Is it fair to say that Nas is a better writer than Jay-z but Jay-z is a better rapper than Nas?

[No1]

Yeah..I wish we could just leave it at this.

Well put

We all know why it’s not left at that. Look who created the thread and his preference.

 

[I'm Blackman]

Jay is a savant. He has a natural ability to rhyme and his memorisation is not normal by any stretch. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has a photographic memory. Dude has an innate way with words that he can see double meanings and string them together to create verses filled with multiple entendres. He is naturally gifted in that way.

Jay’s biggest flaw is that he is just not very artistic. He is incredibly talented, but he doesn’t have the natural creativity to push boundaries. So he just spits dope rhymes that are conceptually pretty standard. Whenever he does try get artistic it comes across as corny.

Nas is the opposite. Nas has a horrible memory. Dude forgets his own rhymes, gets times, dates and names and sometimes historical facts wrong. He often writes his rhymes based on conversations he has with others, rather than his own memory and his own memories might be triggered by conversations and interactions rather than just sitting by himself.

But Nas has an incredible creative ability. And from this creative ability he can take a basic story from a conversation and add minute details, colors, smells, character back stories and motivations, that make the story sound real. He fleshes out these stories into something cinematic. He sees the bigger picture and deeper meaning that the rest of us just won’t even think about.

And Nas is a natural artist. He clearly enjoys pushing the boundaries. Sometimes it misses but more often it hits. His artistry is grounded in a love of black history, black music and black people. He clearly has a deep passion for hiphop and loves creating music that represents his life and his roots. Nas artistry is one of his biggest strengths.

They are both great rappers and great writers. Just with different skills. The only reason they are comparable is because despite these differences, they both have the same conversational flow and often have similar subject matter because they have very similar environments both before and after the game. But they bring very different things to it

Damn, I wasn’t even planning on writing all that

excellent post. rep.

 

[TheHonorableOmarSharif]

Scared of what? Nas hit songs aren't his absolute best just like Jay. The Verzus would do nothing just a preference thing. Nas plays The World is Yours Jay counters Dead Presidents. Both their best shyt are the B- side type joints anyway with some singles( Nas It aint hard to tell Nas is Like Made you look Jay PSA DP Where I'm From)

Cool.

Don't type. Line up 20 songs.

 

[HNIC973]

Cool.

Don't type. Line up 20 songs.

It's not that simple you got to have a general consensus on what the best top 20 best songs for both. You'll never get agreement on that

 

[TheHonorableOmarSharif]

It's not that simple you got to have a general consensus on what the best top 20 best songs for both. You'll never get agreement on that

We had a versus on discord... It can be done.

 

[Pop123]

We all know why it’s not left at that. Look who created the thread and his preference.

Preference is preference…nothing wrong with that. I’m not biased tho…I’m not a Jay-z hater in the least, thought that was obvious…I like to mess with the Nas haters on some troll ish but that’s lighthearted fun lol. In every talent-based profession we say “what if” regarding the two greatest and if they clashed. Our two greatest just happen to be in the same era coexisting…and they clashed, lol…if you don’t discuss them two in a comparative manner sometimes you ain’t hip hop, how can’t you? I ain’t bashing Jayz or none of that, we just choppin it about hip hop, this ain’t the stan wars thing in here…at least it wasn’t supposed to be,

 

[Pop123]

We had a versus on discord... It can be done.

What’s the steps? I’m in however as long as y’all bettin, I’m trying to do one on one tho, pause, I don’t wanna do a consensus vote on what 20 songs are used type thing, lol. Let everybody vote on who won tho

 

[UnQuantized]

Jay has his moments but line for line, verse for verse Nas is the superior writer by some marginAlso using 4:44 as an example of Jay having depth is laughable. Nas came out the gate with a level of depth WAY beyond his years; The World Is Yours, One Love, Memory Lane, If I Ruled The World, Nas Is Like, Project Windows, 2nd Childhood, Doo Rags, Fetus all written before the age of 30.

 

[Mike the Executioner]

LOL!! Damn. Don't do me like that with the Irv thing.

Nas was hit or miss from God's Son to Untitled. And that's just me trying to be objective, as a fan. Those albums as a whole are not up to Nas standards. He's much better than that. They literally did nothing for my dude's legacy. After that, he started sounding like Nas again.

What about those albums didn't sound like Nas? I feel like that period of his career was when he was at his most ambitious and conceptual. I feel like those albums suffered the most from sample clearance and sequencing. Tracks that should have been on the albums weren't ("Talk of New York," "Foul Breeze," "Where Y'all At," "Who Are You," "Letter to the King") or had to get changed. I listened to the original version of "America" with the David Bowie sample and it hits a lot harder than the version they went with.

You notice how with the Hit-Boy albums, you're not seeing constant delays and changes? I feel like Nas' strength is working with structure. When he has a clear vision and he can carry it out. Street's Disciple, HHID, and Untitled all had great songs, but I feel like Nas didn't say everything he wanted to say on them. Life is Good is a better album than all of them and a classic because I feel like Nas finally got the opportunity to say everything he wanted, unlike the projects before that.

Since you were working at Columbia back in the day, how close was I Am.... to being completed? It was supposed to come out in 1998 before it got delayed. And why didn't Nas just take the songs that were made for I Am... and use them for Nastradamus instead of recording new ones?

 

[SunZoo]

I don’t give a fukk what NOBODY say. This joint is FIRE

It was and a perfect example of how he was able to make a hit even while doing a concept/personfication record.

That's not to say Jay didn't have time periods where he's coasted as a rapper, he for sure has. Now I wouldn't put that up there with his best records lyrically at all but that's essentially what deliberatly 'dumbed down' Jay-Z get's you.

Riding that fence takes skill.

 

[SunZoo]

Jay is a savant. He has a natural ability to rhyme and his memorisation is not normal by any stretch. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has a photographic memory. Dude has an innate way with words that he can see double meanings and string them together to create verses filled with multiple entendres. He is naturally gifted in that way.

Jay’s biggest flaw is that he is just not very artistic. He is incredibly talented, but he doesn’t have the natural creativity to push boundaries. So he just spits dope rhymes that are conceptually pretty standard. Whenever he does try get artistic it comes across as corny.

I kinda touched on this in a Jay/50 thread.

Jay is a savant, natrually talented. But I feel like he prioritized being a hustler over the craft just on some pragmatic shyt. Like yeah, I have the talent to be artistic but I have to use it as a means to hustle, hence the "I'm not a rapper" and the whole Talib Kweli line. Jay could have easily gone the other route but he wouldn't be "JAY-Z" with all of this acclaim and empire.

People tried to make it seem like I was tryin to slight him by saying he's a hustler who just happens to be savant at this rap shyt and used it accordingly. Nas is and will always be an artist first. And having them both in the game at the same time to give that contrast has been a fukking blessing.

 

[The Dust King]

These two are nothing alike. This is like comparing Meek to Drake everyday

great comparison

drake = jayz

biter not a writer, known for swag jackin

meek = nas

writes his own shyt real nikka anthems

 

[Cladyclad]

great comparison

drake = jayz

biter not a writer, known for swag jackin

meek = nas

writes his own shyt real nikka anthems

Y’all dudes get so offended over nothing lol

Either way point stand

 

[IWasntMadeToPlayTheSon]

Nas has more god given talent. His voice alone is 10 levels above hov’s. Jay is a harder worker at the craft. Nas came into the game like LeBron. Golden child, chosen one etc…jay came in like Kobe, underrated, last lottery pick, worked like crazy at by year 4 he was at the top of the pack.

 

[Awesome Wells]

What about those albums didn't sound like Nas? I feel like that period of his career was when he was at his most ambitious and conceptual. I feel like those albums suffered the most from sample clearance and sequencing. Tracks that should have been on the albums weren't ("Talk of New York," "Foul Breeze," "Where Y'all At," "Who Are You," "Letter to the King") or had to get changed. I listened to the original version of "America" with the David Bowie sample and it hits a lot harder than the version they went with.

You notice how with the Hit-Boy albums, you're not seeing constant delays and changes? I feel like Nas' strength is working with structure. When he has a clear vision and he can carry it out. Street's Disciple, HHID, and Untitled all had great songs, but I feel like Nas didn't say everything he wanted to say on them. Life is Good is a better album than all of them and a classic because I feel like Nas finally got the opportunity to say everything he wanted, unlike the projects before that.

Since you were working at Columbia back in the day, how close was I Am.... to being completed? It was supposed to come out in 1998 before it got delayed. And why didn't Nas just take the songs that were made for I Am... and use them for Nastradamus instead of recording new ones?

You're right that he was ambitious and conceptual. That's definitely true. I just remember him speaking about that period and him saying he wasn't in the right headspace. And I think for artists like him, you can always hear that in the music.

Today, he's around other MC's and producers who are hungry, but he's also refreshed. So we can hear that, in how he sounds in the music. But when he was going through things in his personal life, he said it was tough for him to make music. Just so happens that those albums during that time, were kinda like his weakest joints.

He got bootlegged crazily in '98. Dudes leaked the whole I Am album, which in my opinion, was going to be his second best album, after Illmatic. The whole album was selling at the bootleg tables, on CD for $5. So the label wanted him to basically make a whole new album, so they didn't lose money. He made a couple albums worth of tracks in like 3-4 weeks, and that became the new version of I Am, and a lot of the other songs went on Nastradamus. And then some went to Lost Tapes. But I Am was originally supposed to be a double album, but the leak changed the whole direction of everything. He got rid of mad songs and just re-recorded the whole thing and dropped it as one disc. They rushed him to do it. That was the first album they say was bootlegged everywhere using mp3's for the first time. It was crazy.