Time To End The Narrative That Jay-Z Was Never The Top Rapper In The Game
- Thread starter Homeboy Runny-Ray
- Start date
Hold up...
I ain't never been a Jayz fan...
Bought 1 Jayz album my entire life...
And launched that shyt out of a moving vehicle that same day...
But you trying to tell me that some has said that there was a point in time when Jay's wasnt the top rapper in hip hop
I tell ppl to this day... the nikka was so big that anything he said or did became the thing to do, wear, drink, etc...
Any female that he would have wifed would have become top bytch... just like any alcohol he promoted
Jay-Z was a lot of people surrogate father. Followed any and everything in terms of trends, he made. Had cats abandoned X5's because it was "a baby mamma's car", had dudes wear button ups and throw away throwback jerseys in The Black Album era, first dude to use a throwback Annie sample, first MC to fully carry the torch of Biggie commercially after Ma$e retired abruptly, and had the rap game copy his entire swag. He was,more than a successful MC, he was a lot of people's prophet.......until Nas came back
rappers came and went, I've been here from the start 
Jay-Z was a lot of people surrogate father. Followed any and everything in terms of trends, he made. Had cats abandoned X5's because it was "a baby mamma's car", had dudes wear button ups and throw away throwback jerseys in The Black Album era, first dude to use a throwback Annie sample, first MC to fully carry the torch of Biggie commercially after Ma$e retired abruptly, and had the rap game copy his entire swag. He was,more than a successful MC, he was a lot of people's prophet.......until Nas came back
Everything u said 100%
He is the black man dream of a successful hustler, businessman.... that gets the "perfect" woman... then retires with a whole bunch of money...
This is the story that was being sold to all the young dudes... and women.
Young dudes be like him...young women find a dude like him.
Nas fans were always the opposite types.
That's really why there will always be a clash with those core fan bases.
Nas was like the "intelligent thug"... moving with principles... above material things, etc...
Obviously just another narrative but those 2 fan bases never really crossed over.
U either fukk with Jay, big.. and alot of other mainstream type commercial artist...
Or u fukk with nas and mobb deep and wu etc...
Losing the battle, BP2 flopping and 50 coming I think factored into Jay retiring. And yeah, he had been talking about retiring since RD, but he actually did it this time.
Ja and Meth and Red were 99 I think.
Jay is better than everyone on that list except Big and Pac.
I went in the Bay and you didn’t miss much. Maybe it was live if you had floor seats, but I was up in the nosebleeds
Small concert venues > stadiums
These are facts
In 98 X was bigger than Jay when IDAHIH dropped. Jay took the crown when Vol 2 dropped. At that point, Jay was the biggest rapper in the game period. Flesh had a huge first week, but didn’t have a big single and it didn’t come close to selling as much as Vol 2 which dropped three months prior. Jay still has the crown. Once And Then There Was X dropped, X was clearly bigger.
Superficial wealth with material success vs substance and gritty tales and enlightenment.
Like those mixtape cats of today that like Max B, who HATE the Nas types that talk about Black power, but loves the flashy shyt.
Jay Z is the black man that wants to be the black European. Wealth out the ass and cuffing up a light skinned woman with a billion dollar net worth. Thats why he was the father figure in the crack era.
Nas types are the ones that has their legacy solidified by remaining low key and making music the way he wants to. Thats why people still hype for his albums to drop, cause they match with people who have the older mindstates.
By late 2000 to early 2003, Hov was legit THE MC's MC. When X became predictable and his songs after his 3rd album were having less of an impact, Hov came in and dominated commercially as well as streetwise. Clear cut victory.
No one chose Jay Z when DMX was going hot.
Prodigy vs Jay in P’s prime would have been an entirely different battle.
And Jay started it with the “where you and your mans hung in every verse in your rhyme” line in 97.