Jay Z

[superfraser]

I'm not into the rap scene. But appreciate what this man has done.

His mix up with linkin park got me interested.

Then I got the Grey album. It was alright.

After hearing DOA again today, I figured it's time to start my real Hova education.

I picked up The Black Album - obviously cause I'm familiar with it.

And Blueprint 3 - cause it's current.

But where should I go next? I know one or two of his albums are recognised as MUST HAVE rap albums. Which are they?

I'm thinking it'll be a couple of Reasonable Doubt, The Blueprint and The Black Album.. But point me in the right direction please..

 

[NitroFan]

There's already a Jay-Z thread, but Reasonable Doubt is his best album imo.

 

[Carl Hooper]

The Blueprint is good. The first one I mean.

The Ruler's Back, Takeover, Heart of the City, Song Cry.

I love it.

 

[Jimi]

Jaydiohead

 

[AndyLesPaul]

Jaydiohead

was just about to post that.

No Karma and Dirt Off Your Android are awesome.

 

[Jimi]

The whole thing is awesome.

[YOUTUBE]yk54ZeHlPRk[/YOUTUBE]

 

[plowking]

The Blueprint is good. The first one I mean.

The Ruler's Back, Takeover, Heart of the City, Song Cry.

I love it.

You mention Blueprint but you don't mention the best song on the CD; Renegade?

And to the OP, everything before the Blueprint III was listenable to, though BP III was absolute rubbish. Not one decent song on there.

 

[Carl Hooper]

You mention Blueprint but you don't mention the best song on the CD; Renegade?

And to the OP, everything before the Blueprint III was listenable to, though BP III was absolute rubbish. Not one decent song on there.

Renegade ft Eminem?

fk yeah. Forgot about that one, some reason I thought it was on the Black Album.

I love Renegade, Eminem's second verse is insane, first one pretty good as well.

 

[johnnyhoward]

Reasonable Doubt and Blueprint are daylight ahead of the rest of his albums, both are incredible (and I'm not a huge hip-hop fan).

Black Album and American Gangster are solid, but apart from that the rest of his albums are quite patchy (some even poor), with the occasional brilliant song. Only get those once you've exhausted his two masterpieces.

 

[plowking]

I'm not into the rap scene. But appreciate what this man has done.

His mix up with linkin park got me interested.

Then I got the Grey album. It was alright.

After hearing DOA again today, I figured it's time to start my real Hova education.

I picked up The Black Album - obviously cause I'm familiar with it.

And Blueprint 3 - cause it's current.

But where should I go next? I know one or two of his albums are recognised as MUST HAVE rap albums. Which are they?

I'm thinking it'll be a couple of Reasonable Doubt, The Blueprint and The Black Album.. But point me in the right direction please..

If you are looking to get into rap more, I'd suggest looking at Nas' albums. Especially Illmatic, It Was Written and Stillmatic.

 

[superfraser]

If you are looking to get into rap more, I'd suggest looking at Nas' albums. Especially Illmatic, It Was Written and Stillmatic.

Maybe when I'm done with Jay.

But right now Jay has me covered.

There was a bit about Nas in one of Jays raps. Not sure which.

Seemed to be paying him out about making 4 albums over 10 years and only 1 of them being good? (might have heard it wrong)

...That does make Nas more intriguing to me.

 

[buzzbuzz]

The Black Album is probably his pinnacle, but American Gangster isn't bad.

If you like Jay Z, check out Kanye's Education Trilogy: College Dropout, Late Registration and Graduation. In my opinion, even better than Hova. But you may already be into Yeezy.

 

[johnnyhoward]

Maybe when I'm done with Jay.

But right now Jay has me covered.

There was a bit about Nas in one of Jays raps. Not sure which.

Seemed to be paying him out about making 4 albums over 10 years and only 1 of them being good? (might have heard it wrong)

...That does make Nas more intriguing to me.

Around 2001 they both had a good beef, starting with some underground mixtape freestyles "H to the Omo" and "Super Ugly". After that Jay released the classic "Takeover" (the song you're referring to) which has some scathing lyrics set to the Doors' Five to One. Nas responded to that with the equally great "Ether" (which sampled 2Pac saying "**** Jay-Z").

Despite this beef, it shows how much the industry is concerned with money when you see that the two collaborated only a few short years later.

 

[plowking]

Around 2001 they both had a good beef, starting with some underground mixtape freestyles "H to the Omo" and "Super Ugly". After that Jay released the classic "Takeover" (the song you're referring to) which has some scathing lyrics set to the Doors' Five to One. Nas responded to that with the equally great "Ether" (which sampled 2Pac saying "**** Jay-Z").

Despite this beef, it shows how much the industry is concerned with money when you see that the two collaborated only a few short years later.

Takeover is no where near as good as Ether. Ether is 10 times better than any other diss songs those two made during the time of their beef. Ether is looked upon by many as the greatest diss song of all time.

Furthermore, Jay is always doing well on record sales, so he didn't really need Nas. All he does now is make more commercialized hits, so its easy for him to sell tracks all the time. Not that it's a bad thing, though it hasn't really worked apart from on the Blueprint and Black Album. Most of his stuff after that has been garbage. Like someone said, he only has 3 good albums; Reasonable Doubt (his greatest work), Blueprint (2nd) and the Black Album. After that there really is only horrible albums with a few major hits between them.

Nas has been far more consistent if you ask me. Plus Illmatic is the greatest rap album of all time.