It's about to be 2021, can we all agree Jay is the greatest?

[mobbinfms]

Nah deadass, g!

Name them.

 

[Shadow King]

Nah deadass, g!

5 is his absolute maximum lol I'm not understanding the count of 8 classics...good albums is another thing.

 

[mobbinfms]

5 is his absolute maximum lol I'm not understanding the count of 8 classics...good albums is another thing.

To give Jay 5 is really lowering the bar, which is fine, but if Jay has 5 than you have to believe there are 500-1000 classic hip hop albums overall.

 

[ISO]

3 mic album.
Otis and The Joy were the standouts.

Why only 3

 

[Shadow King]

To give Jay 5 is really lowering the bar, which is fine, but if Jay has 5 than you have to believe there are 500-1000 classic hip hop albums overall.

Jay has 3 but there's an extra 2 with outside arguments

 

[murksiderock]

Name them.

I already did:

Reasonable Doubt
The Blueprint
Watch The Throne
4:44

Are the indisputable ones...

In My Lifetime Vol 1
Vol 2 Hard Knock Life
The Black Album
American Gangster

Are the debatable ones, but I'd say they pass the bar of classic by the standards of some if the shyt I seen yall nikkas call classic around here. And if those four aren't classic, they are all four extremely close to that line...

 

[mobbinfms]

Why only 3

I haven’t listened to the album in 8, maybe 9 years. I remember being very let down.

 

[ISO]

I haven’t listened to the album in 8, maybe 9 years. I remember being very let down.

Well it’s not Jay over sped up soul samples if that’s what you thought

Listen to it again and enjoy it for what it is

Its one of the classic albums of the 2010’s quintessential listening for that decade

 

[mobbinfms]

I already did:

Reasonable Doubt
The Blueprint
Watch The Throne
4:44

Are the indisputable ones...

In My Lifetime Vol 1
Vol 2 Hard Knock Life
The Black Album
American Gangster

Are the debatable ones, but I'd say they pass the bar of classic by the standards of some if the shyt I seen yall nikkas call classic around here. And if those four aren't classic, they are all four extremely close to that line...

What distinguishes a great Jay-Z album from a classic?
You realize that you’ve listed out every Jay album that’s considered great?

 

[mobbinfms]

Jay has 3 but there's an extra 2 with outside arguments

Which 3 and which 2?

 

[Shadow King]

Which 3 and which 2?

Reasonable Doubt
Blueprint
Black Album


American Gangster and 4:44 are his outside arguments

 

[mobbinfms]

Reasonable Doubt
Blueprint
Black Album


American Gangster and 4:44 are his outside arguments

RD and BP1 are universal consensus classics. TBA has a very strong argument.
AG would be next on the list for me as well, but I think 13 years later the consensus is that it’s nothing more than another great Jay album.
4:44 is too early to tell. My gut tells me it will likely fall in the same category as AG.

 

[mobbinfms]

RD is Jay’s best album to me. I think his second best album is actually Vol 1, but most people hate on that album.

 

[ISO]

RD and BP1 are universal consensus classics. TBA has a very strong argument.
AG would be next on the list for me as well, but I think 13 years later the consensus is that it’s nothing more than another great Jay album.
4:44 is too early to tell. My gut tells me it will likely fall in the same category as AG.

Vol. 2 got 4.5 Mics in the Source, moved 5M copies, had classic tracks from Hard Knock Life to Resevoir Dogs, launched Jay to superstardom, had a then record-setting tour, definitely one of the albums that defines that era.

Why it can't be a classic?

 

[mobbinfms]

Vol. 2 got 4.5 Mics in the Source, moved 5M copies, had classic tracks from Hard Knock Life to Resevoir Dogs, launched Jay to superstardom, had a then record-setting tour, definitely one of the albums that defines that era.

Why it can't be a classic?

It was the worst album of his career up to that point and had his worst rapping up to that point.
He was chasing the popular sound of the time (Tim and Swizz).