What is Jay-Z's best album?

Jay-Z is widely considered the GOAT of hip-hop, except for some nostalgic purists who still like to throw out old school names as contenders, and one editor who calls Eminem the greatetst rapper alive in order to stir up controversy.  The big discussion (at least on blogs and message boards) has now shifted from "Who's the greatest", to "Which album is the greatest's greatest"?

To answer that, I created a this-or-that style poll on Ning that pairs up Jay's albums against each other. I figure his best album will be the one that can beat all the others head-to-head. It worked for Lion-O, so why not with music?

Go and vote at JayZmusic.ning.com!

So far, the top winner is Reasonable Doubt, and the worst loser is the Best of Both Worlds 2. No surprises there, yet.

Comments

[Stephen]

Reasonable doubt was his best album in my opinion becase his lyrics were better in that time period. AND every track on the album was hot

[BigQinGA]

Jay Z is great, but not the greatest. He often bites, or recites Big (who is #2 to Scarface) and he only has three bona fide classics. Reasonable Doubt, the Black albumn, and his best LP, the first Blueprint.

[Hillarious Caliber]

Reasonable doubt for sure

[alday blue]

hova is good, but i think am the best, go check me out www.myspace.com/aldayblue. november 2007 , album titled " paper chase " produced by me and most of the best producers out there today. ALPHA RECORDS (C) 2006.

Thank you folks...

[Marcus G. Davenport]

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[Typewriter Mechanic]

Shameless plugs on blogs...that's so hip hop yo.

Getting back to the question, I don't think you can slice Jay Z's career into album specific one-offs. What makes him the greatest to a whole generation of kids of the overall picture you get from beginning to end. Although I'm about to drop some bold science here, it's kinda true: You can't just read one chapter from the bible. Jay touches on every generation of hip hop and still gives credit to the greats (a la pulling Heavy D, Rick Rubin, Kid Capri etc. onto tracks).

Show me one G Unit member or down south rapper who has the depth of character (aside from Scarface) in that realm and I'm listening. So here go my plugs (I'll keep 'em short):

Cut Chemist - Formerly of Jurassic 5, but coming with heat. New LP on the way out and it's not gonna hurt to have it in your collection. Think of 'em as today's DJ Muggs. Don't know Muggs? Can't do nuthin for ya man.
http://www.myspace.com/cutchemist

Blackstar - Get that one album. See why Jay name dropped Talib. See what Mos Def was about pre-Italian Job.
http://www.myspace.com/mosdef

The1Shanti - India ain't just call centers & curry shops. They got raw lyrics and this dude is bringin it.
http://www.myspace.com/the1shanti

Jin - Still a lot of mileage there. Not convinced he's out of steam - just needs a new crew to back 'em.
http://www.myspace.com/jinthaemcee

Holla @ my myspace yo.

[DPierce_05]

The First Blueprint, Then Reasonable Doubt, Then To Me Blueprint 2, Which Is Very Underrated

[DPierce_05]

The First Blueprint, Then Reasonable Doubt, Then To Me Blueprint 2, Which Is Very Underrated

[DPierce_05]

The First Blueprint, Then Reasonable Doubt, Then To Me Blueprint 2, Which Is Very Underrated

[DPierce_05]

The First Blueprint, Then Reasonable Doubt, Then To Me Blueprint 2, Which Is Very Underrated

[Royalty Free Beats For One Dollar]

Royalty Free Beats For One Dollar

At

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[quadrilli44]

yo jay z iz da best rapper alive be cuz u have 2 lissen 2 jay z lyrics and feel da truth dat he sez and u need 2 lissen 2 wut he sez like lil wayne he sez stuff loosely so dat u can not pay attention 2 it and still no wut heez sayin but da thing iz dat lil wayne's lyricz, u can git tired of them quick cuz people juss like hiz lyrics so much dat day juss keep rewindin dem, datz y da carta 3 suckz now and if u noticed lil wayne iz doin a lot uv mix tapes like da droughtz, heez werkin wit dj wite owl, and heez doin some new stuff but datz y 50 cent called him a slut cuz heez goin b hind utha rapperz backz and doin mix tapes and he even sed dat jay z iz da best rapper alive so i will stay wit jay z as da best rapper alive until im proven rong by some1 wit factz

[ZeD-6]

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[Sharingan]

i'd say Reasonable Doubt, coz bigige in brooklyn finest track. sure he bites other rappers, but his 1st LP is classic!!! He best freestyle i think. oh yeh fuck lil wayne...

[Tareq]

Yo, lemme just say that Eminem, at his best, is better than any rapper I've ever heard. Sorry hataz. And no song illustrates that better than Renegade, where Em and Jay collaborate and that white kid just CREAMS Jay in terms of flow, rhyme, and meaningful content. Peace.

[j.o]

Wow em does one track and he's better that jayz
Jay has at least 3 classic albums I want 2 say 4 and eminem has one and that's the slim shady lp anyway its reasonable doubt blueprint 1 black album american gangsta. The dynasty waz crazy. Then the blueprint 2 which is underrated then vol 1 and 2

[jj]

Jay-Z the best? Maybe. But is he widely considered the best? Fuck no. Jay-Z is widely considered to be in the top 10 or so, but in no way is he widely considered to be the best. I mean, I could name at least 5 rappers that I feel are/were better than Jigga. Pac, Big, Em, Rakim, and Nas. Now I have no problem with someone saying that Jay-Z is the best rapper, but if someone wants to make a ridiculous claim like "Jay-Z is widely considered the GOAT of hip-hop", then I must call bullshit.

[alex wehrenberg]

Hey Royalty Free Beats For One Dollar...

you basically just said one thing out of that whole "blizzard" of words, and that's "jay z as da best rapper alive," which you're not even certain of!

[Krazy]

1)Tupac-> Most inspirational rapper that ever lived.
2)Biggie-> Best flow, excellent lyrics, one smashing album.
3) Jay-Z-> Hip-hop Icon, much more than just a rapper he is a tycoon worth half a billion dollars! He is the most consistent rapper of all time, he has three classic albums,
3)Nas-> . Was an excellent MC, and he produced the greatest hip-hop album of all time Ilmatic.
5) Rakim-> Second best lyricist and MC of all time. He probably influenced all these artists that are ranked above him, and he probably had the greatest influence on hip-hop as a whole.

That is my own personal top 5, this is purely opinion and subjective. Everyone could have a different top 5 or different top 10, but I believe there a set of rappers (including the ones I listed above) that I consider "untouchables" meaning they have to be on the top 20 regardless of whether you like them or not.

[usa california]

well u must get that jay-z must be the best rapper cause the reasonable doubt album has been the best ever and i dare say jay z is the best ever

[Indy Dive]

It's funny how when people die other people are quick to say they're the best whether its raping acting whatever. I think that's bullshit. 2 pac and Big were dope possibly top five. Pac was not one of the dopest rappers but one of the greatest artist. He made great songs and had one of the illest voices and deliveries. Big's voice and wordplay was dope but only had two real albums but they both were classics. Big was better than Pac and Jay is a better all around artist than both and
hella consistant.

[K.Webb]

yo alex wehrenberg. you say big had "one smashing album" as if it was the only good album out of many. dont forget that he only released one other album... but was killed before the release. And i consider it to be equally as great as the first. Dont try to sound so ignorant next time...

[George S]

It's very hard for me to say who the greatest rapper is because there are many great ones. However at present Sean Carter aka HOV,Gigga or JZ is the man at the moment. My five favorite rappers are Ice Cube-Scarface-BigDaddyKane-Luduacris and LL Cool J.

[Jake]

The Blueprint track for track crack music

[Vegas]

Well looking at consistency, Influence, and powerhouse movement, Jay Z takes it, he is compared to BIG, Tupac and sometimes Nas and Em... If u compared with the best it can only mean u the best and the biting thing, come on... Reasonable Doubt had no BIG lyrics and u cant tell me he made 11 number one selling albums from BIG lyrics, and if he says a BIG verse, he is only bigging up his brother...

[clemente]

My Fav album is The Blueprint 1, second would be In my lifetime vol. 1 along with reasonable doubt.

[I am Hip Hop]

Jay Z was good his time... Have yall checked out that Blueprint 3.... It aint that bad... But goes to show how watered down he is these days.. Reasonable Doubt is one of my favorite CD's though.