He made some amazing music. He can make a street/pop single like pretty much no other rapper or musician ever. People shyt on Vol 2, but shyt that sounded interesting when it came out. His late 90s/early 00s run was amazing.
Honestly my biggest problem with jay-z is that he somehow convinced the world that reasonable doubt was a classic 90s album. That whole media campaign to crown RD a musical masterpiece is so sad. Got a whole crop of new rappers saying that was their favorite album when you know that shyt wasnt true. You see it put on best of lists over OB4CL now.