10 Reasons Nas Is Better Than Jay Z

BY DAMIEN SCOTT

It's now a tired discussion, but one that hasn't been definitively answered: Who's better: Queensbridge's prodigal son or Marcy's ambassador? The two have been at odds with one another since Nas reportedly flaked on a Reasonable Doubt recording session. They then entered into a back-and-forth that culminated in one of rap's greatest on-record beefs. A beef that produced some of each rapper's best work. It's also a beef that, according to Hot 97 listeners in 2001, Nas won. But when determining who's the better MC, we should start in 1994.

It was two years before Jay Z would drop his debut. It was the year when the Notorious B.I.G. would drop the highly anticipated Ready to Die. But, more importantly, it's the year when Nasir Jones dropped Illmatic, the culmination of his work with his mentor Large Professor and a bevy of the best producers available at the time: Q-Tip, DJ Premier, and Pete Rock. Lean, expertly produced, and preternaturally rapped, the 10-track project was given the then highly coveted five mic rating in The Source and would go down in history as the greatest rap album ever recorded. Despite himself releasing two albums that have been declared "classic" (Reasonable Doubt and The Blueprint), Jay Z has not released an album as good as Nas' debut.

It's not too difficult to surmise why: Jay Z has openly admitted to dumbing down his content to reach more listeners. Hov is a ruthless capitalist, a man who first sees bottom-lines and works backward in order to achieve his desired result. His goal, as he stated on record many times, was to become a multimillionaire many times over ("I'm raping Def Jam 'til I'm the Hundred-Million Man"). In order to accomplish that goal, Jay Z has trend-hopped his way through the years, adopting new flows, sounds, and styles from fresh talent. He hones his marketing acumen, figuring out new ways to bank off his image, even going so far as to fake retire.

Nas, for the most part, stayed true to himself. Sure, there was the whole Nastradamus fiasco, but everyone's allowed a misstep. Instead of borrowing flows, he refined the one he came in with. His flow is held in such high regard that newer rappers bragged about approximating it. Remember the opening to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy? There's a new NYC rapper who, though nice with the pen, is getting massive shine because people thought he was Nas. And at a time when older rappers are trying to figure out a way to gracefully age while staying hip to the new shit, Nas, as displayed on Life Is Good, is comfortable doing what feels comfortable to him. There's no Drake hook. No Hit-Boy beat. No European fashion on the cover. Just Nas. In 2014, that sounds like a win.

For more evidence of why Nas trumps Jay Z, watch the video for 10 Reasons Nas Is Better Than Jay Z.

Video: http://www.complex.com/tv/music/jay-z-vs-nas-10-reasons-nas-is-better#ooid=prd3FmcTpxpHcHn9P6H9UEWWnzZOvh47

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>It's now a tired discussion

I stopped right there, honestly.

If the rest of y'all want to have at it like a bunch of Civil War re-enactors, have fun. This is beyond dead horse material.

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>
>>It's now a tired discussion
>
>I stopped right there, honestly.
>
>If the rest of y'all want to have at it like a bunch of Civil
>War re-enactors, have fun. This is beyond dead horse
>material.

Come on fam, at least watch the video lol

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>Come on fam, at least watch the video lol

On a conference call, can't.

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began reading, and felt compelled to comment about it.

Therefore there's clearly *some* part of you that still cares about the topic, whether you're willing to admit it or not.

And I don't believe for a single second that you actually stopped after that first half-sentence. Not a single second.

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>Therefore there's *some* part of you that still cares, whether
>you're willing to admit it or not.

I only care as much as to say that anyone still arguing about this is better off trying to relive the Battle of Appamattox.

>And I don't believe for a single second that you actually
>stopped after that first half-sentence. Not a single second.

And you'd be wrong. Read the first half of the first sentence, stopped. Didn't know there was a video until Nick responded.

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>I only care as much as to say that anyone still arguing about
>this is better off trying to relive the Battle of Appamattox.

And how's that going for you ?


>And you'd be wrong. Read the first half of the first sentence,
>stopped. Didn't know there was a video until Nick responded.

Cool!

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__________________________

Jay: Look here homie, any nigga can get a hit record. This here is about respect.
Game: Like Gladys Knight.
Jay: Aretha Franklin.
Game: Word, I like her too.
Jay: Nigga...

where Jay lost the plot, even though they are being very lenient in some regards

the "Nas's State of Mind" > "Jay's State of Mind"
is audio ether

also, Life Is Good really does cast a mighty shadow over Jay's last couple of albums

>also, Life Is Good really does cast a mighty shadow over Jay's
>last couple of albums

but i wouldn't just say the last couple.

>also, Life Is Good really does cast a mighty shadow over Jay's
>last couple of albums
>
Very true

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i'd actually be surprised if they DIDN'T run that.

publications still nas/jayz beef-controlling in 2014!

Happy 50th D’Angelo: https://chrisp.bandcamp.com/track/d-50

http://www.complex.com/music/2014/11/jay-z-better-than-nas

"but in hindsight, it was just a personal attack on sexual orientation and looks."

Talk about cherry picking.

>"but in hindsight, it was just a personal attack on sexual
>orientation and looks."

people heard "Gay-Z and Cockafella" and stopped there

the general premise of "Ether":

"Jay-Z,
Your kingpin braggadocio is a bunch of bullshit.
You were side kick to Jaz, making records of little consequence
and riding coattails of other rappers until Big died and you
were crowned the de facto 'New York Guy' in rap music.
You quote too many lines from Big as if they were your own.
You tried to ride my coattails to success, but I refused.
You come off like an obssessive fan, who got mad because of my
refusals.
You suck.

Sincerely,
Nas"

This whole revisionist history of Ether being just sophomoric is disappointing

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I don't care about their personal lives. Nas is the better Rhymer, MC, lyricist, writer period.

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When Jay rolled over last night at 4 in the morning...

He grabbed Bee's soft golden but cheek ....


Im sure that made up for anything they could have said about him in that article

You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.

growing up listening to both of them, nas always sounded like 'one of the homies'; there's a humility to his style. Even his braggadocio (sp?) never seemed to be flaunted in the face of the listener.

Jay always came off as 'I always been above it all'. Like he never lost at anything.

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Even when Nas was "Nas Escobar" in his flossy phase, it was apparent he was just trying to keep up with the Jones' (no pun intended) of that era more than anything. He still gave glimpses that Nasty Nas was in there..

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Nas actually did trend-hop. But he trend-hopped *less* than Jay Z, I'll agree. But Nas trend-hopping was a big reason that he was left so open to get dissed on Takeover in the first place.

Nas has definitely aged more gracefully though. He made his mistakes earlier in his career and got past them quickly.

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Worst parts of Nas>Jay-Z:
- Saying Nas has remained consistent throughout his career. FALSE. Distant Relatives and Life is Good have done wonders for Nas' legacy. It's been said ad naseum, but things got awful shaky after "It Was Written." See also: their "aged gracefully" point.
- Bringing the "remain loyal to his mentor" dumb shit. Jaz didn't exactly remain loyal to Jay
- Using the old "The Streets say Nas won." That's a plea cop straight from Ja Rule's playbook.

Worst parts of the Jay>Nas:

- Counting awards. C'mon son.
- Using he's "a business, man". Nothing to do with music.
- His marriage to Beyonce. See above.
- Using the term "relevant." Still remains the dumbest term used to evaluate a career.

So yeah, both dumb. But I figure I'm the sucker for giving them the clicks.

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>Worst parts of Nas>Jay-Z:
>- Saying Nas has remained consistent throughout his career.

I think they mean that Nas has lyrically stayed consistent. He has had his share of slip ups artistsically and has had poor beat selection and executive producing at times but he has maintained consistency in his creativity and lyricism as far as how he attacks a song.

And I'm not saying he's as good on Come Get Me as he is on NY State of Mind but I think their point was to say he hasn't sacrificed the art of MCing nearly as much as Jay has.

As much as saying, that Nas' lyrical ability has remained consistent throughout his career. However, I'd also say, for the most part, that's true of Jay too. I'll grant that he's slipped a little from Blueprint 3 on, but before that his lyrical ability remained consistent.

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Jay was a much better lyricist on RD and Vol. 1 than he was for the rest of his career.

He's had peaks on other albums and I'd say as a full album, AG was probably his best since, but he has really watered down his shit to stay relevant. Even his flow and delivery has suffered for that reason in my opinion.

I'll add that I don't think he was ever on Nas' level lyrically.