Recording Industry Association of America began awarding specific certifications based on album sales. If an album shipped more than 500,000 units, it earned a Gold certification. Selling a million units meant the album "went Platinum," which was arguably the ultimate goal and benchmark of success for mainstream artists. If at least one of your albums went Platinum, it was safe to say that you'd made it in the music business.

There's now a level even higher than Platinum. The most exclusive club in the music business is the Diamond Club, a certification given by the RIAA to albums that have sold over 10 million units. It's so rare that only 11 hip-hop albums have ever reached this level of recognition. The first was the Beastie Boys' legendary Licensed to Ill in 1986, and the list predictably includes artists such as 2Pac, The Notorious B.I.G., and Eminem. It also features some unexpected names, and they're the ones we're going to focus on.

MC Hammer was already a well-known name in the late 1980s, having reached Platinum status with his 1988 album Let's Get It Started. He wasn't particularly loved by critics, though, as the hip-hop world was dominated by gangsta rap and socially conscious lyrics. Hammer's flamboyant attitude, funky clothes, and danceable music heavily featuring samples from classic funk and disco stood out like a sore thumb among his more serious, street-oriented peers. His colorful image and radio-friendly songs were widely considered inauthentic by critics and purists.

The public, however, loved it, and they'd love its follow-up even more. Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em, released in early 1990, wasn't an instant success. Its first two singles, "Help the Children" and "Dancin' Machine," hardly made any waves. The third single, however, was a monumental hit and still gets people on their feet whenever it plays in clubs all over the world. "U Can't Touch This" became the runaway hit that propelled the album to success. More than 35 years later, it's still the first thing that comes to most people's minds when they hear the name MC Hammer.

Crossover appeal — the very thing that made this music successful was exactly what hip-hop purists hated most about it. Hammer wasn't considered "authentic hip-hop" but a pop act pretending to be hip-hop. One could argue that this was his greatest strength. "U Can't Touch This" was popular worldwide with people of all races and social backgrounds. And while it may not have satisfied the genre's loyalists, it opened the door for new listeners to discover hip-hop. MC Hammer couldn't sustain this level of success in the long run, but Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em remains a landmark in hip-hop history.

While Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em was an explosive success, having reached Platinum about a year after "U Can't Touch This" was released and Diamond a year after that, another hip-hop album that defied the odds and sold over 10 million copies became a symbol of slow-burning success. Released in the summer of 2000, it took no less than 16 years for it to reach that milestone. And like MC Hammer's breakthrough, it was equally unexpected; Nelly's debut album, Country Grammar, featured a sound and style that stood in stark contrast with what dominated hip-hop at the time. 

At a time when the East Coast-West Coast rivalry was still mainstream, Nelly introduced a Midwestern rap style with heavy Southern influences. Beyond his Missouri twang, Nelly brought a more melodic approach than many of his peers, often alternating between rapping and singing. Similar to MC Hammer 10 years earlier, this unique mix helped him gain crossover appeal, with Country Grammar resonating far beyond the traditional hip-hop audience. Unlike Hammer, Nelly would go on to sustain his success, with his follow-up album, Nellyville, selling over six million copies.

Another major difference between Hammer's unlikely Diamond-certified album and Nelly's is that Country Grammar received mostly positive critical reviews. It could be argued that MC Hammer paved the way, though. Although Country Grammar was far from what could be called a traditional hip-hop album, the world was much more prepared for its crossover style than it had been a decade earlier.

Although MC Hammer's Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em and Nelly's Country Grammar differ in style and in the paths they took to achieve multi-Platinum success, they offer a similar lesson to up-and-coming artists. While having the critics on your side is always a plus, you shouldn't have to compromise your artistic vision just to win their approval. Music isn't an exact science; it's meant to be enjoyed by the masses. In the end, an album's true success lies in its ability to appeal to a broad and diverse audience.