Who has a better discography: Nas or Kendrick

[KillKenny]

Nas having a catalog that can match Kendrick's is pretty much a coli thing for old heads caught in nostalgia. But in general, when talking about who has the best catatalog from a quality angle, Kendrick clears and that might be the reason why ny nikkas are mad...the consensus is written in stone.

I agree, and I'm a Nas stan

 

[tehparadox]

And lol at this clown's argument, "bu bu but even though LIG didn't test the stand of time and has been forgotten, back in the day there was an argument for it to be the 2nd best album of the year after gkmc".

Well, moving the goal post uh? if it has been forgotten, maybe its because it wasn't that good? Also LIG has never been in the discussion for aoty, it's not even the 2nd most acclaimed rap album of 2012, thats RAP by Killer Mike that came at a distant 2nd place on end year lists. You forget these small discussions on THIS board, between nas fans, really don't mean shyt.

Like it's been said, if LIG was a kendrick album, it would be his weakest project, objectively. Not only all of kendrick albums have gotten better reception, but if we're talking ear test alone, kendrick never made an album as "weak" as LIG. It was a good album doe, don't get me wrong, just not on part with anything kendrick has put out from a pure objective standpoint. But feel free to subjectively enjoy it as the fan you are.

 

[JNew]

Even if nas only album was illmatic it still be leaps in front of Kendrick catalog

 

[UnQuantized]

Illmatic, It Was Written, Stillmatic, God's Son & Lost Tapes over any Kendrick Project. Nas at his best his the GOAT dead or alive.

 

[derro13]

Kendrick has higher highs, and no lows. Tpab pretty much better than anything in nas catalog.

 

[ThirdAct]

Kendrick and its not close to being close. The conversation these last few years for best discogaphy in hip hop has always been Kendrick Lamar, Outkast, Kanye West and Scarface.
All of kendrick albums rank from great to classics, while Nas has some really bad stuff.

I have never seen or heard anyone, outside of maybe thecoli, talks about Nas as one of the best catalogs in rap, never.
Kendrick has some of the best albums ever, so does Nas, but unlike Nas, Kendrick doesn't have any miss.

You could also have the argument that Nas has the most impactful album (illmatic), but Kendrick has the best album (to pimp a butterfly).

It's a lot closer than you are making it sound. You can call those who lean towards Nas nostalgia, but you can also say those lean closer Kenny have recency bias.

And this is coming from a Kendrick fan. He's clearly the premier rap artist of his generation and that's not even close. BUT is it also possible because he dropped two classics in a row that his fans overrated his projects after that?

I'm sorry but Damn and Mr. Morale are not classics. They are decent albums, but there's a drop in quality from GKMC to TPAB to those. It's actually funny because I think Kendrick's career actually has a similar trajectory to Nas career. Illmatic and IWW are the first two classics (like GKMC and TPAB), then there's a drop in consistency on I Am... and Nastradamus. Then he gets into a rap beef, wins the battle and comes back with that three punch combo of Stillmatic, The Lost Tapes and God's Son. Kendrick gets into a rap beef, wins it (although lets also be real, Jay is much tougher competition for Nas than Drake is for Kendrick lmao) and then drops a dope victory lap album in GNX.

And forget what other people say about Nas catalogue. "Oh this is common consensus" so what? What's your take? That's all that matters. And it can't be common consensus if Nas is consistently hailed as one of the greatest of all time. You don't get called that unless you have classics in your catalogue.

Finally TPAB is not better than Illmatic. Great album but it's too long and suffers from bloat. Illmatic = all killer no filler.

 

[Not Crodie]

Even if I was to reduce kendrick's catalog to his worst project to date, GKMC, I'd still go with Kendrick.

 

[Hum Alistair]

It's a lot closer than you are making it sound. You can call those who lean towards Nas nostalgia, but you can also say those lean closer Kenny have recency bias.

And this is coming from a Kendrick fan. He's clearly the premier rap artist of his generation and that's not even close. BUT is it also possible because he dropped two classics in a row that his fans overrated his projects after that?

I'm sorry but Damn and Mr. Morale are not classics. They are decent albums, but there's a drop in quality from GKMC to TPAB to those. It's actually funny because I think Kendrick's career actually has a similar trajectory to Nas career. Illmatic and IWW are the first two classics (like GKMC and TPAB), then there's a drop in consistency on I Am... and Nastradamus. Then he gets into a rap beef, wins the battle and comes back with that three punch combo of Stillmatic, The Lost Tapes and God's Son.

And forget what other people say about Nas catalogue. "Oh this is common consensus" so what? What's your take? That's all that matters. And it can't be common consensus if Nas is consistently hailed as one of the greatest of all time. You don't get called that unless you have classics in your catalogue.

Finally TPAB is not better than Illmatic. Great album but it's too long and suffers from bloat. Illmatic = all killer no filler.

Damn is a classic and it's not even debatable but shyt is so different than the rest that maybe, you personnally don't enjoy it?

Not Only DAMN is the 2nd highest rated rap album there is, in rap history, but it's also one of the most successful albums of the previous decade, on top of being the most decorated rap album ever in terms of rare awards that usually never get attributed to hip hop albums.
At this point it's fair to claim damn as the album with the best critical & commercial balance in hip hop, up there with Stankonia by Outkast.

All acclaim, awards and accolades aside, I believe it's one of the best musically composed rap albums I have ever heard, and I rank it higher than both GKMC and TPAB. I've seen more musicians analyze DAMN's music than TPAB, and those dudes weren't even Kendrick fans so nah, damn's praise ain't shyt to do with the fans.

As for the rest of your comment, you're just talking about your own enjoyment. That really has nothing to do when discussing an album's legacy and classic statut.
As for Illmatic vs TPAB, I don't see any filler on TPAB, and thats again very subjective, but what I see is tpab being a lot more respected than illmatic by music fans outside of rap.

 

[semicko82]

It's a lot closer than you are making it sound. You can call those who lean towards Nas nostalgia, but you can also say those lean closer Kenny have recency bias.

And this is coming from a Kendrick fan. He's clearly the premier rap artist of his generation and that's not even close. BUT is it also possible because he dropped two classics in a row that his fans overrated his projects after that?

I'm sorry but Damn and Mr. Morale are not classics. They are decent albums, but there's a drop in quality from GKMC to TPAB to those. It's actually funny because I think Kendrick's career actually has a similar trajectory to Nas career. Illmatic and IWW are the first two classics (like GKMC and TPAB), then there's a drop in consistency on I Am... and Nastradamus. Then he gets into a rap beef, wins the battle and comes back with that three punch combo of Stillmatic, The Lost Tapes and God's Son. Kendrick gets into a rap beef, wins it (although lets also be real, Jay is much tougher competition for Nas than Drake is for Kendrick lmao) and then drops a dope victory lap album in GNX.

And forget what other people say about Nas catalogue. "Oh this is common consensus" so what? What's your take? That's all that matters. And it can't be common consensus if Nas is consistently hailed as one of the greatest of all time. You don't get called that unless you have classics in your catalogue.

Finally TPAB is not better than Illmatic. Great album but it's too long and suffers from bloat. Illmatic = all killer no filler.

Mr. Morale while I enjoy it it's understandable why people wouldn't call it a classic, but DAMN is hands down a masterpiece

I can't listen to Humble by itself, but in the context of the album it's dope

That's the weakest song on the album and it still gets the crowd going crazy at any function

 

[ThirdAct]

Damn is a classic and it's not even debatable but shyt is so different than the rest that maybe, you personnally don't enjoy it?

Not Only DAMN is the 2nd highest rated rap album there is, in rap history, but it's also one of the most successful one of the previous decade, on top of being the most decorated rap album ever in terms of rare awards that usually never get attributed to hip hop albums.
At this point it's fair to claim damn as the album with the best critical & commercial balance in hip hop, up there with Stankonia by Outkast.

All acclaim, awards and accolades aside, I believe it's one of the best musically composed rap albums, and I rank it higher than both GKMC and TPAB.

As for the rest of your comment, you're just talking about your own enjoyment. That really has nothing to do when discussing an album's legacy and classic statut.

Like I said, Damn's a decent album, it's cool...but the second best rap album of all time?

I know it won a Pulitzer and all that but that feels like a hindsight award from white liberals because they didn't give it to TPAB, the more important album

Better than GKMC and TPAB? I can't agree at all

Personally the only GREAT songs on it are DNA, Feel, Fear and Duckworth

Other songs on it are cool. Yah, Loyalty, Love...cool vibes...but not much more. Personally I like when Kendrick goes conceptual/introspective. So the balancing of commerciality is a bit overhyped. Same shyt Nas was criticized for because heads were a lot more nitpicky in the 90's but in reality is Kendrick's joint with Rihanna any better than Nas song with Aaliyah? Not really.

Also since we're talking consensus it's consensus that Stankonia is not better than Outkast's first three albums even if it was most commercially successful

 

[ThirdAct]

Mr. Morale while I enjoy it it's understandable why people wouldn't call it a classic, but DAMN is hands down a masterpiece

I can't listen to Humble by itself, but in the context of the album it's dope

That's the weakest song on the album and it still gets the crowd going crazy at any function

I'd definitely take Humble over God which might be Kenny's worst song

 

[Hum Alistair]

Like I said, Damn's a decent album, it's cool...but the second best rap album of all time?

I know it won a Pulitzer and all that but that feels like a hindsight award from white liberals because they didn't give it to TPAB, the more important album

Better than GKMC and TPAB? I can't agree at all

Personally the only GREAT songs on it are DNA, Feel, Fear and Duckworth

Other songs on it are cool. Yah, Loyalty, Love...cool vibes...but not much more. Personally I like when Kendrick goes conceptual/introspective. So the balancing of commerciality is a bit overhyped. Same shyt Nas was criticized for because heads were a lot more nitpicky in the 90's but in reality is Kendrick's joint with Rihanna any better than Nas song with Aaliyah? Not really.

Also since we're talking consensus it's consensus that Stankonia is not better than Outkast's first three albums even if it was most commercially successful

Again. Just because you personnally don't enjoy it doesn't mean it's not seen as a masterpiece. You seem to have a hard time putting your subjective views aside when you talk about music.

It's ok if you can't agree, I think damn is better than tpab and much better than gkmc, but then again gkmc is at the bottom of my list. And for the record, your favorite songs on that album are my least fav joints.

Each and every kendrick album is being discussed as his possible best album. But when it comes to Nas, it's always illmatic. Now if illmatic was part of kendrick's catalog, it wouldn't even be the clear #1. That tells you everything you need to know.
The only fair comparison for Kendrick at this point is pre-TLOP Kanye West who also had people not agreeing on what his best album was.

Edit: DAMN is in my top 10 all time list, in any genre, and it's the only kendrick album on that list

 

[semicko82]

I'd definitely take Humble over God which might be Kenny's worst song

I'll raise you We Cry Together as K.Dot's worse song

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

I’m a Nas stan but Kendrick. Nas has some really bad/forgettable projects in the middle of his career

 

[Controversy]

Kendrick is a fake deep Hotep

Nas lyrics touch the soul, it ain't close