Who has a better discography: Nas or Kendrick

[Kenzo Ten]

When it comes to disco, Kendrick is up there with the absolute best artists, not just in rap. Never seen that discussion taking place for Nas in my life lmao. Let's not rewrite history here.

You can have the argument that pretty much every kendrick album is better than anything Nas ever done outside of Illmatic.

 

[ThirdAct]

I'll raise you We Cry Together as K.Dot's worse song

Lol I guess my my taste is just different because We Cry Together is hard as fukk to me

Again. Just because you personnally don't enjoy it doesn't mean it's not seen as a masterpiece. You seem to have a hard time putting your subjective views aside when you talk about music.

It's ok if you can't agree, I think damn is better than tpab and much better than gkmc, but then again gkmc is at the bottom of my list. And for the record, your favorite songs on that album are my least fav joints.

Each and every kendrick album is being discussed as his possible best album. But when it comes to Nas, it's always illmatic. Now if illmatic was part of kendrick's catalog, it wouldn't even be the clear #1. That tells you everything you need to know.
The only fair comparison for Kendrick at this point is pre-TLOP Kanye West who also had people not agreeing on what his best album was.

Edit: DAMN is in my top 10 all time list, in any genre, and it's the only kendrick album on that list

But listening to music is inherently subjective. You preferring Damn over TPAB and GKMC is also highly subjective...agree to disagree I guess.

As far as Nas, I mean yeah, he came out of the gate with one of it not the GOAT rap album. Everything he does after is going to be judged by that. BUT he still has some great albums later in his career. shyt he's still dropping great albums even this late in the game.

 

[Hum Alistair]

Lol I guess my my taste is just different because We Cry Together is hard as fukk to me



But listening to music is inherently subjective. You preferring Damn over TPAB and GKMC is also highly subjective...agree to disagree I guess.

As far as Nas, I mean yeah, he came out of the gate with one of it not the GOAT rap album. Everything he does after is going to be judged by that. BUT he still has some great albums later in his career. shyt he's still dropping great albums even this late in the game.

Oh I absolutely agree with you, you enjoying tpab/gkmc more is subjective, just like me enjoying damn more than these 2 is subjective, I'll never refute that.

However, an album's legacy, classic statut and shyt like that is not subjective and can't be determined by an individual opinion. Thats exactly what I tried to show.

 

[Hum Alistair]

As far as Nas, I mean yeah, he came out of the gate with one of it not the GOAT rap album. Everything he does after is going to be judged by that. BUT he still has some great albums later in his career. shyt he's still dropping great albums even this late in the game.

I mean, I kinda disagree with that, A lot of artists didn't have that issue. We can take Kendrick as an example... many are now ranking his first major album (gkmc) as his weakest, despite the massive acclaim it got.

Same shyt for Kanye West, Outkast,,...whats their best album? there's no consensus, you see each and every project of them being praised as their #1, just like Kendrick.

I'd say the reason why Illmatic is the unanimous answer when talking about nas best album is because it's by far his most acclaimed project, from critics and fans. It also doesn't help that most Nas albums sound "similar" (same NY style).
On the other hand, artists like Kendrick, Kast, Kanye manage to reinvent themselves with each album, to the point where you could say each album was made for a difference audience and since all of their records get similar level of acclaim as their debut album, it's almost impossible to determine their best record.

When nas makes an album, you already know he gonna make it for the same Nas fans that been riding with him since day 1. Kendrick, Kanye? you don't even know, they might record a 100% funk album that rap fans might not enjoy but it would still be an elite album from a musical standpoint, praised as a masterpiece by the music/funk community. And while Some "rap" fans would argue GKMC/TPAB/DAMN/MBDTF/CD/LR are better, that funk album could still end up being their magnum opus, determined by the rest of the music community.

 

[Illmagic]

Again. Just because you personnally don't enjoy it doesn't mean it's not seen as a masterpiece. You seem to have a hard time putting your subjective views aside when you talk about music.

It's ok if you can't agree, I think damn is better than tpab and much better than gkmc, but then again gkmc is at the bottom of my list. And for the record, your favorite songs on that album are my least fav joints.

Each and every kendrick album is being discussed as his possible best album. But when it comes to Nas, it's always illmatic. Now if illmatic was part of kendrick's catalog, it wouldn't even be the clear #1. That tells you everything you need to know.
The only fair comparison for Kendrick at this point is pre-TLOP Kanye West who also had people not agreeing on what his best album was.

Edit: DAMN is in my top 10 all time list, in any genre, and it's the only kendrick album on that list

I think a big reason for that is Kendrick stans and the media overate everything he does. The idea that DAMN would be considered the 2nd greatest anything is hilarious. He won a Grammy for Mr Morale even though it wasn't even received well. Theres something very odd and artificial about the praise Kendrick has gotten in this stage of his career.

 

[Illmagic]

When it comes to disco, Kendrick is up there with the absolute best artists, not just in rap. Never seen that discussion taking place for Nas in my life lmao. Let's not rewrite history here.

You can have the argument that pretty much every kendrick album is better than anything Nas ever done outside of Illmatic.

Come on bruh

 

[Hum Alistair]

I think a big reason for that is Kendrick stans and the media overate everything he does. The idea that DAMN would be considered the 2nd greatest anything is hilarious. He won a Grammy for Mr Morale even though it wasn't even received well. Theres something very odd and artificial about the praise Kendrick has gotten in this stage of his career.

Morale has the universal acclaim, so it was well received... And like Charlamagne said, Mr Morale is actually Kendrick's most praised album after TPAB outside of rap music, which is clearly what he was targeting.

I personally don't see him being overrated because the praise he got from the media, is nowhere near as high as the praise he gets from people that have strong musical knowledge, lecturers, goat musicians and shyt like that, you know people that actually know music on a more technical level. Now the thing with Kendrick, as opposed to Nas, is that he doesn't really make his music just by himself. There's like 60/100 musicians all working on his albums. Same for Kanye's first 4/5 albums.

Kendrick is the dude we talk about the most within the rap community when discussion his music, but in other music communities, all his collaborators get as much praise as he gets. I've never seen that with a rapper like Nas, because at the end of the day Nas is mostly rapping over some beats, there's no real complex musical idea to catch on his records. That's not a critique though, he's great at what he does.

Edit: "The idea that DAMN would be considered the 2nd greatest anything is hilarious" Can give me a reason why? cuz as far as I'm concerned, I could also say that I can't name a single album better than this one and my comment would be just as valid as yours. How are you judging it? whats the metric?

 

[Nuuko]

I think a big reason for that is Kendrick stans and the media overate everything he does. The idea that DAMN would be considered the 2nd greatest anything is hilarious. He won a Grammy for Mr Morale even though it wasn't even received well. Theres something very odd and artificial about the praise Kendrick has gotten in this stage of his career.

Ehhh...Kendrick fans, including myself, have been very harsh about the album because it was his least acclaimed project, not because it wasn't acclaimed or well received at all...shyt is sitting on 85/100, 90% of rappers have never reached that score and I haven't heard a lot of albums better than this one if I'm being honest. Some rap fans didn't like it because a bunch of songs aren't even rap songs, but that doesn't mean they were great lol. Just because a rap fan doesn't like electronic doesn't mean the genre is bad.

Not only its critically acclaimed, it was a strong candidate for AOTY, and I say AOTY, meaning all genres being in the discussion.

 

[Budda]

Kendrick and its not close to being close. The conversation these last few years for best discogaphy in hip hop has always been Kendrick Lamar, Outkast, Kanye West and Scarface.
All of kendrick albums rank from great to classics, while Nas has some really bad stuff.

I have never seen or heard anyone, outside of maybe thecoli, talks about Nas as one of the best catalogs in rap, never.
Kendrick has some of the best albums ever, so does Nas, but unlike Nas, Kendrick doesn't have any miss.

You could also have the argument that Nas has the most impactful album (illmatic), but Kendrick has the best album (to pimp a butterfly).

You sound like you got limp wrists.

 

[Hum Alistair]

You sound like you got limp wrists.

Just relating the masses perception

 

[Budda]

Morale has the universal acclaim, so it was well received... And like Charlamagne said, Mr Morale is actually Kendrick's most praised album after TPAB outside of rap music, which is clearly what he was targeting.

I personally don't see him being overrated because the praise he got from the media, is nowhere near as high as the praise he gets from people that have strong musical knowledge, lecturers, goat musicians and shyt like that, you know people that actually know music on a more technical level. Now the thing with Kendrick, as opposed to Nas, is that he doesn't really make his music just by himself. There's like 60/100 musicians all working on his albums. Same for Kanye's first 4/5 albums.

Kendrick is the dude we talk about the most within the rap community when discussion his music, but in other music communities, all his collaborators get as much praise as he gets. I've never seen that with a rapper like Nas, because at the end of the day Nas is mostly rapping over some beats, there's no real complex musical idea to catch on his records. That's not a critique though, he's great at what he does.

Edit: "The idea that DAMN would be considered the 2nd greatest anything is hilarious" Can give me a reason why? cuz as far as I'm concerned, I could also say that I can't name a single album better than this one and my comment would be just as valid as yours. How are you judging it? whats the metric?

Kendrick rapping over beats too stupid, you acting like he’s making the beats himself get off his dikk, there is no grandiose musical ideas, Nas has some of the most creative concepts in rap history, he just doesn’t have the faux cac hipster love that Kendrick has always had.

 

[Hum Alistair]

Kendrick rapping over beats too stupid, you acting like he’s making the beats himself get off his dikk, there is no grandiose musical ideas, Nas has some of the most creative concepts in rap history, he just doesn’t have the faux cac hipster love that Kendrick has always had.

Kendrick isn't just rapping over beats no, and he does contribute to the production of his own albums. I didn't really care about this argument but since you wanna talk about it...

There is grandiose musical ideas, the same ideas that influenced the likes or Prince, Bowie or Herbie Hancock on their last album. Go have a chat with them

Not my fault if great musicians write books about the musical composition of kendrick albums and not Nas, but I guess you know what a grandiose musical idea is better than them

 

[krulesweatshirt]

I’m a Nas stan but Kendrick. Nas has some really bad/forgettable projects in the middle of his career

Also I'd say Nas is a better rapper but Kendrick a better musician, and that matters a lot when it comes to music. That's one of the main reasons Nas' catalog only makes noise within the rap circles

 

[Budda]

When it comes to disco, Kendrick is up there with the absolute best artists, not just in rap. Never seen that discussion taking place for Nas in my life lmao. Let's not rewrite history here.

You can have the argument that pretty much every kendrick album is better than anything Nas ever done outside of Illmatic.

You see this is just propaganda and what happens when Rap gets gentrifiedZ Why would Kendrick be up there with the beat absolute artists and not Nas? Does Kendrick play instruments? Does Kendrick have a great singing voice? Does he have loads of songwriting credits for other artist outside rap?

So where alone the line hip hop has been co-opted by a hipster cav adjacent crowd the type to post on KTT2 boards who hold everything Kanye and Kendrick do to a high standard because they’ve been told so by some music critics who would t even respect rap music if they were around in its infancy.

If you respect rap in its own merit you would need to exhalt Kendrick to a higher pedestal because he has rap albums with Jazz influences, when Nas was rapping on Ahmad Jamal samples why wasn’t you’re panties getting wet? When he was making concept tracks like Fetus, Undying Love, 2nd Childhood, I Gave Yoi Power why wasn’t that an example of literary prowess worthy of Pulitzer awards?

Nothing Kendrick is saying is more nuanced or complex, I guess you can give him extra credence for being that extra bit poppy but again when did we start critiquing someone for just wanting to be the best rapper they can be?

Also GNX is overrated as hell and Mr Morale is just an ok album.

 

[Budda]

Kendrick isn't just rapping over beats no, and he does contribute to the production of his own albums. I didn't really care about this argument but since you wanna talk about it...

There is grandiose musical ideas, the same ideas that influenced the likes or Prince, Bowie or Herbie Hancock on their last album. Go have a chat with them

Not my fault if great musicians write books about the musical composition of kendrick albums and not Nas, but I guess you know what a grandiose musical idea is better than them

They both contribute or have contributed to the production of their albums, I don’t need to have a chat with anyone I know jazz artists and House musicians personally influenced by Nas too, so fukking what.

TPAB is the only album you can even make that argument about, GKMC GNX are normal sounding great and in the case of GKMC great rap albums.