Garbage link
Reasonable doubt and blueprint should shower the top 10
Someone on a comp should copy top 10 and bottom 10 here so we don't give that garbage any clicks
I Got you breh...
274. “Anything,” Kingdom Come (2006): Jay-Z’s first ever collaboration with Usher is an ode to amateur night at the strip club.
273. “Tru Life Intro,” Tru York (2007): Hov spends two minutes firing spoken subliminal shots at Cam’ron and Jim Jones, and introducing the world to rapper Tru Life. The final minute features some struggle patois and one of Jay’s most throwaway of throwaway freestyles.
272. “bytches & Sisters,” The Blueprint²: The Gift & the Curse(2002): At best, this N.W.A-sampling cut is a misguided attempt at celebrating stand-up women and shaming shady ones. At worst, it’s an indefensible cocktail of misogyny and respectability politics that Jay for some reason made sure to retain as a bonus cut on the abridged rerelease
Blueprint 2.1.
271. “Nickels and Dimes,” Magna Carta … Holy Grail (2013): Hov expresses his side in a squabble over social responsibility with civil-rights icon Harry Belafonte that should’ve never happened. We could’ve done without this song, too.
270. “I Know What Girls Like,” In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 (1997): Ah, yes, the phase when Jay-Z was blinded by Puff Daddy’s shiny suits. Who decided it was a good idea to crate dig in the Waitresses’ catalogue?
269. “La Familia,” Magna Carta … Holy Grail (2013): Keep the phrase “facts only” and Lil Wayne jab, delete the rest.
268. “Pretty Girls,” Unfinished Business (2004): In 2002, Jay-Z and R. Kelly joined forces for
The Best of Both Worlds, an unprecedented duet album uniting two hip-hop and R&B giants. The project was doomed, though, once a video that allegedly shows the Chicago singer having sex with (and urinating on) an underage girl began making the rounds — Jay wisely fell back from the project like Homer Simpson sinking into a bush. The controversy seemed to be simmering down two years later (despite 14 then-pending child-pornography charges against Kelly in Chicago) and the two stars gave it another go. Still, after “that VHS tape,” the title and subject matter of this generic song should’ve raised a red flag.
267. “As One,” The Blueprint²: The Gift & the Curse (2002): A rip-off of Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Fantasy” that serves as a roll call for Roc-A-Fella’s newly bolstered roster. Maurice White deserved better.
266. “Shorty,” The Best of Both Worlds (2002): R. Kelly sings about sexing “pretty girls” from coast to coast — and specifically cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Miami. The following year, Kelly was actually arrested in Miami after police found 12 images of a nude, underage girl in his Florida home. Those child-pornography charges were later dropped after a technicality deemed the photos inadmissible in court. But yeah, this song is okay, I guess.
265. “2 Many Hoes,” The Blueprint²: The Gift & the Curse(2002): Jay’s second
Blueprint album is weighed down by filler songs like this male groupie shooing.
264. “Reminder,” The Blueprint 3 (2009): Hov re-reintroduces himself by running down his résumé in a meticulous manner and demanding that fans, peers, and bloggers put some respek on his name. Singer K. Briscoe’s hook is robotic and irksome.
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10. “D’Evils,” Reasonable Doubt (1996):
This is the darkest moment on an album full of green-splattered fantasy and criminal atrocity. Over a solemn DJ Premier instrumental, Jay-Z depicts the evil that can possess those who live in poverty, creating monsters who are driven by greed and a craving for power. Jay says he dreamt the first bars of this song, but verse two is more like a nightmare: He imagines a tale of treachery in which he turns on a childhood friend, kidnapping and bribing the mother of his child, and implying their impending demises. As a wordsmith, it’s Jay at his most macabre.
9. “Dead Presidents” / “Dead Presidents II,” Reasonable Doubt(1996):
Take a listen to the original Lonnie Liston Smith piano loop sampled for this standout chapter in the Jay-Z canon; it’s cold and beautiful — the sound of loneliness. Ski sped up that melody, threw some drums beneath, and a classic Nas vocal chop on top to create the soundscape for Jay to revel in the highs and lows of hustling. Both versions feature the same beat — the sequel is merely a means to update the superior original — and a total of five thoughtful verses from Jay that still stand as some of his most cunning lyricism.
8. “I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me),” The Dynasty: Roc La Familia (2000):
The sentiment of this timeless smash hit came from a party thrown by Kimora Lee Simmons. Jay remembered seeing Mary J. Blige dancing to Carl Thomas’s “I Wish,” which Jay karaokes with some of his best bad singing. The track is a magical combination of Jay-Z’s feel-good rhymes and the Neptunes’ funky bass lines, which helped make the Virginia music men household names.
7. “Public Service Announcement (Interlude),” The Black Album(2003):
This is a dynamite stick in Jay-Z’s live set. At the last minute of
The Black Album’s recording, Just Blaze lifted an explosive riff from Little Boy Blues’ “Seed of Love” — suspenseful piano chords that give way to a jolting organ. Jay took that dramatic melody and ran with it. His first verse is all spelled-out flows, declarative bravado, and sneaky puns. The second is largely inspired by journalist Elizabeth Méndez Berry, who attended a preliminary album playback for media. She questioned the contradiction of Jay wearing a diamond necklace over a T-shirt depicting Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara, before handing him an acerbic critical essay that she wrote about his past music. And hence, Hov spits “I’m like Che Guevara with bling on, I’m complex” to open a stanza that’s introspective and almost defensive when explaining how his past shaped his current objectives. Ultimately, the track is a Jay-Z mission statement that also happens to be one of the most memorable songs of his career.
6. “Brooklyn’s Finest,” Reasonable Doubt (1996):
This classic back-and-forth lyrical slugfest between two of the absolute best to ever do it started as a solo cut called “No More Mr. Nice Guy.” Once the Notorious B.I.G. was onboard, Jay altered his verses so he could trade friendly fire with the reigning king of N.Y., and changed the title to something more precise. You can hear each verse upping the ante for the next. “From ’9-6, the only MC with a flu / Yeah I rhyme sick, I be what you’re trying to do,” Jay challenges, only for Biggie to counter with his own sick punch line, “Gotta go, Coolio mean it’s getting ‘Too Hot’ / If Fay’ had twins, she’d probably have two ’Pacs.” Decision is split on whose performance is toughest (I’d take Big by a whisker), but the song is one of the most intense and enjoyable rap duets Jay ever recorded.
5. “4:44,” 4:44 (2017):
This is what a sincere version of “Song Cry” might sound like. A track that doesn’t make light of matters of the heart with flippant rationale like, “I was just fukkin’ those girls, I was gon’ get right back.” No, this one is full of genuine remorse. Real heartache. Jay-Z airs out his indiscretions over a tortured sample of Hannah Williams & the Affirmations’ “Late Nights & Heartbreak,” issuing an open apology to Beyoncé for missing the mark as a husband in more ways than one. “I never wanted another woman to know / Something about me that you didn’t know,” he rhymes, shamefaced. He sounds at his most repentant when wondering if his children will one day see him differently after learning of his mistakes. “4:44” raises Jay-Z’s bar for emotive music, once again proving that the best music often arises from places of pain.
4. “Empire State of Mind,” The Blueprint 3 (2009):
Prototypical NYC anthems like Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind” or Frank Sinatra’s “Theme From New York, New York” tend to be sugarcoated, pandering to the ideals of tourists who’ve never stepped foot in the Big Apple. Jay keeps those archetypes in his Alicia Keys–guested “Empire State of Mind” — shouting out the city’s yellow cabs and major sports teams — but adds a heavy dose of realism, also showing its perilous underbelly. The result makes for an interesting juxtaposition between Keys’s celebratory vocals and Hov’s lyrics about prostitution. Grand and gritty, a proper hip-hop ode to Gotham City.
3. “Big Pimpin,’” Vol. 3 … Life and Times of S. Carter (1999):
Timbaland’s flute sample in “Big Pimpin’” has the power to instantly teleport you to somewhere much hotter and more tropical than your current location. For Jay, it helped relocate him to a high slot on the pop charts, and granted Texas duo UGK — who arguably upstage Hov here — the most successful song of its career. Bun B’s unorthodox flow sounds right at home, but Pimp C’s bouncy, fun verse has aged best. The opposite can be said for Jay’s savage, misogynistic rhymes. “What kind of animal would say this sort of thing?” he wrote in
Decoded years later. Still, “Big Pimpin’” was an important moment in cementing Jay’s status as a reliable hit-maker, and helping to eliminate hip-hop’s already-shrinking regional divide.
2. “Can I Live,” Reasonable Doubt (1996):
This is all sonic dramatics and verbal acrobatics. The beat, built on a sample of Isaac Hayes’s “The Look of Love,” feels like a scene in a gangster flick — producer Irv Gotti was inspired by the film
Dead Presidents. On the track, Jay evokes paranoia and affluence and introspection via multisyllabic flows that offer a deeper psychological analysis of the mind of a hustler. It’s lyrically one of Jay’s best showcases, a perfect example of why Jay-Z is one of the best rappers of all time.
1. “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem),” Vol. 2 … Hard Knock Life(1998):
Broken down in the simplest form, Jay-Z’s career exists in two acts: before and after this song’s existence. “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)” changed the course of Jay-Z’s career and made his life and times understandable (and captivating) to millions. Mark the 45 King’s
Anniesample is the not-so-secret sauce on this whopper of a hit record — vocals of the orphaned characters portray a beautiful struggle that’s both the furthest thing from hip-hop and its epitome. Jay’s street-conscious lyricism oozes authenticity and bridges the gap, making this song a crown jewel in his discography.
shyt shoulda been top 50, that beat is hella smooth
Regrets is not a top ten song from Jay?
