10 albums turning 20 in 2018, from 'The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill' to Outkast's 'Aquemini' and 'Ray of Light' by Madonna

Get ready to feel old (or very very young)

In its first week of release, ‘Miseducation’ sold more than 420,000 copies, breaking the record for release week by a female artist

There were plenty of huge cultural moments in 1998, some good, some bad. A few people never got over certain elements of that time, like Coldplay’s Chris Martin, who still, inexplicably, insists on wearing short-sleeve shirts over long-sleeve ones.

Good stuff includes the host of records released that year by artists including Jay Z, Outkast, Destiny’s Child and Lauryn Hill. It was a particularly impressive year for R&B, rap and hip hop – artists such as Jay Z took a massive step up following the death of the Notorious B.I.G and started looking to the future. Established acts like Fugazi and Massive Attack got experimental, with varying degrees of success, and a little-known girl group called Destiny’s Child put out their debut album.

We’ve chosen a range of albums by a wide variety of artists to give you an idea of what was happening in that time, check them out below:

Lauryn Hill – The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Hill performs at a 2010 concert (Getty for the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research) (Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research)

One of the greatest hip hop records of all time; Lauryn Hill released her debut via Ruffhouse Records and Columbia Records on 25 August 1998, raising the game for an entire genre with this immense and groundbreaking work.

Flipping between two tones – sharp and icy cold, and raw, sensual and smoky – the former Fugees member stepped out from rap’s misogynist status quo and drew an audience outside of hip hop thanks to her melding of soul, reggae and R&B, and the recruitment of the likes of Mary J Blige and D’Angelo.

In its first week of release, Miseducation sold more than 420,000 copies, breaking the record for release week by a female artist. It was certified Gold by the Industry Association of America barely a month after it came out, and spent 81 weeks in the Billboard 200. Hill set further records at the 1999 Grammys, receiving 10 nominations, and winning five awards. Today, it still stands as one of the greatest albums of all time.

Destiny’s Child – Destiny’s Child

Packed with radio-friendly hits including their debut single “No, No, No Pt 2”, Destiny’s Child may not pack the same punch as their follow-up The Writing’s On The Wall, but it did introduce one of the biggest girl groups of all time to the world.

Robbie Williams – I’ve Been Expecting You

Williams’ second solo album turned up along with his first No 1 single “Millennium”, and also produced the gems “Strong”, “No Regrets” and “She’s The One”.

Forming a bridge between teen bops and Brit pop, this was the album where Williams really asserted himself as a cheeky, deft lyricist, showing a glimpse of newfound maturity from a singer who could still revel in his love of spontaneous mischief.

Manic Street Preachers – This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours

The Welsh rock band’s fifth studio album – the follow-up to Everything Must Go – was the first Manics record to attract serious criticism, with some critics suggesting they’d lost their way. Still, it was a huge commercial success, topping the charts and featuring the superb “If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next” and “You Stole The Sun From My Heart”.

Madonna – Ray of Light

Madonna’s seventh studio album was released after the birth of her first child. Some feared this would, somehow, impact the music in a negative way. Of course not. Ray of Light became the best-selling studio album of Madonna’s career, proving once again her mastery over instinctive, brilliant pop music.

Newfound maternal instincts along with her delving into Kaballah and yoga gave the album a wholesome, earthy feel; even the tracks about love and sex were less about the drama of her celebrity relationships and more about lessons learned.

Frequently billed as Massive Attack’s best album of their career, Mezzanine’s release heralded the determined return of a band which had been all-too-often ignored by the booming trip-hop scene.

Menacing, dark production on “Angel” opens with a distorted baseline and woozy vocals from regular Horace Andy, while the unforgettable “Teardrop” saw a sublime performance from Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins.

Fugazi – End Hits

The band’s sixth album saw them take a winding path that explored elements of reggae, free jazz and scuzzy post-punk. Released amid rumours that this would be the band’s final album, it was, rather, a continuation on the band testing their limits in way that many critics decided was overambitious. Stereogum pointed out in a 2012 review that End Hits had the distinction of being “the first Fugazi album you can smoke pot to, for better or worse”.

Jay-Z – Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life

How many MCs could sample the film soundtrack for Annie and Talking Heads on the same record and get away with it? Jay Z’s third record was packed with bona fide classics and saw him become the first hardcore rapper to debut at No 1 and hold onto that place since the Notorious B.I.G’s posthumous 1997 record Life After Death – bumping Lauryn Hill’s record-breaking Miseducation from the top spot in the process. It also prompted Hov establishing himself as the undisputed King of New York. The record went onto sell more than five million units in the US alone.

Brandy – Never Say Never

Featuring one of the indisputably best duets in music history – “The Boy Is Mine” with Monica – Brandy’s second, more adventurous, studio album was released on 9 June via Atlantic records and achieved two No 1 hit singles, along with the top 20 hit “Almost Doesn’t Count”. “The Boy Is Mine” was nominated three times at the 41st Grammy Awards and won for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group.

Outkast – Aquemini

Beginning on a slow, sprawling journey of an opener “Hold On Be Strong”, that seemed to pre-empt Thundercat’s subconscious musings on Drunk, Aquemini was Outkast proving to aspiring MCs and all their critics that you could be bold and daring and creative and still be a commercial success.

From the Spanish guitar-influenced licks and bluesy harmonica on “Rosa Parks” to the colourful funk and George Clinton falsetto on “Synthesizer”, Aquemini defied all the tropes of southern rap and offered something entirely original.

Check out our playlist on Spotify featuring tracks from all the featured albums, below:

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