jay-z arrested for weapons. jay-z arrested for drugs. jay-z arrested for assault. oh yea...that's why he's cool though.
Kanye is better at producing music and making beats, while JayZ is better at rhymes. Entrepreneurship wise they both are incredibly good, personality (publically) wise JayZ is better while Kanye does stupid ****.
Production skills should be given far more weight than lyrical skills. After all, there are TONS of rappers none of you have even heard of that have insane lyrical skills. The same can't really be said on the production side.
Like you're not gonna rip Kanye either. Get outta here ... lol You seem pretty knowledge on things you don't care about though. Thats well roundedness.
Jay-Z really helped bring up Kanye and was the only one to give him a chance. Without Jay, no 'Ye...so i'm going to have to go with Jay-Z on this one. This isn't the only reason though. Jay-Z has truly established a legacy in the hip-hop world and music altogether, and he continues to put out great music. One of the GOAT's in my book. Also, some of you guy's are complete haters...Keshawn Johnson? Really?
My hip hop interests now tend to be PRODUCER-led and not rapper-led. So I'll vote Kanye on overall talent. Especially since Kanye has is OWN label now and not under Jay-Z's Rocafella label. I agree, Canibus is a top 5 skilled rapper but he just doesnt want his flows to mesh with production. He tries to outsmart himself way worse than Kanye. There's a couple handful of producers making music for 80% of the mainstream hip hop industry. And they all rotate around. And they lay production for underground rappers as well. There's arguments to be made that hip hop producers are on the low end of the production totem pole, being they always use samples and and have repetitive bars of beats.
Does anyone remember that Nas debuted as a guest under .... the group The Main Source? And he did his first solo under .... MC Serch of 3RD BASS's album? 3rd Bass and Main Source is BETTER than Nas I commented on that too, about how looking under a person's apprenticeship semi- downplays the overall image. But hardly no man is an island, its all about who you know in the entertainment world.
I can't really decide. I've never been a big fan of Jay-Z. I think he's probably the most overrated rapper of all time. The albums that people consider hip-hop classics (Reasonable Doubt, The Black Album, Blueprint), I consider to be slightly above average. On the other hand, Kanye is probably the most overrated musician of the last 5 years (especially his latest release). He does make some good beats, but his rhymes (while sometimes entertaining) leave a lot to be desired. I guess I'll go with Kanye, though I'm not really a big fan of either guy. I wouldn't put either in an all-time top 10 list of producers (Kanye) or MCs (Hova).
Yea Really. No one benefit more from Tupac and Biggie dying than J-Z he was not CLOSE to either of them. Never was. . .Never will be. He was a better business man. But not in artistic value . .. IMO [but to me Biggie wasnt close to Tupac . . . so go figure] Jay-Z main power is CONSISTANCY He makes what I think of as . . consistant B- to C+ music Nothing stands out one way or the other. The term I think of is. . Generic. Kanye will have some A+s but will have some D's too. Jay-Z being on the top of the game. . .so to speak speaks more to the overall quality of the art form than to his greatness. when you lower the bar . . . .It is easier to seem . . .Great. Jay-Z is like the ball player that gets into the hall of fame for having 10000 Pts, 3000 Rebound and 2000 Assist Great numbers to be sure. . .but he been in the league 20 years! more Steve LArgent than Jerry Rice . . . IMO Rocket River
Jay-Z is an entrepreneurial genius. His marketability is unquestioned, his status is mostly earned, his woman is the nubian queen, etc, etc. Its good to be Jay-Z. That being said, I always found him to be overrated. He's sort of like Nirvana to me, in the way that what he did was influential, and the way he did things was his way, but in the same breath, you can't deny that his appeal was more of a word of mouth thing, and not something people collectively all heard and decided upon of one free, unpolluted mind. I do not think of Jay-Z when I think of the greatest rappers of all time. Very much like a Steve Largent in a Jerry Rice world. I like that comparison.
I voted Kanye simply because I like his music better, even if Jay-Z has had a bigger impact, but I do want to mention, I'm incredibly excited for that possible Jay-Z/Kanye coheadlining tour they were talking about, and I hope it comes to Houston.
I had come up with an in depth counter argument until I read this statement. So basically, hip-hop of today=Keshawn Johnson. But you mentioned how his music is generic. Well, do you remember his first few albums, Reasonable doubt in particular (which is regarded as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time)? His sound was fresh, inspirational, and most importantly he shares stories about his life, experiences, hardships etc. which all led to success and riches. Well now that he has the riches (and the bi*tches)what does he really have to rap about? You have to give him credit because in a music era where some of the "hottest artists" put out that ONE popular single and then fade back to the bottom, Jay, after 20 YEARS continues to put out hot records that sell and people enjoy.
I do give him credit. . but this Greatest of All time stuff. ... I'm just not hearing any of that Rocket River
Impossible to compare these two, they are doing almost opposite things. Kanye is mainly a producer and Jay Z is mainly a rapper. Overall, it's also difficult to compare because Jay Z is near the end of his career, while Kanye is just getting started. At this specific point in time, I'd rather listen to a Kanye track than a Jay Z one, simply because Jay Z has appeared in some terrible songs whereas with Kanye's music there's almost always something enjoyable (funny lyrics, great beat, new idea, etc.). Kanye just surprises me more than Jay Z does right now.
I'm going with Kanye just because Jay-Z is married to one of the most annoying women on the planet. <iframe title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xia_gu356Pk" frameborder="0" allowFullScreen></iframe>
