S. Samuel
Rap mogul Jay Z has treated diehard hip-hop fans to a classic debate by ranking his solo albums from best to worst with comeback release Kingdom Come at the bottom of the list.
In honor of his 44th birthday, Jigga ranked his 12 solo efforts and offered some insight into each project’s position.
1. Reasonable Doubt (Classic) 2. The Blueprint (Classic) 3. The Black Album (Classic) 4. Vol. 2 (Classic) 5. American Gangster (4 1/2, cohesive) 6. Magna Carta (F*ckwit, Tom Ford, Oceans, Beach, On the Run, Grail) 7. Vol. 1 (Sunshine kills this album…f*ck… Streets, Where I’m from, You Must Love Me…) 8. BP3 (Sorry critics, it’s good. Empire (Gave Frank a run for his money)) 9. Dynasty (Intro alone…) 10. Vol. 3 (Pimp C verse alone… oh, So Ghetto) 11. BP2 (Too many songs. Fucking Guru and Hip Hop, ha) 12. Kingdom Come (First game back, don’t shoot me) (Life + Times)
During a rare Twitter Q&A last summer, Jay named Reasonable Doubt his top LP.
Jay-Z has finally revealed a secret he’s been keeping for decades … HE LOVES CAPTAIN CRUNCH … but only with crunch berries (duh). Jay went on a tweet-a-thon today … answering all sorts of fan questions, when one guy asked if he had a favorite cereal. Hova replied, “cap’n crunch growing up. I haven’t had cereal in a bit #factsonly]” … adding, “crunch berries tho.” Poor Franken Berry … Other things we learned … Jay thinks his new album is good, but not his best work — in fact, he says “it can fight for 4th [best album]” behind Reasonable Doubt, Blue Print Vol.1 and The Black Album. He was also asked if he still has 99 problems “or have they all been sorted?” Jay’s reply — #newrules new problems.” When asked if he owns a Picasso, Jay joked back … “no..my birthday is DEC 4 though.” Hope his pal Warren Buffet was paying attention … he’s about the only guy who can afford that kind of a gift. (TMZ)
Over the summer, producer Timbaland named Jay’s Magna Carta Holy Grail as his all-time best LP.
“This is the best Jay-Z album thus far… I told [Jay-Z], all The Blueprint albums, those were good, but this is your first big album for the new millennium,” Tim said in a video. “This is hip-hop at its finest — it’s gonna change hip-hop. Y’all gonna get in your car and be like, ‘This is a good a** album.'” (Revolt TV)
A couple years ago, Maybach Music Group’s Wale described Reasonable Doubt as a hip-hop classic.
“None of us have been able to create a critically-acclaimed album so to speak,” Wale said in an interview. “That was my goal to try to do that. I ain’t really into selling because I’m doing pretty good. I got records on the radio for the first time in my career. I’m just trying to make a classic album, something that you can put up there with [Jay-Z‘s 1996 debut] Reasonable Doubt and all the stuff that’s blasphemous to compare your work to now. Why can’t I say my album is just as good as Reasonable Doubt or I’m trying to beat Reasonable Doubt? That sh*t is blasphemous to say.” (XXL Mag)
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