30 must-have albums

Ebony, June, 2004

IF you were forced by a natural disaster to leave your home in a hurry, and you could only take 30 albums, which would you take?

If you were forced for whatever reasons to throw away all of your CDs except for 30, which ones would you keep?

Different people would of course choose different albums, but certain albums and CDs, including the ones listed below, repeatedly turn up on must-have and desert-island lists compiled by serious listeners and musical experts. They are not necessarily the best albums of all times, and they are certainly not the only must-have albums. But almost all of these classic albums have achieved mythic status and are offered here as a Black Music Month tribute to the still unsung genius of the African-American men and women who created American music.