14232949

How can you determine this? How is your prediction of the future any more relevant than mine? The fact is hip-hop has changed. Nobody cares about the gangsta rap bulls**t anymore. There's no more NWA. There's no more East Vs. West. Pac and BIG would have to reinvent themselves to stay relevant. They would manage this by working with others who have proved they can adapt and evolve and above all stay successful/relevant. People like Jay-Z.

Yes, they were incredibly popular, but do you really believe their popularity would have remained constant had they kept doing the same gimmicky 'gangsta' rap over and over? BIG was well and truly out of material after his second album and the two stayed relevant by beefing with one another. That catapulted their popularity by placing them in the media eye. Without that, and their deaths glorifying rap, they would not have maintained the height of their popularity. They would have had to adapt not only their rapping styles as hip-hop moved into the 'bling' era but also their production and who they worked with. Pac using horrible soul singers to belt out choruses was painful to listen to in 95. I can't imagine listening to it nearly 20 years later. They both would have had to change.

2Pac choose to speak about different subjects, but this doesn't mean Jay-Z never touched on politics or social matters. He just knew there was a fine line between highlighting such themes and becoming preachy. Pac was never the greatest technical rapper and most of his stuff just came across sounding contrived. I am embarrassed for 'Dear Mama'

How could 2 album Biggie have more 'classics' than anyone? And if you're not talking about albums, what are you talking about? I'd love to know. Kendrick Lamar has a better discography than BIG.


Oh wake up, 50% of hip-hop is sampling and recycling old themes, but in a new way. Every rapper out there has borrowed from another and puts their spin on it. Look at BIG's lyrics, look at Pac's lyrics. Look at Nas's, Eminem's, whoevers. There's always traces of their influences and there's always nods to other rappers. Jay-Z is not alone in this. DMX would kill nobody, in anything related to hip-hop.


Would like proof to back up your claims.



Don't believe I've said that. 'lol'


What, makes hip-hop? You just told me he's nothing like 2Pac. Because 2Pac talks about politics and socially conscious material. Are Jay-Z and 2Pac exactly the same as being completely different now?

This is an opinion. Who cares if he released 'political albums' Immortal Technique releases political albums. More so than 2Pac. Does that mean he's 'LIGHTYEARS' ahead of preachy 2pac?

Again, an opinion. Not fact. Influential to whom? More influential than The Blueprint? Please explain how?


I'd love to know where I said Jay-Z was a 'political' rapper. And your own interpretation of 'political' rapper seems jaded. Because Pac talked about the black man getting held down, is that political? Did Pac ever rap about Congress, or writing to his local councillor? I can think of other rappers that did. Does that make them more 'political'
Better question, why do you keep barking out that term like it somehow validates 5 lacklustre 2Psc albums? Does it matter if it's 'political' a term you seem confused as to what it actually means. Does it make it better somehow, please explain.


Okay, now you're just making things up because your argument is that weak. And no, to your original point. They have nothing to do with it.

Yes, please. Oh wait is it coz they are 'political'



The second time you've said this. Reading must be another word you're unfamiliar with's meaning.

Jay Electronica, Kanye West, Odd Future, Big K.R.I.T, A$AP Rocky, Hopsin, Kendrick Lamar, El-P, Sadistick, Killer Mike, Aesop Rock, Brother Ali, Lil B, Drake. There's a variety of current hip-hop artists. None of whom show any signs of incorporating 'gangsta rap' into their work. Again, your claims are unsubstantiated and are just plain nonsense. Nobody cares about 'gangsta rap' it is dead along with Eazy-E, 2Pac and BIG. Now get over yourself, and start thinking like a logical person.

Goofle

I won't doubt influence etc. He's an All Time Great in the same way certain albums that I don't particularly love are "Classics".

I like Reasonable Doubt and The Blueprint most.

__________________

Cuthbert

Jay-Z is consistently average.

14232949

You classify The Blueprint, Black Album and Reasonable Doubt as 'average'?
I'd love to see your interpretation of a great hip-hop album then.

Cuthbert

What about the stuff in between? He's released a fair amount of music.

And Reasonable Doubt is overrated. It was nothing when it came out, it was just another Mafioso type New York CD in an era full of Mafioso type New York CD's, many of which were better than Reasonable Doubt.

It was only since Jay-Z started referencing it himself as a classic that The Source retrospectively changed it's score and people started believing Jay-Z, which basically means it's only a classic because Jay-Z said it was a classic. How does that work?

The other two albums are just boring, and didn't Lupe write for Jay-Z on the Black Album? Jay-Z's closest attempt at being 'deep'.

Soulflower

I agree with every word

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I never called it a classic. It's an album I enjoy. I consider it with the other two mentioned to be in Jay's best work. The Blueprint isn't boring at all. It has enough variety to keep me consistently coming back to it. As for The Black album it spawned some of the best tracks in hip-hop in the 2010's. Everyone knows Encore, 99 Problems and Dirt off my Shoulder.
The fact that these two albums are just as relevant today and are still played in heavy rotation, one need only check the worldwide Last.FM stats indicates that they are far from 'boring'


As for Lupe ghostwriting, that's a reference made by Lupe's former producer which probably had nothing to do with Jigga. I've never seen it confirmed, so to me it's still just another internet rumour. I could start one that Jay-Z ghostwrote for Notorious BIG. Could anyone disprove it?

Cuthbert

I enjoyed The Blueprint too. However there is absolutely nothing that stands out about The Blueprint. It's boring. The production is nice in parts and sounds catchy, that is about it. What makes it so good?

I don't care about the plays tbh, it's all hype, he just turned himself into a legend through his own hype and people buy into it.

No proof, fair enough.

Oh and I agree with realtalk, no chance Jay-Z is more consistent than Nas. Most recent albums - Life is Good was better than Watch The Throne, in fact everything Nas has done since Street's Disciple has been good. Illmatic, It Was Written, I Am were all good albums. He released a stinker with Nastradamus then came back with Stillmatic, The Lost Tapes and God's Son, all three of those were good too.

So 2-3 poor albums aside, Nas has been consistently good since 1994. Jay-Z has had 3 good albums out of about 11 with the rest being average or poor. How is Jay-Z more consistent?

SGR

@realtalk: Jay is more consistent than Nas. From 96 to 2003, Jay released an album every year and EVERY one was at least good. (The weakest probably being either Dynasty or Blueprint 3) Nas released "I Am" and "Nastradamus" the same year and both were wack or were at least close to being wack. (Nastradamus moreso) From 94 to 2000, Nas only released 2 great albums, Jay released 3-4.

Concerning Jay only being "great" because of his own hype, that's BS. Jay obviously has the skills to back it up because Wayne claims he is the greatest rapper alive too but do people buy into that? No. Why not? Because Wayne doesn't have the material or claims to back something like that up while Jay-Z does.

Cuthbert

Yes. lol.