Jay-Z vs. Nas: Who's Hotter- A rebuttal to a rebuttal
While on twitter earlier and conversing with some new hip hop heads/followers, my new blog about Jay vs Nas is RT'd about 25 times. Amid my re tweets I came across one of my new favorites to follow (@mr_genius23) who let myself ,along with another twitter friend, know that he not only adamantly disagreed with my blog but was also composing a rebuttal. This is my rebuttal to his counterargument.
In my previous post I mentioned how Jay has transformed himself from hustling in the project hallways to a business all together. Below is his response to this:
"I agree with the statement that Jay-Z is not selling drugs anymore and transformed himself into a business, but wasn’t Jay, not 2 years ago, rhyming about drug dealing/hustling on American Gangster? After the release of the critically panned Kingdom Come (an album of Jay’s that I enjoy), Jay-Z went right back to rhyming about drugs on the critically acclaimed American Gangster. Jay recently rhymed on BP3:"American Gangster was an album influenced by the movie, American Gangster. Saying that this album is proof of Jay being a backslider or regressing as an artist doesn't really cut it . The essence of this album was Frank Lucas. If we are going to approach this debate from a perspective of flip-flopping as an artist, Nas went from the struggling lyricist to "oochie wally wally" to the deep messiah of rap back to "you owe me". I agree that Jay has flipped his share of times and that Nas has been somewhat consistent but maybe that is why Nas has buried hip hop while Jay just outran Elvis with his number of #1 albums. Consistency is key to everything but growth.
"Jay’s career has seen great heights on a commercial scale, but his catalogue artistically has seen its share of duds. For an emcee to call themselves the greatest, should they not present their best effort on every album? When you look at both emcee’s catalogue, the odds are definitely in Nas’ favor as he has 5 arguable classic LPs (Illmatic,It Was Written, Stillmatic, The Lost Tapes & Untitled) while Jay has around 2-3 in Reasonable Doubt, The Blueprint and American Gangster."Regardless of the hype surrounding MJ's death, were all his albums number ones? no. Did he still sell out arenas and make musical history? yes. Comparing Nas' classics to Jay are once again, two hot pans on different stoves. Jay has had his duds, I can name one album in particular I was highly disappointed in as a fan. A good test for an artist is how strong their rebound is, so far Jay rebounds quick and strong. Nas puts out an album and then he disappears if it didn't do as well as he had wished for. Jay keeps showing his face and if the album flops, he goes in the kitchen and makes a new recipe. The beginning of the statement above says "Jay's career has seen great heights on a commercial scale"- that bothers my spirit. Commercial scale or not, Jay has managed to not only keep his existing fans from the era of Reasonable Doubt but has gained a whole new demographic that technically he is not supposed to reach. He made a collab ALBUM, not just a song, with Linkin Park. Linkin Park fans are now familiar with Jay. Nas fans are still Nas fans but where are the new ones? Isn't hip hop supposed to tell a story to those who haven't lived it and don't know about it? inform those not knowing? Aside from the new "fans" (I'm kind of cautious of calling them fans rather than instigators) that Ether brought along, Nas has been teaching the same class to the same students.
"At the end of the day, Jay-Z will have better numbers than Nas and will have enjoyed a better career than Nas due to the amount of records sold and money made, but when it comes to the essence that hip hop is and consistency in their respective catalogues, there is no comparison: Nas stands tall."Money made and records sold translates to fans consistently enjoying the product that the artist has put out. Nas last two albums have consistently stayed at Gold since being released (N- July 15,2008, Hip hop is dead- December 19, 2006 and the previous four albums have stayed at platinum). Jay has consistently transformed his style while keeping the same message, instead of hustling on the corners he hustles corporate america. The album that was mentioned as being such a flop, Kingdom Come, has gone 2x platinum since being released in 2006 and his four previous projects before that one are 2x platinum and ABOVE. This only proves that not only has his consistent fan base not strayed but he has a new generation learning about his earlier work and how he became who he is today.
"but to say Jay is a better artist or lyricist than Nas is flat out wrong imo"As an artist Jay has done one thing that Nas can't seem to achieve. He has grown. This is an industry that if you stay the same you lose and if you change you lose, Jay has mastered the art of changing while staying the same. I never said that lyrically Nas was inferior to Jay but in the bigger picture of artistry, Nas has fallen short..
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