The G.O.A.T. - Part 2, Jay-Z

I actually bought this...

So in honor of Jay-Z's birthday, I decided to try a little harder to get this post done today...I've been working on this for a couple of weeks smh.

This is Part 2 of my Nas/Jay/Ghostface catalog comparison.  You can read Part 1 here, which focused on Nas.  Real talk, it was difficult for me not to review Jay-Z's discography first...as you might know, Jay-Z is my favorite rapper of all time.  I firmly believe dude is the G.O.A.T.  There's literally a Jay-Z line for any situation that you're in...there's probably also an entire song that relates to almost any situation you're in.  You want to talk album classics?  He's got those.  Classic songs?  He's got those.  Pop hits?  He's got those.  Real hip-hop shit?  He's got that.  Party shit?  He's got that.  Influence on rap?  He's got that.  Just...he's got everything you'd want, and THEN some.  Wifed Beyonce.  Worth nearly half a billion dollars.  Has his name and imprint on just about everything involving the Brooklyn Nets.  Campaigned with President Obama...like...

He's dapping the POTUS?!

Dawg.

In the immortal words of The Notorious B.I.G., "You never thought that hip-hop would take it this far."  We're really at the point where the President of the United FUCKING States is brushing his shoulder off.  Even if you disapprove of shit like unmanned drone strikes, a continued defense of the status quo on Wall Street and in politics, and whatever other shit you're mad at Barack for...that picture is dope.  Simply incredible.  Anyway, all of this is to say that I came into this post VERY biased toward Jay-Z, despite my love for both Nas and The Wu-Tang Clan.  It's something I've just accepted since The Black Album, when the machine really tried to cement his status as the best rapper alive.  HOWEVER, I have tried my hardest to keep an objective mind on this...so without further ado...

Like Combat said, when'd he drop the umlaut?

If you're a hip-hop head, you've at least HEARD of Reasonable Doubt.  Similar to Nas' Illmatic, there's literally nothing that I can say about RD that hasn't been said already.  I seriously only count one musical misstep on the album (I really don't like "Ain't No Nigga") and that record was pretty much responsible for Jay-Z's entry to the mainstream.  A track with Mary J. Blige BEFORE she started ruining everything she touched.  A track with B.I.G. before he died.  The "The World is Yours" sample.  "22 Twos."  "Friend or Foe."  Just...yea.  One of my favorite albums of all time.  A classic no matter which hip-hop head you talk to.  Arguably Jay's best album.  So...yea.


Rating: 5/5

Standouts: "D'Evils," "Brooklyn's Finest," "Regrets"

Bitten by others.

It's kinda difficult to imagine this, but Reasonable Doubt wasn't a great-selling album...Jay didn't craft radio hits for that album, and in a world where others were going platinum easily, Jay needed to move further to that side if he wanted to sell records.  The result of that was In My Lifetime, Vol. 1.  Whenever I discuss Jay-Z albums, this is the one that I'm always surprised that people dislike.  I wonder if people really listen to this album...out of 14 tracks (most of Jay's albums are 14 tracks for some reason), there are 3 bad tracks ("I Know What Girls Like," "Sunshine," and I guess you could argue "Lucky Me" or "Real Niggaz").  11 good-to-great tracks out of 14...that's generally pretty good territory, right?  However, for whatever reason (probably because of how "Sunshine" was really pushed out there), people really identify Vol. 1 with those bad tracks, rather than with "A Million and One/Rhyme No More," "Streets is Watching," or "Where I'm From."  Despite what people think about the album, I actually see Vol. 1 as one of Jay's more "street" albums.  And when I'm going down the list of "classic" Jay-Z tracks...I see about 4 of those on here.  Now the bad shit on this is...REALLY FUCKING BAD.  I'll never listen to "Sunshine" or "I Know What Girls Like" ever again...in fact, I'll be deleting them from my iTunes after this post.  Overall though, I have to say this was a very solid effort, even if it doesn't touch Reasonable Doubt.

Sidebar: The remix of "A Million and One Questions" is almost as dope as the original..."In the darkest nights, I let my gun off for light"

Rating: 4/5

Standouts: "A Million And One Questions/Rhyme No More," "You Must Love Me," "Where I'm From"

Not overdoing it.

Random note: my dad didn't let us listen to much rap...I remember Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" and Mase's "Feel So Good" on repeat, and a bunch of MC Hammer.  When I started rummaging through his CDs to see what shit I could take to school to listen to, I found Paid in Full and Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life.  I didn't really care back then (I was like 14 and didn't fuck with much outside of Backstreet Boys and Shania Twain), but looking back, this nigga was holding out!  It wasn't until I hit like 18 that I realized this guy had pretty decent taste in music...now I'm mad we didn't save the CDs and vinyl we had.  Moving on from that segue though, Vol. 2 marks Jay's transition into a "pop" rap artist.  If you thought Vol. 1 had commercial shit...prepare to be disappointed by Vol. 2.  Is there some dope shit on here?  Sure.  "Nigga Who" is full of rapid-fire flows from both Jay and Jaz.  Hearing Beanie Sigel, the LOX, and Sauce Money with Jay on "Reservoir Dogs" is dope!  I dunno though, I just don't like it overall.  I know it went 5 mill, I know he has the "Annie" sample...I don't care bro.  This is a weak album to me.  I only like around 8 of the tracks on here, which is a pretty low ratio for me and Jay-Z albums.  I will note that some interesting shit happens on this though...Jay really was sending shots Mase's way on "Ride or Die"...on a track produced by Bad Boy producer-turned-reality TV star Stevie J.  Anyway, count me among those Jay fans who didn't cop this.

Rating: 3/5

Standouts: "Nigga What, Nigga Who," "Reservoir Dogs," "Hard Knock Life"

Simple.

Unlike most Jay-Z fans that I encounter, I REALLY like Vol 3...The Life & Times of S. Carter.  From the start of the album, you know you're in for something different; "Hova Song" is probably one of the best intros by Jay, and Jay has some pretty fucking good intros (btw, I maintain that the "now watch how quickly I drop 50" line is a double entendre, referencing the Michael Jordan line AND how quickly he dismisses 50 in "It's Hot").  The very next track is another link up between Jay and Premo (one of the best combinations in hip-hop IMO), "So Ghetto."  After a very commercial album in Vol. 2, it's dope to hear something so hip-hop so early.  This is Jay in his full "street rapper/pop rapper" combo mode, so while we get the "So Ghetto" tracks, we also get "Big Pimpin" (which is still dope as fuck).  As far as toting the line between pop and street, I think Vol. 3 was probably Jay's best effort to date.  A lot of rappers can't make music that's just...easy to listen to but also dope.  I think a lot of it is production, but some of it is also the rapper...Jay-Z really hasn't had that problem in quite a while, and his ability to actually craft appealing music is evident on Vol. 3.  It's not all dope music though...there are some missteps typical of 90s music, like the track with Mariah Carey and the one with Juvenile, but for the most part, this is solid.  A little on the commercial side, but again, I don't think it's written in stone that good hip-hop can't have a commercial element.  One thing that really stuck out for me when listening to this is just how much Timbaland was on the album...dude really had a lane for a few good years hahahaha.

Rating: 4/5

Standouts: "NYMP," "Come and Get Me," "So Ghetto"

Now this...is dope.

It doesn't even feel right throwing this on here...did anyone ever really think this was a Jay-Z album?  Idk, it always felt like it was a compilation, then the nigga wanted to catch Elvis, so he made it his.  Some greedy nigga shit, lol.  Roc La Familia is notable in that it was the formal introduction of both Just Blaze and Kanye West to the mainstream rap world.  It marked the beginning of a reign that in some way has lasted even until today, with Just Blaze manufacturing hits like "Lord Knows" and "Compton," while Kanye has had his stamp on both his and Jay-Z's albums since 2000.  In addition to the two beatsmiths, this album also served as the initiation of Freeway!  How nice was Free's verse on "1-900-Hustler"?!  A staple with Jay albums is a dope intro...Just Blaze crafted a DOPE beat that you've heard recently if you've seen any of those NBA 2K13 commercials.  Even 12 years later, that shit bangs.  As more of a compilation album, I feel that Roc La Familia doesn't translate to Jay's greatest strengths...unlike a lot of rap artists, Jay doesn't really need features to help him carry a track.  That being said, the combination of Jay-Z and Beanie Sigel is so fucking dope!  To this day I'm still pissed that they had a falling out; I'd really like to hear more of the "street" Jay with Beans and Freeway on a future album.  When looking at bangers and commercial hits, this album definitely has plenty of those; "I Just Wanna Love U," "You, Me, Him, Her," "1-900-Hustler," the list goes on and on.  There are also more introspective moments in "Soon You'll Understand" and "This Can't Be Life."  Overall, this is a fairly solid album, but there are some definite missteps here; "Parking Lot Pimpin" and "Get Your Mind Right Mami" haven't gotten better with age.  This album is pretty much the best and worst of Vol. 2 and Vol. 3; lots of commercial tracks, good features, and some reaches that could have been done better.

Rating: 3.5/5

Standouts: "Soon You'll Understand," "1-900-Hustler," "Intro"

Smoking a cigar in a Rocawear jacket...

Every once in a while, an artist is able to create multiple classics.  Common struck gold more than once, crafting more than a couple of classic albums. You could argue that Nas crafted 2 or 3 classic albums.  Both Nas and Common routinely released albums 2 years apart...on one hand, it did build anticipation for the albums, and in Common's case, I think it really helped him create timeless material.  However, Jay's goal from the beginning was different; he wanted to be the King of Rap.  He never sold the records that Eminem or Tupac did.  He was never really considered the best pure rapper like a Nas or a Notorious B.I.G.  Furthermore, up until this point, he was never even really the King of New York; you could argue that Ma$e had it for a bit, Nas had it for a bit, DMX grabbed the game by the throat upon his arrival, and of course the Notorious B.I.G. ran it even after death.  The Blueprint really changed that for a lot of people.  Dropping on September 11, 2001, The Blueprint fought through the tragedy and has had its praises sang for over a decade...while not as lyrically deft as Reasonable Doubt (or even as focused), from the intro track, you knew you were in for a sonic journey.  Continuing from their momentum from Roc La Familia, Just Blaze, Kanye West, and Bink! produced quite possibly the best hip-hop album post-2000.  Even the commercial tracks flow perfectly and have a true hip-hop feel; this was a hip-hop moment.  Shit-talking, beef shit, introspective raps, party shit, pop hits, this album really had all of it.  He really had Slick Rick on an album that he recycled Slick Rick's rhymes on!  The only rap feature on there was Eminem, pointing to what I said about Roc La Familia; Jay doesn't need features to carry a classic album.  The album is damn near perfect, with the only real misstep being "Jigga that Nigga" IMO, and even that track is fly!  This is the first hip-hop album that I bought (albeit bootleg), so I'm a little biased, but this is a top 5 album for me.

Side thoughts that need to be included about this album: this obviously marked the official beginning of the Jay-Z/Nas beef, with "Takeover" featuring a single verse dedicated to shitting on Nas.  You can tell how comfortable Jay was with his spot in NYC hip-hop at this point, because he's really dismissive toward someone that he honestly had admired from the beginning.  I still get in Takeover/Ether arguments to this day, so I won't jump into that here, but with the next album you can see how "Ether" knocked the wind out of Jay's sails.

Rating: 5/5

Standouts: "All I Need," "Takeover," "Heart of the City (Ain't No Love)" but really, damn near every song is a standout.  These are my favorites.

Simple.

As I said in the Nas post, one of the hardest things to do as an artist is to follow-up a classic.  The Blueprint is an undeniable classic and was treated as such pretty much out the gate, so it would be Jay's hardest task to date to follow that.  Unlike the period after Reasonable Doubt, he had obtained substantial commercial success and was widely seen as one of the best rappers alive, so he had to step up and deliver.  Faced with this adversity, he delivered...the gift and the curse.  The album, The Blueprint 2: The Gift and The Curse, was aptly titled; it really was a tale of two albums to me (and it is a double disc album) and it represented that struggle to top a classic.  He simply did too much...The Gift does have its good moments; "Hovi Baby" still gets me hyped, "Poppin' Tags" is still dope as fuck, and "I Did It My Way" still bumps.  Overall though, we find Jay trying too hard to be commercial, with tracks like "The Bounce" and "'03 Bonnie and Clyde" (...Jay-Z and Beyonce have yet to produce a quality Jay-Z track IMO).  The Curse, on the other hand, has some GREAT work on it, with "Meet the Parents" and "Blueprint 2" at the top of the list for me.  Of course, there were missteps on The Curse as well...I could do without "2 Many Hoes" and I have a love/hate relationship with "Guns and Roses".  Overall though, if The Curse was released on its own, with "Hovi Baby," "Poppin' Tags," and "I Did It My Way" tossed in somewhere, it really would be a very good Jay-Z album.  However, as released, The Blueprint 2 is just too much, 25 tracks with around 8 of those being easily disposable.  It's really sad because the material is here for a great album, but after The Blueprint, I guess Jay-Z was feeling himself a little too much.


Necessary side thoughts Part 2:  Although the amount of material released initially made me think Jay was feeling cocky, when you really listen to both discs and consider what was going on at the time, I think Jay was feeling pretty vulnerable.  If you remember, on BP1 he had dropped "Takeover," one of the greatest diss tracks of all time, but Nas responded with an even more effective diss in "Ether."  When Jay responded with "Supa Ugly" (which is really one of the most disrespectful tracks I've ever heard lmao), he was lambasted for going too far and was told to apologize by his mother, etc.  I could see him thinking "wow, I can get called gay 20 times in a track but as soon as I go for the facts, I'M going too far?" and "Blueprint 2" really showcases that feeling.  I personally like the track (it's a favorite of mine), but I've heard others complain that he sounds very defensive, and when you listen to it objectively, you can understand those complaints.  The armor that he had when he dropped "Takeover" is all but gone; he's literally whining at one point ("I've been real all my life!") and there is little of the machismo that "Takeover" had.  The Blueprint 2 really shows Jay trying to salvage his title as King of NYC and just overdoing it; I think it's obvious that we get an entirely different album if Jay had unanimously won the beef with Nas.  After the Jay/Nas beef was settled, he pretty much kept away from responding directly to rappers, probably because he realized that punching down is never a good look.


Rating: 3.5/5

Standouts: "Bitches and Sisters," "Blueprint 2," "Meet the Parents"

Doesn't really try too hard, huh.

One thing I can say about Jay-Z...I can't say he's ever released back-to-back bad albums.  Really, none of the albums he had dropped to this point were bad per se, but he'd dropped some subpar albums for someone of his caliber.  After the sprawling disaster that was The Blueprint 2, he went back to what works for him; a 14 track-long album with excellent production.  When you break down the tracks on The Black Album, there actually are a couple of duds; do you REALLY like "Change Clothes" or "Moment of Clarity"? (btw can we keep Eminem far away from Jay-Z albums?  Just "go thatawaaaaaaay" Em)  Sometimes, though, an album is greater than the sum of its parts, and I think The Black Album is a perfect example of that.  It's almost completely commercial...there's no real shout-out to "real hip-hop" here outside of the lines in "Moment of Clarity" that explain his actions (you could argue "P.S.A." I suppose).  That being said, have you ever heard "What More Can I Say" and been like "yea, let's skip this and go to the next track"?  Probably not.  This is an album with a focus, and it's an album with HITS.  We really still have people doing the "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" shit almost 10 YEARS LATER.  The Blueprint is probably Jay's best mix of commercial and non-commercial hip-hop.  Reasonable Doubt is undoubtedly Jay's best non-commercial hip-hop album.  The Black Album is definitely Jay's best commercial effort.  Sales be damned, the best commercial rap from Jay appears on this album.  Whether it's "99 Problems" or "Dirt Off Your Shoulder," this was the album you really heard suburban kids bumping...it's also the one that you saw Jay performing at large venues and such.  Like I said earlier, I don't think a hip-hop album has to be devoid of commercial shit to be a great hip-hop album.  Are you going to deny "Public Service Announcement" because it comes after "99 Problems"?  I really hope not. I personally think this is a "situational classic."  I still can't really bring myself to call it a definite classic, but if you're looking for a template album, this is a template album.  If you're going to retire, this is the album you want to use as your base, IMO.  He really reminds you just how great he had been to date while also giving you new hits to remember him by.  In terms of rhymes, this is far from Jay's best work, but in terms of the overall packaging, this is a top 5 Jay album.


Rating: 4.5/5

Standouts: "Public Service Announcement," "What More Can I Say," "99 Problems"

...I actually bought this too.

The flip side of Jay's "I will never release back-to-back duds" is that he rarely releases back-to-back great albums either.  Really, despite my love for In My Lifetime, the closest he's come is probably the Vol. 3 to The Blueprint period, depending on how you feel about Roc La Familia.  This album, Kingdom Come, came out after a 3 year "retirement" that saw him working as Def Jam's president, giving us Rihanna, Young Jeezy, and Rick Ross among others.  We see Jay in a different place on this album, yet...he's still giving us a lot of the same shit.  I'll be honest; I'm a Superman fan, so after I heard the first single and heard the title of the album, I was pretty fucking hyped.  At the time that this album came out, I had finally jumped headfirst into hip-hop, and I was buying every major album that came out around then.  I copped Kingdom Come on the strength of Jay's name and the first single.  The beginning of the album features a familiar voice in Pain in da Ass, who had been on Jay's first 3 albums, and again, in Jay fashion, "The Prelude" is a pretty good track.  The tracks that follow, three straight Just Blaze tracks, are varying degrees of dope, and I was really feeling like I made a good decision in buying this album.  By the time I got to the Dr. Dre-produced "Lost One," I was calling it the best rap album of 2006.  Then I got to the rest of the album...some of the tracks really are good ("Do U Wanna Ride" and "Beach Chair"), but others are just...wtf? ("Anything" and "Hollywood")  "Trouble" is basically a much worse "Threats," and there was just something lacking in "Minority Report."  Overall, while most of the tracks aren't bad, they aren't Jay-Z caliber tracks, so it was just a disappointment. The release of an even worse Jay project kinda makes this one look better, but it's definitely not a top Jay-Z album.


Rating: 3/5

Standouts: "Lost Ones," "Oh My God," "Beach Chair"

The commercial made this look more dope.

Again, you'd be hard-pressed to find an artist who follows a pattern as well as Jay-Z does.  The year after releasing Kingdom Come to mixed reception, Jay-Z went back to the drug talk drawing board with American Gangster.  Described as a "concept album," it's not quite one IMO.  That being said, this is Jay's best overall work since The Blueprint.  It lacks the hits that make The Black Album a classic, but outside of the obligatory Lil Wayne feature (that dude was literally EVERYWHERE back then), there were no bad tracks.  This album was the soundtrack to a lot of random shit in a rough time in my life, so I really appreciate it in its entirety, from the dark sounds of "Pray" to the celebratory mood of "Roc Boys."  We find Jay spitting better bars than he had in quite some time, along with sustained production that (outside of "Hello Brooklyn 2.0" and "Ignorant Shit") really puts you back in that 70s/80s state of mind (especially for those of us who only really got to experience that through movies and such).  Considering the lack of focus on Kingdom Come, it's almost a surprise how focused Jay-Z is on this album.  It also makes me want to hear a Jay album produced solely by Puff and the Hitmen.  Really, if he didn't let Wayne on the album in exchange for dropping a verse on Wayne's album, this would be really close to a classic.  It's focused, fairly concise, and has a distinct sound that sets it apart from other albums of that year (and really the decade IMO).  As it is, it is a very good album, but not that 4th classic that a Jay-Z fan would have desired.


Rating: 4.5/5

Standouts: "No Hook," "Sweet," "Roc Boys"

It's just different...

Ah, the highly anticipated The Blueprint 3...while The Blueprint 2 wasn't exactly much to live up to, the original The Blueprint is an undeniable classic.  Considering how BP2 fell short of that, PLUS the very solid nature of American Gangster, it is understandable that Jay-Z fans were hopeful for a legendary album...the sort of album that would cement Jay as the G.O.A.T.  Instead...we got this, which in some ways is a rehash of Kingdom Come.  It starts off VERY well, with the first 7 tracks featuring a nice balance between lyrical and commercial rap ("Thank You" in particular is just a great track to me. Loads of wordplay.)  Then we get the Drake feature (like Wayne before him, Drake was popping up everywhere), some introspective tracks that I can't make myself like ("Forever Young," "A Star is Born," and "So Ambitious"), another terrible Jay/Beyonce track, and an absolutely horrid track in "Reminder."  I keep "Hate" as a love/hate guilty pleasure track since I fuck with ignorant Kanye, but it's really not a good track.  Some of the same issues that plagued BP2 and Kingdom Come afflict this album, with a steep dropoff from the beginning of the album to the middle/end of the album, and a lack of touch with the listeners.  I understand Jay's line in "On To The Next One," but if the alternative to listening to Jay's old albums is listening to "Venus vs. Mars," you'd better believe that I'm playing In My Lifetime on the iPod.  The second half of the album really comes across as a retirement sendoff, but unlike The Black Album, it just sounds really tired.  I'm actually laboring to type this while "Forever Young" plays in the background...it's just crazy to me that the same guy who did "My First Song" as a final track could believe "Forever Young" could fill a similar spot.  Just a disappointment considering the buildup, the singles, and really, the history of Jay-Z.  Overall, this is the worst Jay-Z album in my opinion...which hopefully means that the best of Jay-Z is yet to come.


Rating: 2.5/5

Standouts: "Thank You," "Already Home," "D.O.A."



So, I completed Jay-Z's discography.  Overall, it really cemented a lot of things for me...Jay-Z has HITS.  Not chart-topping hits, but if you're a hip-hop listener, you know what I mean by hits.  For whatever reason, it was difficult for him to tap into the same fan base that bought millions of 50 Cent albums or even Game's album (Game's debut really sold as much as Jay's best-selling album. Incredible), but I literally can't think of a rapper with more tracks to move a crowd than Jay-Z.  Unlike Nas, Jay's production is consistently good; I guess that when you help spark the careers of great beatsmiths, plus you maintain good relationships with others like Dr. Dre, the easiest part of crafting your projects is getting beats.  I also realized a couple of things...Jay is incredible in that on one hand, you have this pioneering artist who popularized new sounds, helped start and end trends, and is responsible for giving us multiple quality artists...but on the other hand, you can clearly tell when he's grabbing on to trends and trying to stay relevant.  For someone with such a catalog, it is disappointing to think that The Blueprint 3 is really the album that Jay-Z wanted to release at that time.  When I look at Kanye's catalog, I can see that he does whatever the fuck he wants.  After the success of Graduation, Kanye really just had carte blanche to do whatever he wanted creatively, and even before that he did things that other rappers weren't doing.  For the life of me, I can't understand why Jay-Z doesn't exercise that same creative freedom.  I think that lack of...unorthodox thinking is part of why J. Cole's debut album was so meh and why we still haven't gotten that Jay Electronica album.  Anyway, I'm rambling, so I'll get to the actual ratings and rankings.


Overall, I give Jay-Z's discography a 4/5.  He's got 3 classics by my count (RD, BP1, BA), with 2 albums being pretty close to classic (In My Lifetime, AG), but damn, he's got a pretty bad album (BP3).  Ironically, Nas' discography was pretty consistent; after Nastradamus, there weren't any terrible releases.  Jay's is a lot more bipolar, which shows in the number of 2.5-3.5 rated albums he has, so his legacy and reputation really relies on the number of hits he's created as well as the classics he's dropped.


Jay-Z's Top 5 Albums, IMO

Reasonable Doubt
The Blueprint
American Gangster
The Black Album
In My Lifetime, Vol. 1

The rating of his top 5 albums is 4.6/5.  Now that I've gotten this out of the way, I can enjoy a ton of Wu-Tang slang and shit.  I might even finish that one before New Year's Day, since I don't remember Ghostface releasing a double disc album.  Gotta say, there were some REALLY rough parts of Jay's catalog to get through...if I didn't already know that BP3 was the end, I don't think I could have gotten through it last night smh.