1997 in hip hop music

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This article summarizes the events, album releases, and album release dates in hip hop music for the year 1997.

Released albums

Release Date	Artist	Album	Notes
January 14	Various Artists	Rhyme & Reason: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack	Debuted at no. 16 on the Billboard 200 Certified Gold
January 28	Various Artists	West Coast Bad Boyz II	Debuted at no. 16 on the Billboard 200 Certified Gold
February 11	Funkmaster Flex	The Mix Tape, Vol. II	Debuted at no. 19 on the Billboard 200 Certified Gold
February 18	Luniz	Bootlegs & B-Sides
	TRU	Tru 2 da Game	Debuted at no. 8 on the Billboard 200 Certified 2 x Platinum
March 25	The Notorious B.I.G.	Life After Death	Debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Certified Diamond
	Warren G	Take a Look Over Your Shoulder	Debuted at No. 11 on the Billboard 200 Certified Gold
April 15	Artifacts	That's Them	Debuted at no. 134 on the Billboard 200
May 13	Various Artists	I'm Bout It	Debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200
May 20	Boot Camp Clik	For the People
	KRS-One	I Got Next
June 3	Wu-Tang Clan	Wu-Tang Forever	Debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Certified 4 x Platinum
	Jungle Brothers	Raw Deluxe
June 17	Capone-N-Noreaga	The War Report	Debuted at No. 21 on the Billboard 200
June 24	Twista	Adrenaline Rush	Debuted at No. 77 on the Billboard 200 Certified Gold
	Mia X	Unlady Like
	The Lady of Rage	Necessary Roughness
July 1	B.G.	It's All on U, Vol. 1
July 15	Missy Elliott	Supa Dupa Fly	Debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 Certified Platinum
July 22	Puff Daddy & the Family	No Way Out	Debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Certified 7 x Platinum
	Company Flow	Funcrusher Plus
July 29	Bone Thugs-N-Harmony	The Art of War	Debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Certified 4 x Platinum
	Rampage	Scout's Honor… by Way of Blood
	Suave House Records	The Album of the Year
August 5	Atmosphere	Overcast!
	Killarmy	Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars
	Mr. Serv-On	Life Insurance
	Various Artists	How to Be a Player
August 12	Insane Clown Posse	The Great Milenko
August 19	O.C.	Jewelz
August 26	Coolio	My Soul	Debuted at No. 39 on the Billboard 200 Certified Platinum
	Diamond D	Hatred, Passions and Infidelity
	Tha Alkaholiks	Likwidation
September 2	Master P	Ghetto D	Debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Certified 3 x Platinum
September 16	Busta Rhymes	When Disaster Strikes...	Debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 Certified Platinum
	Mack 10	Based on a True Story	Debuted at No. 14 on the Billboard 200 Certified Gold
September 23	EPMD	Back in Business	Debuted at No. 16 on the Billboard 200 Certified Gold
	Organized Konfusion	The Equinox
	The X-Ecutioners	X-Pressions
September 30	Common	One Day It'll All Make Sense	Debuted at No. 61 on the Billboard 200
October 14	Gravediggaz	The Pick, the Sickle and the Shovel	Debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 Certified Platinum
	LL Cool J	Phenomenon	Debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 Certified Platinum
	Rawkus Records	Soundbombing
October 21	The Firm	The Album
	Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz	Get Crunk, Who U Wit: Da Album
	Salt-n-Pepa	Brand New
October 28	Hot Boys	Get It How U Live!
November 4	Jay-Z	In My Lifetime, Vol. 1	Debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 Certified Platinum
	Jedi Mind Tricks	The Psycho-Social, Chemical, Biological & Electro-Magnetic Manipulation of Human Consciousness
	Rakim	The 18th Letter
	Three 6 Mafia	Chapter 2: World Domination
November 10	MC Lyte	Badder Than B-Fore
November 11	Luniz	Lunitik Muzik
	MC Eiht	Last Man Standing
	Mystikal	Unpredictable	Debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 Certified Platinum
	B.G.	It's All on U, Vol. 2
November 18	Del the Funky Homosapien	Future Development
	MJG	No More Glory
November 25	Twiztid	Mostasteless
	Will Smith	Big Willie Style
	2Pac	R U Still Down? (Remember Me)	Debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 Certified 4 x Platinum
December 16	Eminem	The Slim Shady EP
	Ice Cube	Featuring...Ice Cube
December 23	8Ball & MJG	Lyrics of a Pimp

Highest-charting singles

Hip hop singles which charted in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100

Title	Artist	Peak position
"Can't Nobody Hold Me Down"	P. Diddy feat. Mase	1
"I'll Be Missing You"	P. Diddy feat. Faith Evans & 112	1
"Hypnotize"	The Notorious B.I.G.	1
"Mo Money Mo Problems"	The Notorious B.I.G.	1
"It's All About the Benjamins"	P. Diddy feat. Lil' Kim, The Lox & The Notorious B.I.G.	2
"Look into My Eyes"	Bone Thugs-n-Harmony	4
"Feel So Good"	Mase	5
"Dangerous"	Busta Rhymes	9
"C U When U Get There"	Coolio feat. 40 Thevz	12
"Smile"	Scarface feat. 2Pac & Johnny P.	12
"Ghetto Love"	Da Brat ft. T-Boz	12
"I Shot The Sheriff"	Warren G	20
"I Miss My Homies"	Master P ft. Fiend, Mystikal, The Shocker, O'Dell, Sons of Funk, Mo B. Dick, Pimp C & Mercedes	25
"Sky's the Limit"	The Notorious B.I.G ft. 112	26
"Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See"	Busta Rhymes	27
"If I Could Teach the World"	Bone Thugs-n-Harmony	27
"Smokin' Me Out"	Warren G ft. Ronald Isley	35
"Backyard Boogie"	Mack 10	38

Highest first-week sales

List of top ten albums with the highest first-week home market sales

Number	Album	Artist	1st-week sales	1st-week position	Genre
1	Life After Death	The Notorious BIG	690,000	1	East Coast Hip Hop
2	Wu-Tang Forever	Wu-Tang Clan	612,000	1	East Coast Hip Hop
3	No Way Out	P.Diddy	561,000	1	East Coast Hip Hop
4	R U Still Down? (Remember Me)	2Pac	549,000	2	West Coast Hip Hop
5	The Art Of War	Bone Thugs-N-Harmony	394,000	1	Midwest Hip Hop
6	Harlem World	Mase	270,000	1	East Coast Hip Hop
7	Ghetto D	Master P	260,000	1	Southern Hip Hop

See also

• Last article: 1996 in hip hop music
• Next article: 1998 in hip hop music