Meccapolis ranks “Kings Of New York” from 1985 to 2024
- Thread starter Don Jesus
- Start date
Honestly Jay Becoming king of NY is one of the biggest upsets in history.
Biggie was king from 94-97 then he died tragically. If I asked you on March 10th of 1997 who is gonna be the next guy, most people would say Nas. He was coming off a hugely successful multi plat album and was gonna drop the hyped firm supergroup record produced by Dre and Trackmasters that year.
Jay was independent in 96 and his album went gold which was a success but nobody thought he was gonna cross over to this extent even with the Def Jam deal in 97. Dmx didn’t even get signed to def jam till 2 months after biggie died.
But by the end of the next year, Nas wasn’t even top 2 because Jay Z and DMX emerged as megastars in a way he never did.
Biggie was king from 94-97 then he died tragically. If I asked you on March 10th of 1997 who is gonna be the next guy, most people would say Nas. He was coming off a hugely successful multi plat album and was gonna drop the hyped firm supergroup record produced by Dre and Trackmasters that year.
Jay was independent in 96 and his album went gold which was a success but nobody thought he was gonna cross over to this extent even with the Def Jam deal in 97. Dmx didn’t even get signed to def jam till 2 months after biggie died.
But by the end of the next year, Nas wasn’t even top 2 because Jay Z and DMX emerged as megastars in a way he never did.
Metal Face
Superstar
after 50 gonna be a challenge 
Plankton
All Star
Nas wasn't making club records he made records for the streets. DMX had songs for the streets too like Stop Being Greedy and nikkaz Done Started Something but he had them club records with Get At Me Dog and Ruff Ryders Anthem along with the radio joint for the ladies with How's It Going Down. Nas didn't do songs for the ladies. Jay had Can I Get A and Money Cash Hoes. Then Ja Rule came with Holla Holla. Nas saw the club record wave and tried to jump on it with You Owe Me but that was by album 4 and wasn't Nas' lane.
after 50 gonna be a challenge
yup. Gonna be a lotta repeating names/folks that cats don't like, lotta "they wasn't bumping him in the streets/clubs".
he doing 4 names for each yeah, too?
They all made records for the streets. Volume 2 and IDAHIH are Street albums.
Nas hired the track masters because he wanted to get on the radio. They made big records for biggie and LL the previous 2 years and he wanted that success.
Funny that’s not consider “trend” or “wave hopping” though
First king of NY was Run
Devil Plisken…CMS
Veteran
Even though it was LL in 90-91 Shabba was definitely in the mix
Biggie was King of NY 1994-1997
What is your criteria? How does Nas get 96? Because Biggie didn’t drop? Biggie was the king the whole time.
Volume 2 Was more successful than any of the DMX albums from 98-99
Plankton
All Star
You obviously didn't pay attention to what I said. I literally said X made records for the streets but he had those records for the club's as well. You're bringing up radio, I didn't say radio,I said the clubs. LL and Biggie had club records too. Nas had zero club records on his first 2 albums. You brought up X and Jay becoming mega Stars and it was because of those club records that made that happen. Club records that attracted the white crowd and MTV crowd. Even Hate Me Now was too street. DMX had an energy filled song on the blockbuster movie Any Given Sunday with Al Pachino in 1999. Nas didn't have blockbuster placement.
