Meccapolis ranks “Kings Of New York” from 1985 to 2024

[g-ice]

Jay sold more but Kingdom Come is universally seen as a weak album and Jay was forced to course correct with American Gangster.

Not disputing any of that breh

I literally called it a mid a couple of posts ago.

It was still considered a big moment because he fake retired and came back and was head breh in charge over at Def Jam.

Just the optics of it all.

 

[Ghostface Trillah]

Imma let you have it.. Rakim was the king of 87.. whoopty dooo

Just know he was opening for LL while he was.. smh

Mase was triple platinum opening for puff. DMX was out selling Jay-Z and opening up for him. 50 Cent was out selling Jay-Z and opening up for him. It doesn't mean what you want it to mean. It's not the barometer of NYC that artist A went and did a show with artist B in Kansas City and opened for him therefore he couldn't be the hottest thing in NYC. That not how it works.

 

[Kliq_Souf]

06, 07 was my prime high school and house party years
Unless you was a hiphop head (which I was at the time) Nas and Ghostface wasn’t no kings of anything. Shyt I played the hell out of Fishscale. But given the criteria, Ghost wasn’t king of NY by any means

In terms of NY, while the South was scorching hot, it was Fab, Jones, Juelz, D-Block mixtape records, French emerging… G-Unit was cooling off rapidly…

I could even see Busta getting 06
Even though the album was underwhelming, Touch It was such a monster joint…. Shyt was played so heavy that summer

 

[mikishere]

Nas had two MONSTER singles in 02 (One Mic and Made You Look) plus Gods Son and Lost Tapes. Not to mention riding high from defeating Jay the year prior.

No WAY he wasn’t KONY over Jay that year.

hey ma and oh boy blew both of the water

plus come home with me and the classic vol mixtapes dipset were dropping

had nas ducking his disses as well

 

[mikishere]

06, 07 was my prime high school and house party years
Unless you was a hiphop head (which I was at the time) Nas and Ghostface wasn’t no kings of anything. Shyt I played the hell out of Fishscale. But given the criteria, Ghost wasn’t king of NY by any means

In terms of NY, while the South was scorching hot, it was Fab, Jones, Juelz, D-Block mixtape records, French emerging… G-Unit was cooling off rapidly

this is true, but NY was definitely hyped as fukk for that jay return. the album was a huge disappointment but hes definitely in the convo if not KONY of 06. jimmy for sure is a strong contender as well, despite what the 50+ crowd will cry about in here. dude had jay of all people remix his hit record to diss him

 

[Whips-n-Chains]

No Rakim?

 

[Boonapalist]

Nas put out Hip Hop Is Dead which outsold Jeezy’s album first week when Jeezy was on radio claiming he’d outsell Nas. He had all of the culture debating the album title and the south publicly in their feelings.

Ghostface also deserves consideration. Fishscale was so successful that Jay asked him to cook up another album to have ready for the 4th quarter.

Putting Nas in the convo in 06? Really breh you gotta stop this

 

[Clapsteel O'Neal]

Jada KONY in '04 and Nas not KONY in '01 or '02, not one of them

This nicca stay putting out lists that are asscrack

 

[Figaro]

Jay-Z- 00 to 01
Nas - 02
50 - 03 to 05

I think this is more accurate.

Jay Z took a L in 01 but Blueprint was big enough for him to still claim the spot, plus Ether dropped in December.

Ja was big in 2000 for sure, his 2 singles were hits in the UK also but he weren’t taken serious enough for KONY talk if we keeping it real.

 

[Ziggiy]

Putting Nas in the convo in 06? Really breh you gotta stop this

Had the computers puting from his album title.



Debuted at number 1, the first time he’d done so since 1999

If Nas ain’t in the conversation for NEW YORK in 06 then neither should Cam or Jim.

 

[Kliq_Souf]

Had the computers puting from his album title.



Debuted at number 1, the first time he’d done so since 1999

If Nas ain’t in the conversation for NEW YORK in 06 then neither should Cam or Jim.

I would label Nas an underground king in 05-06, which is crazy given his stature at that point.
His mixtape and unreleased tracks were insane in that run… shyt he was probably the best NY rapper at the time next to Kiss

As commercial as this list is, I can’t call him the king of NY at any point past 2003 probably
HHID didn’t have any smashes

 

[prophecypro]

Jay or maybe P should have got it for 2000 and Nas for 2002

And you could argue Jay or 50 for 2003 even 04

 

[prophecypro]

by the way after like 2005 that King of New York shyt is gonna look real disputable and debatable other than Pop in 2019-20

Guaranteed we're gonna get weird shyt like Jim Jones for a hot single or A Boogie in the upcoming years

truth of the matter it was hard for someone to tick all the boxes after early 00s as NY didnt dictate the culture, and 50 kinda alienated and divided the city with the disses and it showed by 2009. Nicki was also doing a lot of pop shyt in her 2010s run its like Ja in 2000

 

[Street Knowledge]

hey ma and oh boy blew both of the water

plus come home with me and the classic vol mixtapes dipset were dropping

had nas ducking his disses as well

People wanna put Nas over Jay Z for 2001 but by the same logic camron has to be over Nas for 2002

 

[28 Gramz]

And you could argue Jay or 50 for 2003 even 04

No you couldn't. 50 had it 2003-07 with nobody else coming close.