JAY-Z's personal ranking of his own albums

[So-Chi]

if the black album is a classic.
then, the first gunit group album is a classic.
with that said,.....
the black album is just a good record, just like the first g unit album.

real talk....
jay does not have a real official classic.
plus, his skillset fell off so bad.
he has no way to actually create a quality release.
when, if he actually wrote and kept his technical skills at the top of their ability.
he could easily make a classic if he was at his skills apex, in this climate.

sadly enough..he is nowhere near a skills apex, and is one of the biggest falloffs in rap history skillwise.


art barr

Reasonable Doubt ain't a classic, Barr?

 

[Jimmy ValenTime]

Vol. 1 is one of my fav from jay that a gutter hood album except for Like two songs ...


but its his list ...

 

[The_Third_Man]

vol.2 being classic

shyt was trash

Dynasty is Jay most underrated album

Vol.2 and 3 are his most overrated ones

 

[OG Talk]

Let's be real gator, and I respect you as a poster....but you tripping on why it isn't classic. Forget he didn't retire, he didn't sell drugs anymore and AG still had great material. Hell, how many rappers aren't slinging keys now (or ever) and still make great material? Some of these rappers ain't even able to get ass without paying for it but making pimp songs, so art ain't imitating life by any means in hip hop culture. That doesn't take from "Allure" being one of Jay's best songs as a whole. Doesn't hurt 99 problems, Encore, PSA, What More Can I Say all from being timeless bangers if not arguable classics. Justify my thug is basura though. If 90% of album is above average, you gotta consider it

I hear ya breh.. But in this case the context matters to me.. A classic album is more than just the sound..Its the impact and feeling around it..It also has to age well and have timeless material..

Things like that matter to me..If we find out 3 years from now that Kendrick wasn't really from Compton and GKMC was sometype of performance art he was performing as a NYU film student it would affect its quality and authenticity to me..

To be clear I never thought TBA was classic even before I knew the retirement was a gimmick so its not all about hindsight..

 

[DStyles]

Kingdom Come is more of a Sean Carter album rather than a Jay-Z album

My favorite Jay-Z album.


1. Reasonable DOubt
2. The Blueprint
3. American Gangster
4. Kingdom Come (Go back and listen to this album you dumb uneducated nikkas)
5. The Black Album
6. Vol. 2
7. the rest

 

[So-Chi]

I hear ya breh.. But in this case the context matters to me.. A classic album is more than just the sound..Its the impact and feeling around it..It also has to age well and have timeless material..

Things like that matter to me..If we find out 3 years from now that Kendrick wasn't really from Compton and GKMC was sometype of performance art he was performing as a NYU film student it would affect its quality and authenticity to me..

To be clear I never thought TBA was classic even before I knew the retirement was a gimmick so its not all about hindsight..

Understood...just difference of opinion. Salute for actual reasoning, breh.

 

[Headcase]

No way Vol 2 is classic... thats a 2 1/2 star album, maybe 3 if you wanna be generous.

Here's how I'd rank em

Reasonable Doubt (classic)
American Gangster (Classic)
The Blueprint (Near-classic)
The Black Album (Near-classic)
Vol. 1 (okay)
Blueprint 3 (average)
Magna Carter (average)
Blueprint 2 (average...would be his 5th best [after Black album] if it were one disc)
Vol. 2 (mediocre)
Kingdom Come (really mediocre)
Dynasty (wack)
Vol. 3 (total garbage)

 

[Art Barr]

Reasonable Doubt ain't a classic, Barr?

culturally on some real shyt,...NO.
how the fukk, will a culture thief re-write history.

art barr

 

[MiC]

How you talk about rewriting history then say the g unit album got a better response than black album

 

[OH SOHH TRILL]

You cats in here arguing with Art Barr

 

[Pop123]

reasonable doubt is the only thing in this idiot's collection that's close to a classic. "blueprint" had classic production, super subpar bars and song concepts. how can one ever objectively rate their own work? lol, this nikka man

 

[the cool]

can't wait for nas personal rankings, it might shut down the coli servers and set the record for most replies in one thread

 

[Homeboy Runny-Ray]

vol.2 being classic

shyt was trash

Dynasty is Jay most underrated album

Vol.2 and 3 are his most overrated ones

dynasty underrated? that's a coming-of-age and/or gateway album for a lot of '86-89 babies.

if anything, its overrated.

it is kind of underrated on the internet tho, now that you mention it.

I never got into that album like that.

 

[steadyrighteous]

LOL @ this Art Barr dude.

Thank God he's had the same avi and posting style since SOHH. I habitually skip reading his posts regardless of the topic or discussion, even back when I just lurked on SOHH without an account lol

 

[The_Third_Man]

dynasty underrated? that's a coming-of-age and/or gateway album for a lot of '86-89 babies.

if anything, its overrated.

it is kind of underrated on the internet tho, now that you mention it.

I never got into that album like that.

I heard a lot of people call it wack. But in reality, the Dynasty album gave birth to Just blaze and Kanye. Before that album, Jay had no real identity as far sound and production go.

the neptunes song was annoying but the album had some of hov best songs:

intro
Street is talking
1-900-hustla
this can't be life
squeeze first
Soon you'll understand
guilty until proven innocent
change the game
where have you been