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

[HNIC973]

people aint gonna want to admit it cause stan shyt

but Nas is easily the best overall ... I'm a pac stan but Nas' more creative in total
pac was direct and wrote deeper than anyone easily ... but Nas could approach that plateau, where other emcees cant at all


the only way you can say Jay is a better "rapper" than Nas ... is even you mean by tricking people and personifying one
Illmatic is more hiphop than Jay's career.... the H to the Omo radio freestyle was more hiphop than most shyt Jay ever done
after volume 1-2 Jay did more commercial shyt, than his hiphop roots style
Its not taking anything away from Jay-z at all... but there's just shyt Nas can encompass that 99.9% of emcees cant do. Jay has never been able to successfully do some gutter mobb deep type of shyt either.

the things Nas does that people deem unsuccessful or trite ... would end other people's careers. Its shyt he does for himself or for hiphop and he does not care. Like that song off Lost Tapes 2, the detective voice shyt on hiphop is dead, alot of the experimental shyt on streets disciple etc.... where are they now 80s and 90s remix. Alot of people are doing any of that because they dont take risks or have creativity to just create music

nas the type of dude to smoke with Damien Marley... and Damien is like "want to make a reggae cd" and Nas is just like "yeah sure"
"we're gonna do videos for every track too" nas is like "yeah whatever"

if you listened to the sheer number of actual unreleased nas songs and snippets of shyt that never came out ... he has like 900 songs, some conceptual and amazing that havent even been played to the public. Not many artists in HISTORY are even touching that magnitude of longevity and volume of work

The Set Up& Suspect (Live nikka Rap don't count since it was supposed to be on HOE Mobb song originally) sound like some shyt straight from Hell On Earth sessions.

 

[Cloud McFly]

Aside from me not liking it (ish was trash lol) it just genuinely felt like a dud. , I could be wrong tho. I’m more interested in the 2nd week numbers honestly when it comes to a hit record, like if your joint debuts at #7 then next week it’s number 77, then the 3rd week it’s out of the Hot 100 totally is that a hit record for real? I genuinely don’t know how to gauge this stuff honestly…to me a hit feels like a hit, “Empire State of Mind” was a smash hit. “Crazy in Love” was a smash hit. “Heartbreaker” was a smash hit

Show Me What You Got spent 15 weeks on Billboard’s Top 100 peaking at #8.

 

[Kenny West]

Jay is the better writer because Nas has frequently used ghostwriter help from Jungle, AZ, Quentin Miller and possibly Stic Man & Jay Elec

 

[spliz]

Jay is the better writer because Nas has frequently used ghostwriter help from Jungle, AZ, Quentin Miller and possibly Stic Man & Jay Elec

U just a dikkriding Kendrick and Kanye fan.

 

[Greenhornet]

yall arguing popularity too sound wild

how subjective or successful a song is doesnt mean the quality is better or worse


it reminds me of the e-40 thread where you cant quantify what his best song is... what his most successful song is and what song actually had the most impact .... all of that is timing and subjective judgement

im sure Nas and Jay both have trash hits that lasted longer ... and good songs that turned out to be duds on billboard ... that means nothing in terms of how good a song really is in the long run


Jay did #4 spot with "Holy Grail - feat Justin Timberlake" and charted for 27 weeks
"suit and tie" made it to #3 and charted for 26 weeks.... Suit and Tie isnt a better song than Holy Grail
and "Can I Get A..." only made it to #19 and lasted 37 weeks .... if you go by charts and numbers you are agreeing with that order



Nas did #53 on the chart for 20 weeks with "If I Ruled The World" .... "Hate Me Now" was #62 for only 8 charting weeks total
Street Dreams was #22 peak and on the list for 17 weeks. Street Dreams is not a better song than 99% of Nas songs or "If I Ruled The World" or "Hate Me Now"

 

[FunkDoc1112]

yall arguing popularity too sound wild

how subjective or successful a song is doesnt mean the quality is better or worse


it reminds me of the e-40 thread where you cant quantify what his best song is... what his most successful song is and what song actually had the most impact .... all of that is timing and subjective judgement

im sure Nas and Jay both have trash hits that lasted longer ... and good songs that turned out to be duds on billboard ... that means nothing in terms of how good a song really is in the long run


Jay did #4 spot with "Holy Grail - feat Justin Timberlake" and charted for 27 weeks
"suit and tie" made it to #3 and charted for 26 weeks.... Suit and Tie isnt a better song than Holy Grail
and "Can I Get A..." only made it to #19 and lasted 37 weeks .... if you go by charts and numbers you are agreeing with that order



Nas did #53 on the chart for 20 weeks with "If I Ruled The World" .... "Hate Me Now" was #62 for only 8 charting weeks total
Street Dreams was #22 peak and on the list for 17 weeks. Street Dreams is not a better song than 99% of Nas songs or "If I Ruled The World" or "Hate Me Now"

I think Street Dreams' success was from the R Kelly remix which is one of his top 10 best songs ever

 

[spliz]

yall arguing popularity too sound wild

how subjective or successful a song is doesnt mean the quality is better or worse


it reminds me of the e-40 thread where you cant quantify what his best song is... what his most successful song is and what song actually had the most impact .... all of that is timing and subjective judgement

im sure Nas and Jay both have trash hits that lasted longer ... and good songs that turned out to be duds on billboard ... that means nothing in terms of how good a song really is in the long run


Jay did #4 spot with "Holy Grail - feat Justin Timberlake" and charted for 27 weeks
"suit and tie" made it to #3 and charted for 26 weeks.... Suit and Tie isnt a better song than Holy Grail
and "Can I Get A..." only made it to #19 and lasted 37 weeks .... if you go by charts and numbers you are agreeing with that order



Nas did #53 on the chart for 20 weeks with "If I Ruled The World" .... "Hate Me Now" was #62 for only 8 charting weeks total
Street Dreams was #22 peak and on the list for 17 weeks. Street Dreams is not a better song than 99% of Nas songs or "If I Ruled The World" or "Hate Me Now"

I like Street Dreams better than both. Lol

 

[Ziggiy]

I like Street Dreams better than both. Lol

You like Street Dreams BETTER than If I Ruled The World and Hate Me Now?!?!?!


Don’t get me wrong I love all three, my appreciation for Street Dreams has actually grown over the years (I think its an example of inspired interpolation) but If I Ruled The World is PERFECT from top to bottom. Genius all around. The greatest example of Nas/TrackMasters/Lauryn Hill’s potential realized. It doesn’t GET much better than that

Hate Me Now is Nas making a Nas song a crossover song. I remember Steve Stoute said when he heard it he knew that it was Nas answer to Hard Knock Life (as far as a single not actually responding to anything in the song itself) Nas spit that thug shyt. That poetry shyt. That street shyt. That prophet shyt. That knowledge shyt. ALL with Diddy doing his thing in the background.

 

[Ziggiy]

i agree. vol 3 my favorite jay album. i know its overall trash but he was talking some shyt on there

Vol 3 has grown on me over the years.


Thats one thing I love about artists like Nas, Jay, Common, RZA, and The Roots. Some of their music may take YEARS to hit but when it does it hits HARD.

 

[JYoung24]

On some real sh*t, once Nas had trouble with Sony in '99 and didn't want to pay big bread for tracks, he wasn't the same again for a minute. I think that's why Jay went at him. He thought he was an easy target and fell off. Because there was a point when Nas was the best, and no one would even think about going at dude. After the I Am nonsense with the bootleg situation, when they made him run back to the studio to rush and record mad new songs, he lost a step. And I think, inspiration too.

Same sh*t happened to Jay when he "retired'. Dude spent like three years out the studio and came back sounding rusty AF. He had to redeem himself with AG because that Kingdom Come sh*t was a joke. But when you get away from the element that you were used to when you made your best sh*t, it's hard to recapture that magic. It took Nas mad albums to get back the real Nas. Dude was sleepwalking for mad albums. Any real Nas can be honest about that. He was putting out some bullsh*t for a minute. LOL!! Which is why it's so dope to finally see him back to true form again.

Untitled disten relatives and life is good was not bullshyt

 

[spliz]

You like Street Dreams BETTER than If I Ruled The World and Hate Me Now?!?!?!


Don’t get me wrong I love all three, my appreciation for Street Dreams has actually grown over the years (I think its an example of inspired interpolation) but If I Ruled The World is PERFECT from top to bottom. Genius all around. The greatest example of Nas/TrackMasters/Lauryn Hill’s potential realized. It doesn’t GET much better than that

Hate Me Now is Nas making a Nas song a crossover song. I remember Steve Stoute said when he heard it he knew that it was Nas answer to Hard Knock Life (as far as a single not actually responding to anything in the song itself) Nas spit that thug shyt. That poetry shyt. That street shyt. That prophet shyt. That knowledge shyt. ALL with Diddy doing his thing in the background.

If I Ruled The World Is better but I listened to it too much. Hate Me Now gets me amped and it's prolly the better joint but I can spin Street Dreams anytime and just vibe out.

 

[Ziggiy]

If I Ruled The World Is better but I listened to it too much. Hate Me Now gets me amped and it's prolly the better joint but I can spin Street Dreams anytime and just vibe out.

I can respect that


What would you say your favorite song from IWW is?

 

[JYoung24]

I don’t see how you can say 2008 nas was a better lyrically than 94-98

That’s crazy. I don’t think anything post 2008 has a shot at his top 20

It's because 94-98 was his popularity peak but 2008 lyrically you can make a argument he was better

 

[Cladyclad]

It's because 94-98 was is popularity peak but 2008 lyrically you can make a argument he was better

Let’s do a vs

 

[HNIC973]

I like Street Dreams better than both. Lol

Agreed I got burned out of both joints years ago