Big reason Ill never be a huge Jay fan is after vol 1 he lost that grimey NY feel

[Zach Lowe]

Who cares about grimy vs. polished
A lot of grimy shyt is wack to me and a lot of polished shyt is dope even tho I guess I lean slightly grimy

that's really your main concern listening to a track? whether the shyt is hard or not? what happened to songwriting and melodies and concepts and shyt

 

[DANJ!]

Jay Z has never been a "grimey" or "hardcore" rapper...Dude is in the same lane as rappers line Ja-Rule, Nelly and the likes...

Happy rappers...

Grimey is Mobb Deep, Wu Tang, Boot Camp and the likes...

I wouldn't put him in the Nelly category either... I don't even know how that comparison would come into play...

He's more in the middle than anything... like you said, I don't associate him with grimy rap at all. He's had grimy moments, but that's about as far as it goes. Even when he did songs with Ja & DMX, he stood out as being a lil' more slick and laid back than them. Irv Gotti described that combo perfectly- he said it was like the two ruthless killers who would do the shooting, and then Jay would be the guy who comes in to finish the victim off and clean up and put the body in the trunk... that's more Jay's lane. I just can't think of the grimy streetcorner gutter type rappers and put him in that group, at any point in his career. Def. wouldn't say he was Nelly, but he wasn't exactly M.O.P. either.

 

[Xecutioner]

I never thought Jay to be a grimey rapper. He always portrayed himself as a smooth street dude. If he was a character in The Wire he would be Stringer Bell

 

[DANJ!]

I never thought Jay to be a grimey rapper. He always portrayed himself as a smooth street dude. If he was a character in The Wire he would be Stringer Bell

This right here...

Stringer wasn't one of them nikkas with durags and sweats on, sittin' in the projects sellin' and beatin' muhfukkas down. That was Bodie n'nem... String was that one who called the shots and dealt with the money.

Good analogy.

 

[wtfyomom]

I never thought Jay to be a grimey rapper. He always portrayed himself as a smooth street dude. If he was a character in The Wire he would be Stringer Bell

no wonder I never liked Stringer, dude was soft as hell, he let Marlo take over when Avon wanted to go to war.