I just got done reading a really great article by Pitchfork columnist Andrew Nosnitsky here. In Nosnitsky's column, he focuses his examples of "classic" albums around the genre of hip-hop and the critical acclaim of Kendrick Lamar's new album good kid, m.A.A.d city. He makes a a lot of valued points on how critics will deem an album a classic with only a few weeks to a month of listening behind it. Where's the time? Where's the album's retrospect in history? For that matter, he also points out the difference in an artist going into the studio to write an album with no real intentions versus the tunnel-vision of making an album for the purpose of having a legacy.

So what makes an album a...