We originally wanted to get a group of local hip-hop heads in a room to decide on the top five albums of Las Vegas indie hip-hop. But after two hours and a case of Coronas, picking a unanimous five from just one neighborhood, much less the whole city, proved impossible. So we let our veteran team (Ras One of Rock Steady Crew/POP2, Image One of Campfire Music and Hassan of Phil A & Hassan) pick their personal bests, giving us a lesson that spans multiple decades and waves of artists.

Ras One

1. Desert Dwellas, Killa Fish: That’s one of the most slept-on albums in Las Vegas. A lot of those MCs, even though they’re not actively doing stuff now, their stuff is still relevant.

2. Ink Floyd, Perverse Psychology: To this day, I can walk into any show, doesn’t matter the genre, doesn’t matter the age limit, I can probably spit a couple bars of “Sex Lies and Duct Tape” and somebody in the crowd will either know the chorus or the first 16.

3. Sci-Fi, Urban Jedi: He said “I’m the coldest second coming of Buddha.” That dude was one of the most fucked … he was so dope. His writtens were disgusting. Retarded.

4. Poly Hylo, Buy 10 Get One For Free and Premium Blend: Those dudes came in with a whole different style. They had harmonization. They were doing songs, not just rapping. Synical was doing the beats and he was a dope MC. And then you had Omino, who was of the same caliber. I thought a couple of the tracks were gonna go national, and they were gonna get sued for copyright. But they were dope songs nonetheless.

5. The Chapter, Us vs. Them: Because I was involved in that movement, and I remember what was goin’ on. Even though they were from Chicago, we were really rooting for them at that time. Regardless of whatever happened.

Image One

1. Poly Hylo, Premium Blend: Sampling, singing, lyrics. They didn’t settle on that album, and that was one of the biggest things. When they started doing that live, it was like song after song, you were waiting for them to end so you could stop putting your hand up. You can listen to it still this day and it’s still relevant.

2. “I don’t have a two. That second album position is more important to me than the one. There are so many that can competitively fit in that spot, and they’re way above an honorable mention.”

3. The List, Local Listing: “In a market that was predominantly black, it was a group of nine unified white boys who were lyrically on a competitive level with anybody on the West Coast … [and] it spawned careers that are still pertinent to this day. They have at least four Vegas anthems on the album itself. They lost a member during that era and still came with it.

4. Isaac Sawyer, Q&A: “It designed the concept album, complete from skits to individual song content. I saw what he went through to put that together in his imagination. He didn’t settle for just writing one good song. He took it and said he was writing for this track with this intro that was going to describe something that’ll mean something. Even the art was really conceptual toward the album.”

5. The Chapter, Us vs. Them: “Musically, it was put together as a good standpoint to flow … it really had a social content that was needed at that time, that conscious awareness.”

Hassan Hamilton

1. Mob Zombie, Join the Mob: The concept and the lyrics were super dope. Polo’s one of the dopest dudes I’ve ever heard, and Bambu, his style’s beyond wicked. The features and the beats and everything, too.

2. OLI, Toldyouso: If there’s any band I’d pay to go see, it’s them. That’s no disrespect to anyone else, but what they bring live and the music and what WhatFour brings on the beats and Okword and Neone … the way they intensify it is amazing.

3. Fame, C’est La Vie: All his concepts and topics and production by Cairo, it was super amazing and shit. The way an album should be and shit. Out of everything I listen to, I very rarely call up an artist just to say ‘Yo, that shit rocked the motherfucker.’ I had to personally do that after hearing it twice.

4. HighDro and Shamrock, Jagged Leaf Clover: That’s two cats cut from a different cloth just coming out on some dope shit. When [Shamrock and HighDro] brought that together, it was just magic.

5. Reallionaire Jream, Fresh Cuts: The way he presented himself. I know a lot of the beats were made in Chicago, but he was reppin’ it out here. Everything from production to lyrics, everything he was spitting about, it wasn’t the same old shit. It was a breath of fresh air.