Personally I think Nas.

^Why?

I think Nas is a better rapper because he stayed rapping about New York and things that have to do with the roots of rap rather than versace and maybachs. His songs also produce stronger and realer vibes in my opinion and the Illmatic is better than any of Jay-zs albums. Nas also killed it on Ether and made Jay-z look like a cluck. I like Jay-z a lot, don't get me wrong but Nas I think wins based on a bunch of small details.

As if Nas never rapped about material things and Jay-Z never rhymes about anything other than versace and maybachs. ;)

NAS wins this and this really needs no explanation. Comparing Nas to Jay Z is like comparing an artist to a salesmen. I think a better comparision would be between Jay Z and Biggie and Biggie still would win.

Realtalk, that's real talk.

Biggie is overrated as well, all style no substance. Jay-Z is a second rate Biggie.

I disagree. Jay has showed that he is a much better lyricist than Biggie. Just listen to the way he strings metaphors and multisyllable rhymes with ease on his debut. Granted, had Biggie lived, he may have become a better lyricist. On the storytelling tip though, Biggie beats Jay hands down.

I really can't relate to idea of listening to either of them for their lyrics at all.

fair enough, neither BIG or Jay are top tier lyricists.

Yeah pretty much. At a push I would go with Jay-Z though.

How when most of his rhymes he steals from Biggie?

Yeah riiiiight. Jay has released eleven albums, one of which is a double album; Biggie has released two; one of which is a double album, and yet MOST of Jay's rhymes are stolen from Biggie.

:rofl:

I've tried arguing the exact same point with RealTalk. Yes, Jay has bitten the occasional bar, but to suggest all his material is stolen is nonsense.
I don't know why RealTalk hates Jay-Z so much, think he's just jealous of Jigga's success.

Yeah, the statement of his doesn't make much sense but at this point, maybe he's just trying to get a rise out of people. Yeah he does seem to have some sort of personal vendetta against Jay. :laughing:

I would say Jay Z, although I love Nas also...the message was a KING song

I see what you did there...;)

" There's one life, one love, so there can only be one King"

givin the nod to nas by a fair margin here.

nas is a top notch lyrical rapper of all time and im not sure how someone could think otherwise. even on songs i didnt like, notably a lot from nastradamus, i thought lyrically he was still on point.

when i think about the elite level in anything in terms of comparison i think about one person at their best vs the other at their best. nas's best is better than jays best. not that that is the only credential, but its somethin i consider.

i also never really liked jays flow, its soo off beat albeit a lot of times it is supposed to be, but it just doesnt fit or something. i dunno i was never huge on jays flow i think it gets realy choppy at times whereas i think nas flow and rhyme scheme combo is almost always on point

plus i think nas gets more creative. songs like rewind or that song where he is a fetus lol or the distant relatives album with marley.


theres a making of reasonable doubt though on netflix which is a real sick documentary and made me appreciate jay more cause i better understoof some of his songs

Yeah this might be off topic but I feel the same way about Wale. People call him trash but if they actually understood his songs better they would realize that it's not as light and materialistic as they think.

He has a song called Chains and people don't realize it's about slavery.

TBH, Jay has flow over Nas to me. Even when Jay is on some ignant shit, he still is a monster of flow.



Jay is also more charismatic than Nas. Both of them can tell great stories. Jay's discography is easily stronger and more interesting than Nas's discography. And to me, Jay is always good to great with the lyrics. On Vol 2 he dumbed them down but other than that, he's pretty top notch with the lyrics. Just listen to the underrated Vol 3. That was Jay in his rapping prime in my opinion. On albums like Blueprint though, he becomes honest and reflective. There are moments on other albums too though.

Illmatic: 5
Lost Tapes: 4.5
It Was Written: 4.5
Stillmatic: 4
Life Is Good: 4
I Am: 3.5
God's Son: 3.5
Untitled: 3.5
Hip-Hop Is Dead: 3
Nastradamus: 3
Street's Disciple: 2

Average: 3.68

Reasonable Doubt: 4.5
The Blueprint: 4
The Black Album: 4
In My Lifetime, Vol. 1: 3.5
American Gangster: 3.5
Vol. 3... The Life and Times of S. Carter: 3
Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life: 3
Kingdom Come: 2.5
Magna Carta Holy Grail: 2
The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse: 1.5
The Blueprint 3: 1.5

Average: 2.81

Prefer Jay. Nas is the better rapper when he really shines, but all in all he is a pseudo-intellectual thug wannabe. Jay is a simple megalomaniac with an endless greed. I can respect that.

Ahhh okay. Thanks for proving me completely wrong with subjective ratings.

I think those ratings are fair. They're not my ratings either. I added Life is Good and MCHG to them though.

I never said they were yours, I said they were "subjective", which they are. And just because you think they're fair doesn't mean they are. For example, I'd give Blueprint 2 a MUCH higher rating than a 1.5/5. It's biggest problems were average songs (filler) and overblown length. It had a lot of gems on it. I also don't think IWW deserves a 4.5/5. That whole album was Nas jumping on the mafioso bandwagon. It didn't have that signature Nas style that everyone loved Illmatic for. Instead we got Raekwon-lite Escobar. Untitled was a flop for me too, some of the worst hip hop production on a Nas album period. The whole idea was an artistic failure in my eyes.

Not the whole of IWW was Nas on the Mafioso bandwagon, the content is a bit harder but the production definitely doesn't sound Mafia-esque (listening through now, toward the end it does kinda go that way). He does it well though, nobody is saying he was a pioneer of that style, if you're gonna use that against Nas then you should do the same w/ Reasonable Doubt, that was just another Mafioso type New York CD that was average when it came out and Nas is a better lyricist than Jay and does it better imo (I Gave You Power is a classic imo.)

I think I was discussing IWW on here not long ago and said I didn't like If I Ruled the World and the song with Dre but other than that the CD is very strong.

Blueprint 2 was awful imo and a flop in comparison to it's predecessor. I listened to it at the time and didn't rate it at all, maybe I'll give it another go but doubt my opinion will change. I didn't like Untitled either. Street's Disciple was crap as well.

What is your opinion on the other Nas albums, say between Illmatic to Life is Good? Fair ratings?

Tbh the point I was trying to make was that when you analyse the discographies a bit, Nas has the stronger discography, thus trumping Jay-Z at what he apparently does best.

those are...... actually really good ratings of all of those albums lol i am kinda surprised i pretty much agree with them. glad to see lost tapes get some love

really you didnt like if i ruled the wordld? that ish was my jam.

In terms of using the same argument against Jay on RD, I don't think you can. I'm saying Nas jumped on a bandwagon and that's easily recognizable because Nas had a preceding album that was a completely different style. If you look at RD even, it had more than just Mafia joints. It was almost an examination of the mind of a hustler, rather than just stories of debauchery. Even if it was just mafia stuff, Jay didn't have a preceding album that gave him a foundation. RD was a foundation. I also don't think "Mafioso rap" has a defined sound. Life After Death, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, and Reasonable Doubt/It Was Written all sound completely different, despite all being grouped under the umbrella of mafioso rap. When that title is given to something, it is more indicative of the lyrical content.

Nas may have been a better lyricist on Illmatic than Jay. But on RD, Jay was a much more interesting lyricist than Nas. The only lyrically interesting joints on there were "I Gave You Power", "The Set Up", and "Take it in Blood". Even "I Gave You Power" was sort of a rip off of "Stray Bullet" from Organized Konfusion's second album.

Here's my ratings of their discogs:

Nas
Illmatic: 5
Lost Tapes: 4.5
It Was Written: 3.5
Stillmatic: 4
Life Is Good: 3.5
I Am: 3
God's Son: 4
Untitled: 3
Hip-Hop Is Dead: 3
Nastradamus: 2.5
Street's Disciple: 3

Average: 3.63

Reasonable Doubt: 5
The Blueprint: 5
The Black Album: 4.5
In My Lifetime, Vol. 1: 3.5
American Gangster: 4.5
Vol. 3... The Life and Times of S. Carter: 4
Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life: 3.5
Kingdom Come: 3
Magna Carta Holy Grail: 3
The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse: 3
The Blueprint 3: 2.5

Average: 3.77

It's close, but Jay is still better by my ratings.

Seems about right....

my neegros, have any of you heard Jigga's MTV Unplugged record? He recorded it live about 2001 with The Roots performing instrumentals. It's really good.

I like Jay because his raps grow up more than anyone else. He keeps reinventing himself. Thats why he is still going strong. Nas is sick, but he hasn't transformed himself like Jay.

Nas has that raspy voice, he has that Nickelback sound..I can't deny his talent.

Haha I like this guy. Wish he wasnt banned.

amen. i think a day after he was banned "photograph" came on the radio and i actually didn't turn it off. a day that will live forever.

I can't believe this is still even up for debate. Hands down Jay won.

Jay destroyed Nas on takeover with one line: "So yeah, I sampled your voice; you was usin' it wrong: you made it a hot line, I made it a hot song."

For God's sake Nas has yet to recover from that verbal beat-down Jay handed him, where 's the classic album he's produced since then, or for that matter the classic song. Did we all forget that he singed w/ Jay.

What is the aim of a diss track?


[AUDIO] Jay-Z Crying On Hot97 After Hearing Ether!! Nas WON - YouTube

'Wow, like... wow.'
'It's, j, j, just... it's far man. It's very vulgar :(.'

:rofl: @ you not realizing that interview was edited w/ parts cut out, in fact here's the full interview
http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/jayz&...7interview_40/


Wow, how easily some people fall for lies :clap:

Nas signed w/ Jay, if that's not the ultimate I surrender flag, I don't know what is. On top of that the deal was rumored to be for almost 3 million w/ def jam holding the keys to the publishing & the second 1.5 million wasn't even guaranteed :rofl:, he would only receive that half if his album was certified platinum, lol they weren't.

What type of rapper can't even go platinum with the backing of def jam after such wide press "beef"

& How dumb or broke did he have to be to sign that disgusting deal

Record sales lol.

lol at the dull intellect of Jigga Stans.

wow, how low did you have to bend to miss that point?

Not very.

#js

both spit dope rhymes .. but i just loved 'EMINEM' above them