Jay Z was never the biggest rapper in any year that I remember

[45123]

Im not even gone say everyone on this list was the hottest rapper that year, but they were without a doubt hotter than Jay
96-Pac
97-Big
98-DMX
99-DMX
2000-Nelly
2001-Nelly
2002- Nelly
2003- 50
2004- 50
2005-50
2006-TI
2007-Kanye
2008- Wayne
2009-Wayne
2010-Wayne
2011- Drake
2012-Kendrick, Future
2013-Drake, Kendrick
2014-Drake
2015- Future

Who the fukk cares and why does it matter You telling me Nelly is better/hotter than Jay cuz he had some arbitrary pseudo reign for a year The Booth always concerns itself over the dumbest and most objective & arguable shyt. Go read a fukkin book yo

 

[Lifer11]

Interesting debate... remember that 321 song? Had the hottest rappers in the industry.. both p and x.. December 97

No knock on X.. he's in my top 10 all time.. P is not , but he is the most influential rap entrepreneur imo.

I definitely agree P is the most influential rap entrepreneur of all time, and the most respectable one. He's the only one who didn't cross over or "sell out" to the big corporations. I remember seeing Eddie Griffin say how P gave him a $1 million check for the Foolish script. That's love man, a lot of people would've tried to take advantage, and very few screen writers get that kind of money for a script, that was just P looking out for a fellow black man. I'm white but anyone should be able to appreciate P being a high character dude and taking care of people instead of taking advantage of them like so many people of every race in positions of power do.




Jump to 12:45 to hear him start talking about P. P gave him a personal check for a million $$ on the spot for the script. So dope.

 

[Patriarch]

Interesting debate... remember that 321 song? Had the hottest rappers in the industry.. both p and x.. December 97

I definitely agree P is the most influential rap entrepreneur of all time, and the most respectable one. He's the only one who didn't cross over or "sell out" to the big corporations. I remember seeing Eddie Griffin say how P gave him a $1 million check for the Foolish script. That's love man, a lot of people would've tried to take advantage, and very few screen writers get that kind of money for a script, that was just P looking out for a fellow black man. I'm white but anyone should be able to appreciate P being a high character dude and taking care of people instead of taking advantage of them like so many people of every race in positions of power do.

Yessir.. he really created the blueprint that independent labels follow today. Dude sold between 75-80 million records in a relatively short
period of time. Mercedes Rear End album made it to #12 on the charts. Even the most loyal no limit fan can't name one song of hers.

 

[ManBearPig]

U know Coli is in a really sad place when nikkaz downgrade Eminem's run in 2000 and in 2002 to support Nelly of all people...

 

[DrX]

jay never was really a powerhouse because his music, even his singles were always pure hiphop.....but jay didn't care because he understand how to generate revenue....so the he wasn't afraid to stay in his lane


kinda like tech9 except jay is way more versatile

 

[Pimp]

1998, 2006 and 2009 are easily arguable

and jay was pretty much top 2-5 in most years you listed... while half those rappers came and went

Summer 98 Master P The Last Don was huge. Hell that was No Limits year 22 albums they made 362 million that year.

 

[satam55]

Yeah, I agree with the OP.

 

[Gangstar8]

Eminem has never been the biggest among Black People...

Eminem is as much Hip Hop as Justin Timberlake is RnB...

But he was the biggest tho in those years

 

[Love Sosa]

This right here.

They always say Jay leaching off other artists, but act like he's the one making the call to hop on a song. This is fukkin Jay-Z...they the ones reaching out to him to get a feature. Up and coming rappers always dream of getting a Jay feature. Not the other way around.

This is irrelevant to Jay being the "biggest" rapper in any year though

 

[Lifer11]

U know Coli is in a really sad place when nikkaz downgrade Eminem's run in 2000 and in 2002 to support Nelly of all people...

Also 2001 has no mention of Jay and Nas, they didn't sell as much but come on was anyone running rap more than these two during the biggest, or 2nd biggest rap beef of all time, at a time that 2 of the GOATs dropped 2 absolute classics. I mean damn, the thread isn't titled who sold the most each year, it's the biggest rapper each year.

Jay and Nas should be 1a and 1b for 2001 and 2002. No one was even close to having the same impact they had at that time. Anyone arguing against that either didn't grow up at that time, or was from middle America listening to bullshyt pop/rap stations and watching TRL to get their rap news.

I mean Em and Nelly were debuting their songs on fukking TRL. Come on man, Jay and Nas were in the midst of one of the biggest stories in hip-hop history, and these dudes were on TRL, with Em dissing the fukking Backstreet Boys, Nsync, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera. Em is one of the best to do it, and Nelly had a hell of a commercial run, but 2001, really 98-2005 belonged to all East Coast/NYC artists, and 2001 especially was Jay and Nas hands down. Anyone arguing that I can't take their opinion serious.

 

[Lifer11]

You can tell the dudes who weren't in touch with the culture at all in the late 90s/early 2000s. Those album sales didn't dictate who was the biggest at the time. Street dudes didn't give a fukk about Eminem selling 10 million, TRL and teenage white girls did (I know I'm being a hypocrite cause he's on my list, but he was relevant just not the biggest name in rap regardless of selling the most), same with Nelly selling 8 million. So this is my list of the most relevant, and therefore truly the biggest rappers of the year from 98-2015. Sales were taken into account, but not the end all be all.

@Living Proof

As far as rap goes and real rap fans.

98-99 - DMX (It's Dark.. 98 and Flesh of My Flesh 99) // Jay-Z (Vol. 2 98 and Vol. 3 99) // Eminem (SSLP 99)

2000-01 - Jay (The Dynasty, The Blueprint-Takeover) // Nas (Stillmatic-Ether) // Eminem (MMLP)

2002 - Jay (BP2) // Nas (God's Son and The Lost Tapes) with 50 Cent on the come up // Eminem (Eminem Show)

2003 - Jay (Black Album) wash with 50 Cent (GRODT)

2004 - 50 Cent running the whole game, but Kanye arrived and made a big splash also (College Dropout) // Fabolous (Real Talk)

2005 - Kanye (Late Registration) // 50 Cent (The Massacre) // Jeezy (TM 101) // Weezy (The Carter II)

2006 - Weezy (Like Father Like Son) // TI (King)

2007 - Kanye (Graduation) // Jay (American Gangster) // TI (TI vs TIP)

2008 - Weezy (Carter 3) // Kanye (808s) // TI (Paper Trail)

2009 - Jay (BP3) // Weezy (No Ceilings Mixtape) with Drake making his debut (So Far Gone Mixtape) and Cole starting to bubble (The Warm Up)

2010 - Kanye (Dark Twisted Fantasy) // Weezy (I Am Not A Human Being & Rebirth) // Eminem (Recovery) and Drake (Thank Me Later) // Cole (FNL)

2011 - Jay and Kanye (WTT) // Drake (Take Care) // Meek & Kendrick starting to bubble with (Dreamchasers Mixtape) (Section.80)

2012- Kendrick (Good Kid m.A.A.d. City) // Meek (Dreams & Nightmares) (Dreamchasers 2 Mixtape) // Nas (Life is Good)

2013 - Drake (NWTS) // Cole (Born Sinner) // Jay (MCHG) // Eminem (MMLP2) //

***Honorable Mention 2013*** Show Some Love And Check It Out
Joey Camp (Disillusioned) -- Joey Camp ft. Young Chris (Rocafella/State Property) - Disillusioned LP - my boy's LP ft. Young Chris from State Prop that motherfukkers are sleeping on cause he's dope and his shyt was prophetic, sounds like he recorded it in 2014 and 2015 (also Cole got a copy of my boy's CD, listen to this and then find the parallels that Cole took from my boy's cd and used on 2014 FHD, hate if you want but listen to both and you'll hear them)

2014 - Cole (2014 Forest Hills Drive) // Drake just off some singles // Future Too Much To Name

2015 - Drake (IYRTITL, Charged Up, Back 2 Back, WATTBA) // Kendrick (To Pimp A Butterfly) // Future (DS2 & WATTBA) and PUT THE HATE ASIDE...Meek (DWMTM, Lost the beef but TONS of publicity, Wifed up Nicki) and Honorable Mention Young Thug, Fetty Wap,


I know I'm missing people please add on especially to the 2015 list

I know I missed Lupe's contributions, someone please add, and I'm not big on Future so fill me in on when his run really started, same with Fetty and Young Thug and whoever else I missed in that lane.

 

[ManBearPig]

Also 2001 has no mention of Jay and Nas, they didn't sell as much but come on was anyone running rap more than these two during the biggest, or 2nd biggest rap beef of all time, at a time that 2 of the GOATs dropped 2 absolute classics. I mean damn, the thread isn't titled who sold the most each year, it's the biggest rapper each year.

Jay and Nas should be 1a and 1b for 2001 and 2002. No one was even close to having the same impact they had at that time. Anyone arguing against that either didn't grow up at that time, or was from middle America listening to bullshyt pop/rap stations and watching TRL to get their rap news.

I mean Em and Nelly were debuting their songs on fukking TRL. Come on man, Jay and Nas were in the midst of one of the biggest stories in hip-hop history, and these dudes were on TRL, with Em dissing the fukking Backstreet Boys, Nsync, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera. Em is one of the best to do it, and Nelly had a hell of a commercial run, but 2001, really 98-2005 belonged to all East Coast/NYC artists, and 2001 especially was Jay and Nas hands down. Anyone arguing that I can't take their opinion serious.

2000 is Eminem's year and there is no way around that fact.

Like shaq in 2000

 

[Lifer11]

2000 is Eminem's year and there is no way around that fact.

Like shaq in 2000

Did I even once mention the year 2000? No I said 2001.

And you should check out my breakdown for biggest artist by year Em gets love on mine.


I tagged you in it all the names in bold are the biggest artists of the year IMO.

For clarity the 2000-01 breakdown is mainly Jay and Nas for 01 and Em for 2000.

 

[Big Boss]

 

[PHamm]

The #1 guy eventually falls off

DMX, Nelly, 50, TI, Wayne, Kanye all eventually fell off

Jay never really fell off

Ducktales. Jay fell off after 03