My name is Jeff Weiss and I approve of Zilla’s message.
So last weekend I was involved in a HEATED hip hop argument (as most hip hop arguments are). and one of the main points was my contention that Jay-Z is the greatest MC of all time. Of course, that opened up an entire can of worms. What do you base “the greatest of all-time” on? Lyrical skills? Style? Influence? Discography? Battles? Hit singles? Trends set? Stability and consistency? Ability to sleep with other rappers’ babies mamas?
For my money, Jay-Z annihilates Nas and Biggie in every category and since Biggie was murdered prematurely, I’m not going to instantly give him the crown just because not a single rapper can say a verse without name dropping Chris Wallace. Sorry folks, he died after Life After Death was finished. Do the math. Two great albums to Jay-Z’s three, so he’s done. (Blame Puffy. I, along with Voletta Wallace, Lil’ Cease, The Lox, Charli Baltimore, Lane “Un Rivera,” Faith Evans, the Harlem Boys Coir, Carrot Top, Dan Akroyd and Hank Gathers already have.)
What was left was an argument between myself and a Nas fan who will eat a plate of Nas-sponsored horse shit and tell himself that it’s hot apple pie (also known as Nastradamus). These Nas fans are the worst. I myself WORSHIP at the altar of Nasir Jones, but you can’t tell me I Am is a classic, or even above average for that matter. As Nas stans are wont to do, he wasn’t having any of that crazy objectivity/logic/common sense. bullshit. No, no no; he honestly believed “Rewind” was a better song than Jay-Z’s “U Don’t Know,” a song that kickstarted Just Blaze’s career and found Jay absolutely MURDERING the biggest banger of his career thus far.
Nasty Nas To Esco to Escobar, Now He is Nastragarbage
My overriding point was that yes, Nas is amazing. Nas has 2 great albums under his belt. He’s made some ridiculously outstanding songs. But Jay-Z makes better ALBUMS. So in order to scientifically prove it to the world, I decided to devise a log of Songs I Like Per Album (SILPA). This is highly scientific method that I created, (since I am brilliant) is a list of the studio albums released by Nas (Lost Tapes and QB’s Finest don’t count) and Jay-Z (those R. Kelly and Linkin Park CD’s don’t count). I then divided the number of Songs I Like Per Album (SILPA) by the total number of songs on the album and came up with a percentage.
I’ve been buying rap albums my whole life. After 5 listens, I know what songs I don’t like. Since rap albums always have WAY too many songs on them, I usually look at a rap album to be “good” if 50% of the album is skippable. For example, if Lloyd Banks has 18 tracks on his new album and I skip 9, then it’s an “average/good” album.
The breakdown:
0-10%= A Disaster of Epic Proportions (i.e. The Macho Man Randy Savage Album)
11-20%= The Artist Should Kill Themselves (most No Limit records fall into this rating)
21-30%= Putrid (The last few Eminem releases)
31-40%= Kind Crappy But Has It’s Moments
41-50%= Average/Good (80 percent of my CD collection)
51-60%= Very Good
61-70%= This Sh*t is Bangin
71-80%= Excellent
81-100%= Classic
Be A Man….A Macho Macho Man
Here’s the intense study that took me a mind-numbing 13 minutes and literally ten’s of clicks on Wikipedia to hook up:
Nas Songs I like Per Album (NSILPA):
Illmatic
Songs I Like: 8 out of 9 (PS. Sorry “One Time 4 Your Mind”)
SILPA Raint=88% (CLASSIC)
It Was Written
Songs I Like: 11 out of 15
SILPA Rating=73% (EXCELLENT)
I Am…
Songs I Like: 8 out of 16
SILPA Rating=50% (AVERAGE/GOOD)
Nastradamus
Songs I Like: 3 out of 15
SILPA Rating=20% (THE ARTIST SHOULD KILL HIMSELF)
Stillmatic
Songs I Like: 8 out of 14
SILPA Rating=57% (VERY GOOD)
God’s Son
Songs I Like: 4 out of 14
SILPA Rating=29% (PUTRID)
Street’s Disciple
Songs I Like: Disc one: 5 out of 12=42%
Songs I Like: Disc two: 5 out of 13=38%
SILPA Rating=40% (KINDA CRAPPY BUT HAS ITS MOMENTS)
Hip Hop is Dead
Songs I Like: 8 out of 16
SILPA Rating=50% (AVERAGE/GOOD)
SILPA Results: I like 51% of Nas songs per album (VERY GOOD)
Jay-Z Songs I Like Per Album (JSILPA)
Reasonable Doubt
Songs I Like: 14 out of 15 (PS. Sorry “Coming of Age”)
SILPA Rating=93% (CLASSIC)
Vol. 1 In My Lifetime…
Songs I Like: 7 out of 14
SILPA Rating=50% (AVERAGE/GOOD)
Vol. 2 Hard Knock Life
Songs I Like: 6 out of 14
SILPA Rating=43% (AVERAGE/GOOD)
Vol. 3 Life and Times of S. Carter
Songs I Like: 6 out of 15
SILPA Rating=40% (KINDA CRAPPY BUT HAS ITS MOMENTS)
The Dynasty: Roc La Familia
Songs I Like: 11 out of 16
SILPA Rating=69% (THIS SH*T IS BANGIN’)
Blueprint
Songs I Like: 12 out of 13 (PS. Sorry “H to the Izzo”)
SILPA Rating=92% (CLASSIC)
Blueprint 2: The Gift and the Curse
Songs I Like: Disc One: 5 out of 11=45%
Songs I Like: Disc Two: 4 out of 14=29%
SILPA Rating=36% (KINDA CRAPPY BUT HAS ITS MOMENTS)
The Black Album
Songs I Like: 11 out of 14
SILPA Rating=79% (EXCELLENT)
Kingdom Come
Songs I Like: 6 out of 14
SILPA Rating=43% (AVERAGE/GOOD)
SILPA RESULTS: I like 61% of Jay-Z songs per album (THIS SH*T IS BANGIN’)
As you can clearly see from my vastly detailed and phenomenally executed experiment, Jay-Z wins with an overall SILPA Rating of 61% (This Sh*t is Bangin’) for his recording career versus Nas’ score of 51% (Very Good). The overall trend for Jay-Z is that the less number of songs on each album he released, the better their chances of me liking more songs. I like 13 of 14 cuts on Reasonable Doubt compared to 9 of 25 cuts on Blueprint 2.
With Nas, who’s been wildly inconsistent with his beat selection post-It Was Written, I’ve never liked more than 8 songs on any album made since 1996. Even Jay-Z’s most statistically pathetic album Blueprint 2 with a score of 36% (Kinda Crappy But Has Its Moments) is still more tolerable than Nastradamus’ score of 20% (The Artist Should Kill Himself). And there you have it—science steps up to the plate and easily backs my argument that Jay-Z is the GOAT. Read it and weep, bitches.
Download:
MP3: Jay-Z-“U Don’t Know”
MP3: Jay-Z-“Hey Papi”
MP3: Nas-“Take It in Blood“
MP3: Nas-“NY State of Mind”
