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Nas has revitalized the GOAT discussion

Who is the GOAT

  • Total voters
    20
  • Poll closed .
Los216

Los216

The Game Is The Game
Over the past few years, Nas has changed up the GOAT convo. He was always in the top 5 discussion. I'm talking about the consensus and not just peoples personal opinions. The general consensus has always put Nas and Jay-Z in the top 5.

However.........We can sort of pin point a specific time period when both Nas and Jay-Z changed up. For Jay, it's pretty much been anything after American Gangster which many people would consider his last great album. This was his last album before he became Euro Jay lolololololololol

For Nas, you can make an argument that his post American Gangster timeline would probably start after Hip Hop is Dead or maybe Untitled. It's semantics but both of them pretty much went on similar paths after the 2008-2009 time period. They were both way more successful and couldn't really rap about the same shit they did when they first came out. Hence the Euro Jay tag.

The difference for me though is that Nas has been on a run since Life is Good that Jay-Z simply has not matched. Even Nas production has been much better than Jay during this time period. One of the arguments used against Nas when comparing him to Jay has been production but when was the last time Jay had better production than Nas? I would have to say American Gangster which to me was Jay-Z last great album.

So, if you consider the longevity of both rappers and the quality of their music, I think it's very fair to have Nas as the GOAT right now......

And no disrespect to any of the other rappers. The Pac's, Biggie's, Eminem's, Cube's, LL's, Snoop's. Those are really the only other rappers who can even enter the GOAT discussion when you consider all factors like skills, longevity, quality, appeal, success, influence.

Bottom line is that the GOAT discussion is really a 2 man race. It's Jay-Z and Nas and I have to say that Nas has a stronger case right now. I mean I feel like Nas can release a King's Disease III this year and a Premo produced album next year and that could pretty much seal it.

This is not a Jordan vs LeBron discussion. This isn't sports where the skills will diminish over time. These niggas will always have the ability to rap and make music. It just feels like that Nas is quite frankly the best that's ever done it all things considered.
 
I don't have a GOAT, I have a GOAT for each era and Jay Z is easily better than Nas to me just going off albums.

Nas to me, made the quintessential Hip Hop album with Illmatic, that clearly defines the ethos of Hip Hop.

But then after that it's a steady decline. He never recaptured what he did in Illmatic. Illmatic and It Was Written are great, the rest of his albums are varying degrees of mid. It's not bad, it's just uninspiring.

Whereas Jay Z peaked with the Blueprint and had peaks and valleys. Jay Z's last great album IMO was American gangster and I think that's his best album ever.

The rest of Jay Z's discography after American Gangster is varying degrees of mid and uninspiring as well.

But yeah, Jay Z is easily better to me.
 
Elzo69Renaissance said:
He been the goat bro
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I don't disagree with that. I also believe that Nas has been the GOAT. What I'm saying is that I don't think it's up for debate anymore like it was in the past.

Like, there was a time when you could reasonably make a case for a lot of rappers being the GOAT but I feel like Nas has pretty much cemented that shit.
 
Los216 said:
Over the past few years, Nas has changed up the GOAT convo. He was always in the top 5 discussion. I'm talking about the consensus and not just peoples personal opinions. The general consensus has always put Nas and Jay-Z in the top 5.

However.........We can sort of pin point a specific time period when both Nas and Jay-Z changed up. For Jay, it's pretty much been anything after American Gangster which many people would consider his last great album. This was his last album before he became Euro Jay lolololololololol

For Nas, you can make an argument that his post American Gangster timeline would probably start after Hip Hop is Dead or maybe Untitled. It's semantics but both of them pretty much went on similar paths after the 2008-2009 time period. They were both way more successful and couldn't really rap about the same shit they did when they first came out. Hence the Euro Jay tag.

The difference for me though is that Nas has been on a run since Life is Good that Jay-Z simply has not matched. Even Nas production has been much better than Jay during this time period. One of the arguments used against Nas when comparing him to Jay has been production but when was the last time Jay had better production than Nas? I would have to say American Gangster which to me was Jay-Z last great album.

So, if you consider the longevity of both rappers and the quality of their music, I think it's very fair to have Nas as the GOAT right now......

And no disrespect to any of the other rappers. The Pac's, Biggie's, Eminem's, Cube's, LL's, Snoop's. Those are really the only other rappers who can even enter the GOAT discussion when you consider all factors like skills, longevity, quality, appeal, success, influence.

Bottom line is that the GOAT discussion is really a 2 man race. It's Jay-Z and Nas and I have to say that Nas has a stronger case right now. I mean I feel like Nas can release a King's Disease III this year and a Premo produced album next year and that could pretty much seal it.

This is not a Jordan vs LeBron discussion. This isn't sports where the skills will diminish over time. These niggas will always have the ability to rap and make music. It just feels like that Nas is quite frankly the best that's ever done it all things considered.
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The problem is that Nas doesn't have any hits.

Jay Z could make a triple CD of club bangers that would have the dancefloor packed all night.

I've said it before and I'll say it again; Nas is better at rapping and Jay is better at making hits.
 
ZMaKEa said:
I don't have a GOAT, I have a GOAT for each era and Jay Z is easily better than Nas to me just going off albums.

Nas to me, made the quintessential Hip Hop album with Illmatic, that clearly defines the ethos of Hip Hop.

But then after that it's a steady decline. He never recaptured what he did in Illmatic. Illmatic and It Was Written are great, the rest of his albums are varying degrees of mid. It's not bad, it's just uninspiring.

Whereas Jay Z peaked with the Blueprint and had peaks and valleys. Jay Z's last great album IMO was American gangster and I think that's his best album ever.

The rest of Jay Z's discography after American Gangster is varying degrees of mid and uninspiring as well.

But yeah, Jay Z is easily better to me.
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It's funny how you can say Nas has been on a steady decline when he's probably been the best rapper in the last 2 years.

Like right now, who is the best rapper out and why is it not Nas?

King's Disease I and II, Magic, and he could easily drop another album this year.

Who is better than Nas right now and what does their resume look like?
 
Nas > Jay, post Jay's "retirements"

But this argument has been done so many times, it's honestly not worth the bandwidth to argue over.

It's a four-way tie for the GOAT: Big, Jay, Nas, Pac. Let's leave it at that. They all are the GOAT at one of the main categories to rank artists:

Greatest Lyricist: B.I.G.
Greatest Discography: Nas
Most Commercially Successful: Jay-Z
Greatest Legacy: Pac
 
5 Grand said:
The problem is that Nas doesn't have any hits.

Jay Z could make a triple CD of club bangers that would have the dancefloor packed all night.

I've said it before and I'll say it again; Nas is better at rapping and Jay is better at making hits.
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This take is a popular take that has taken on it's on life on the internet.

When people say that Nas doesn't have hits I think they largely live on the internet.

For example, I hear more Nas songs being played in arenas and sporting events than Jay-Z songs.
 
Los216 said:
This take is a popular take that has taken on it's on life on the internet.

When people say that Nas doesn't have hits I think they largely live on the internet.

For example, I hear more Nas songs being played in arenas and sporting events than Jay-Z songs.
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How about radio and nightclubs?
 
Mister B. said:
Nas > Jay, post Jay's "retirements"

But this argument has been done so many times, it's honestly not worth the bandwidth to argue over.

It's a four-way tie for the GOAT: Big, Jay, Nas, Pac. Let's leave it at that.
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I love Biggie and Pac, but Nas and Jay-z each released an Album in 1996. Pac dies that fall. Biggie died the following spring. Both Jay-z and Nas have continued to release music since the. Pac nor Big can be considered the GOAT because doing so would limit everyone's music to only the duration of their lives which were tragically cut short.

It sounds harsh but it's the truth.
 
Mister B. said:
Nas > Jay, post Jay's "retirements"

But this argument has been done so many times, it's honestly not worth the bandwidth to argue over.

It's a four-way tie for the GOAT: Big, Jay, Nas, Pac. Let's leave it at that. They all are the GOAT at one of the main categories to rank artists:

Greatest Lyricist: B.I.G.
Greatest Discography: Nas
Most Commercially Successful: Jay-Z
Greatest Legacy: Pac
Click to expand...
Big can’t be in that discussion bro
 
Between Nas and Jay-Z, which one has the most forgettable albums? For me it's easily Jay. Does Nas even have an album as terrible as Magna Carter Holy Grail and be honest, when was the last time you even remembered that Magna Carter Holy Grail was a thing? lololololololololol
 
Los216 said:
It's funny how you can say Nas has been on a steady decline when he's probably been the best rapper in the last 2 years.

Like right now, who is the best rapper out and why is it not Nas?

King's Disease I and II, Magic, and he could easily drop another album this year.

Who is better than Nas right now and what does their resume look like?
Click to expand...

Nas hasn't been the best rapper in the last two years. Nas new shit isn't even better than Stillmatic. It's cool though.

I don't think what Nas drops even matters to Hip Hop anymore, it's not his era.

Madonna out here still dropping albums, what she drops doesn't move a needle in the Pop world. It's the same with Nas.

Shit, lol, got damn Nelly dropped an album in 2021.

Once you are outside your era, and the young dudes are pushing the game forward, it's like Michael Jordan coming back with the Wizards.

It's cool to see, but it doesn't count.
 
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