Jay-Z on Letterman

If you think Nas is better than Biggie, then you don't know hip-hop. It's that simple

With the possible, POSSIBLE, exception of Rakim, nobody on this list, lyrically, comes close to Biggie. He was a master, and if you took his lyrics from 15 years ago and introduced them as new, he'd be considered the best in the game. That's how good and ahead of his time he was.

Nas doesn't belong in this conversation. To me, illmatic will go down as the second best hip-hop album ever. After that, he completely fell off, and even if Jay-Z forced him to realize that he still needs to be an MC, he never regained what he lost in the "hate me now" days.

Pac is a sad case. As a black man, he had the ability, the clout, the power and the charisma to lead my generation, to be my spokesman. That's the one thing he had that BIG didn't have, and it's sad that he chose to attempt to be a thug and a gangster when he so clearly wasn't.

As an MC, Pac was great. One other thing he had over BIG was the fact that his subject matter was so diverse. "Dear Mama", "Brenda had a Baby", and other classics revealed that side of him. As a raw MC, Big was much more talented. Pac didn't have Big's storytelling ability. He didn't have Big's humor. He didn't have Big's knowledge of the street, and he didn't have Big's ability to make you feel like you were just chillin with him on the stoop.

If you truly want a grasp of Big's talent, listen to "niggas bleed", and "the 10 crack commandments". Listen to "the what", and listen to "warning". The dude, lyrically, was on another level. I could go on.

Ready to die was the greatest hip-hop album ever. Life after death belongs in the top five. Neither of them had a single hole. Both were clean the house albums.

Rakim was a great, great, great MC. But he didn't do much after paid in full, and really struggled without Eric B at his side.

Jay, for his body of work, is the best. He's the most diverse MC ever. The only MC ever to rise above the streets, and yet maintain his street credibility. And that can't be understated. Jay could walk through Marcy projects right now and nobody would lay a hand on him. That can't be understated because he could get the same reception on a different scale in Beverly Hills.

Jay has five classics, more than any other MC.

1) Reasonable Doubt

2) In my lifetime, vol 1

3) In my lifetime, vol 2

4) The Blueprint

5) The Black Album

American Gangster is close to a classic. And when it's all said and done, I think Blueprint 3 is a classic as well. At this point, I don't know how any true hip-hop fan could NOT call Jay the best ever. It's unfortunate that BIG and Pac didn't last long enough to expand their legacies, but Jay's clearly passed what they've accomplished in their short runs.

 

Uh, oh, this could get ugly.

 

why? actually, the conversation should be over...lol...I just broke it down

 

Yeah! Go you!

 

First of all, you say no one can touch Biggie lyrically but you say Jay is the best ever. I am a little confused by that. Second, I know hip-hop fairly well and part of the reason that I am not a huge fan of Big is the record label he was on. I can't stand the constant chatting in the background by Diddy on EVERY. SINGLE. TRACK.

The reason I put Pac over anyone else is almost every rapper out right now took something of Pac in their style. He is the most influential rapper ever and he is responsible for the greatest hip-hop album ever "Me Against The World".

I love Nas, his lyrics are great and Illmatic was amazing. His third album "I Am" was a very solid effort also.

I am not knocking Jay at all, "Reasonable Doubt" was ahead of it's time and IML 1 and 2 are amazing as is The Blueprint. I have heard some of the The Blueprint 3 and was not as impressed as some.

 

I say Jay is the best ever, OVERALL, even if Big has the crown lyrically. There is a difference, and I went through great pains to make that clear in my previous post......lol.....

Diddy was puffy back then, and while he did chant alot, I still thought his production was tight and that he wasn't the ball of chain he turned out to be.

More later, on deadline.

 

Whatever the fuck his name was Puffy, Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Diddy, his production was weak, Death Row will always have better beats cause they had Dre and DJ Quik.

Biggie had some great tracks, but so many of his songs were just radio jams. Pac was so deep lyrically, I could put all the songs I like by Biggie on one CD with maybe 15 tracks.

It's personal preference more than anything, I like Pac's sound, to me he was the total package. I will never be convinced that Biggie was a better lyricist because he had some songs that I THINK (just my opinion) were corny.

 

I say rap sucks. Who's with me?

 

So why post here?

Stick to one of the music threads that don't mention Hip-Hop, which is pretty much every other music thread on here.

 

Lyrics are to rappers as power numbers are to baseball hitters.
Just because you're the biggest slugger doesn't make you the best player in the game.
Accordingly, BIG was, IMHO, the best lyricist of them all (and I'll hear arguments for Rakim).
Doesn't make him the best of all time. Jigga gets the nod for prolonged excellence, but to me even his flow, which was just sick on Reasonable Doubt, wasn't like BIG. He showed in his second LP that he could take his style in so many different directions, and like Jay-Z he wasn't one to write all his lyrics out.
(example: the 'Unbelieveable' track on Ready to Die.)

Nas had to take a couple of hard shots before he re-discovered his fastball. Not in the conversation. 'Pac was by far the most talented of them, but his gift reached in so many different directions--acting, poetry--that I think you have to judge him in a more all-encompassing way. As a pure lyricist? I take BIG.

 

Ahem. How has Rappin' Rodney not entered this conversation yet?



Haters. Every last one of you.

(Until I posted this, I couldn't read the text on the album cover. There's an instrumental version of Rappin' Rodney? Why?)

 

thank you gooch.....you said what I was trying to say.

As for Pac and BIG, Ross, you obviously haven't listened to BIG because he didn't have as much radio stuff as you claim. Yes he had commercial shit, but his stuff was much deeper than that. As I said before, go listen to "niggas bleed" off his second LP. IT'll take you at least 25 consecutive listens before you realize the story he's telling. It's that deep, that layered.

Big to me has

1) The greatest album ever

2) The greatest collab ever ("I love the dough") with jigga

3) The greatest double album ever.

Yes Pac was great, and I take nothing from him. He wasn't as talented as BIG. And for his lifetime achievement, Jay's gotta be considered the best to ever do it.