BIG is probably the GOAT in terms of being the total package as a rapper. Flow, storytelling, versatility in both style and content, personality and charisma, presence, sense of humor, all that. Him and Pac was on a different level as far as every category added up. But we already got Nas getting inserted here so
BIG could do basically everything Jay is good at, better than Jay. At his peak Jay was more complex lyrically than BIG, but not better. BIG was so potent and economical lyrically. Like, Jay could never do a song like I Got A Story To Tell, with that effortless humor and cinematic quality to it. Jay never had better albums than RTD or LAD. Never had a song as universally loved as Juicy. Never had a commercial smash with doper verses than Hypnotize.
BIG reached heights musically by the age of 24 that Jay never did. And BIG was still getting better. Think about that. It's almost unfair to Jay. He dropped his debut, he was two years older than BIG was when he died. But Jay never had better albums, better songs, bigger hits, never sold more, none of that.