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Jay-Z Vs. Nas: Who’s Hotter? (A Rebuttal)
Date posted
October 26, 2009 at 2:33 am
Categories Filed Under
Editorials, Muzik
Comments
16 responses
October 26, 2009 at 2:33 am
Categories Filed Under
Editorials, Muzik
Comments
16 responses
Recently, I came across a blog titled “BGirlKenya: A Girl, Her Life & Her Music” and was amazed to find not only an avid hip hop lover, but a female who KNOWS her hip hop. The 1st post that managed to catch my attention was an analysis of the age-old discussion: who’s better? Jay-Z, the witty lyricist from Marcy or Nas, the poetic visionary that hails from Queensbridge? While an excellent argument was presented by the young lady (VIEW HERE), I found several statements that I disagreed with that I will tackle in this rebuttal:
“Jay-Z is not selling drugs anymore and has went from a Brooklyn boy who rapper to a business [...] Jay-Z closed the old book and started a new one while Nas has been stuck on the same book, same chapter since Illmatic damn near”.
I agree with the statement that Jay-Z is not selling drugs anymore and transformed himself into a business, but wasn’t Jay, not 2 years ago, rhyming about drug dealing/hustling on American Gangster? After the release of the critically panned Kingdom Come (an album of Jay’s that I enjoy), Jay-Z went right back to rhyming about drugs on the critically acclaimed American Gangster. Jay recently rhymed on BP3:
“I move onward, the only direction
Can’t be scared to fail, in search of perfection”
Why then, instead of rehashing familiar territory with American Gangster, did Jay not ignore critics and fans alike and proceed with an album in the vein of The Blueprint 3 after the “dud” that was Kingdom Come? A familar rhyme from Joe Budden comes to mind in this situation: “Are we hustling or are we grown up? Every time I hear you, you changing your tone up”(Joe Budden: “Talk To Em”).
Like Nas, Jay is an artist that will always be compared to his greatest work, his debut album. When it comes to Nas however, he has continued to grow as an artist since his debut. He went from the young visionary on Illmatic to painting the Mafioso lifestyle in his own image (i.e. the aptly-titled It Was Written) to a prophet on I Am… & Nastradamus. Stillmaticsaw a return to form for Nas while God’s Son saw him at his most naked emotionally. Street’s Disciple saw growth into a conscious emcee and a family man while Hip Hop is Deadsaw an elder statesmen concerned with the dying art-form and finally, Untitled saw him lyrically at his peak since Illmatic, a politically conscious emcee. It was also on Untitledthat Nas showed that he had firmly slammed the door on his magnum opus and the gift/curse of his career, Illmatic.
Jay’s career has seen great heights on a commercial scale, but his catalogue artistically has seen its share of duds. For an emcee to call themselves the greatest, should they not present their best effort on every album? When you look at both emcee’s catalogue, the odds are definitely in Nas’ favor as he has 5 arguable classic LPs (Illmatic, It Was Written, Stillmatic, The Lost Tapes & Untitled) while Jay has around 2-3 in Reasonable Doubt, The Blueprint and American Gangster.
“Jay began to think globally while Nas only saw things locally, as his circumstances so did Jay’s lyrical content. [....] Nas may very well be the best NY lyricist while Jay is the better lyricist in general. Both are deserving of the title but only one has stepped up to the challenge and put the crown on his head. This is not just my opinion: look at the numbers, Jay has beaten Elvis! Jay has retired and came back while Nas has almost given up on hip hop”.
I’d say this was the part in her argument, which irked me the most. When it comes to both emcees, I agree that they are both artists in their own right, but to say Jay is a better artist or lyricist than Nas is flat out wrong imo. Jay proved long ago that he cares more about how many zeroes are in his bank account than about the art-form that hip hop is while Nas continues to grow as an artist and push the boundaries into unfamiliar territory. Another example would be the two premier emcees of the new generation: Lil’ Wayne and Lupe Fiasco. Lil’ Wayne continues to attempt to force his way to rockstar status and sell millions of records while Lupe can rap over rock-type instrumentals while still creating great music and selling a fair amount of records himself. Lyrically, when you compare the two however, there is no competition as Lupe is light-years ahead of Wayne and still relatively young into his burgeoning career. Is Lupe less of an artist for remaining true to his true fans yet still trying new things and not selling out to sell records while Wayne continues to attempt and force himself onto everyone in an attempt to sell more records? I think not.
At the end of the day, Jay-Z will have better numbers than Nas and will have enjoyed a better career than Nas due to the amount of records sold and money made, but when it comes to the essence that hip hop is and consistency in their respective catalogues, there is no comparison: Nas stands tall. Fin.
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I’m a big fan of Nas, hence the name _illmatic_, but something Jay could never do is have arguably the greatest hip hop album of all time. I do agree with all that you’ve said. I love Jay, but Nas is what you would consider a true emcee. Nice write up homie!!
Thanks…. it looks as if there will be more of this to come as she’s done a rebuttal to my rebuttal LOL. Stay tuned!
Rebuttal War!!!
Honestly I have to disagree with you, Nas’ career is going further downhill with every album he releases while Jay just continues to get more and more sucessful. American Gangster was a concept album for a movie about a drug dealer, what do you expect him to rap about on it? And it’s not like Nas ain’t still talking about being on the block and carrying guns. The Jay-Z vs Nas arguement ended when Jay kept going platinum, Nas started struggling to reach gold, Jay married Beyonce, Nas married Kelis tattooed her on him arm then she filed for a divorced and when Nas took the ultimate L and signed to a label that Jay-Z is running.
With that said though I still have every Nas album from Illmatic to God Son on my phone and I’ll always love his former self because I grew up almost idolizing that dude.
I’m happy for Nas and Jay-Z and imma let this finish making more albums, but Kanye West is one of the greatest artist of ALL TIME !!! lol naw i’m just joking…
“uh-oh”
Jay arguably had 2 classics (Reasonable Doubt & Blueprint, personally I like The Black Album) while nas only had 1 classic (Illmatic) and a solid album (Stillmatic). Jay has had better hits that’s a no brainer, but nas dont really make that type of music.
If Nas made a greatest hits album it would fit on a single disc, but a Jay greatest hits album, shit, it would have to be a on 2 disc.
Nas Lost, shit I rather listen to kelis’s first 2 albums honestly.
The people who hate on Nas are the ones who never liked him in the first place! Shit…Nas is still selling! If these people who try to act like Nas is garbage actually knew how loved Nas is globally they would shit on themselves! Nas is on a international tour right now!!!! Nas don’t give a fuck about the hate…in fact he welcomes it! It just goes to show you how caught up the so-called fans of hip hop are about the HYPE of and artist!!! Hip hop fans don’t care about hip hop…they care about how much money an artist makes!!!!!
You know hip hop lost when the fans start judging you on who you married!!!
JAY PROVES HOW HIS STANS ARE DELUSION. HE EVEN KNOWS THAT NAS IS FAR FROM GARBAGE…IN HIS RECENT XXL MAG INTERVIEW HE STATES “MY ONLY COMPETITION IS NAS AND EM” JAY KNOWS THE TRUTH…BUT TO BAD HIS FANS ARE STILL SALTY OVER ETHER! JAY AND NAS HAVE MOVED ON AND TO TRY ENDLESSLY TO COMPARE THEIR SUCCESS IS STUPID AND POINTLESS AT THIS TIME!!!!
EVERY NAS ALBUM HAS WENT PLAT…BUT “UNTITLED”!
In 2002 Nas reflected, “I make lots of money from what I do, and it’s God’s gift. I didn’t get in the business just to make a million or two billion overnight. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I don’t care. I just love the music and enjoying my life at the same time. I love rap more than being a star in rap.”
^^^This is why Nas will never lose…while people continue judging him on commercial record sales and his personal life…he will continue with success domestically and internationally because he is HUMBLE!!!! While everyone is counting Jay’s record sales…Nas is not missing a beat with getting his MONEY (commercially and underground)! I will never understand how absolute strangers can judge a man (Nas) so profoundly and never had a one (1) second conversation with the man…NEVER JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER! Sixteen years (16) + in the GAME!!!! People have been counting Nas out since Illmatic dropped and he is still making classic music and evolving as an artist! People have to realize that everyone does not want the LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION LIFE STYLE…but that does not mean you can’t still be successful and make lots of money doing what you love and at the level you chose to do it on!!!! Nas has proven this to be true…and if people actually stopped trying to compare Nas to commercial artist…they would know that Nas is just as important and successful in hip hop as Jay-z, Lil Wayne, Kanye, T.I., 50 Cent, Eminem and the rest of the commercial artists!!! We have a variety of commercial artists. Nas said: “There’s only one me but a hundred thousand yous.” Actually Nas is in a CLASS ALL BY HIMSELF…GOAT!!!!
YOooo someone school this kid EdwardV. Nas one classic Illmatic thats it?? Listen to LostTapes, Gods Son and It Was Written(personally i think better than illmatic, my opinion tho). JayZ shitted in his pants when Nas hit him with Ether and JayZ fans got emotional. LOL Im not degradin JayZ in anyway, he’s definitely on my top5 but not on top of Nas – HipHops G.O.A.T!
Nas is GOAT…people’s hate can’t change that!
Jay-Z = Commercial success
Nas = True to the Hip Hop art form
Nas said it best on Ether…”You traded your soul for riches..”
Who can deny Jay is in it for the money???
Finally, somebody feels like I do. I respect both artist, but in my honest opinion NAS is True Hip Hop at heart. No, his stacks are no way as large as Jay, but I respect his shit more than Jay. Thanks you for that.