Battle of the Classic Albums: Jay-Z Versus Nas, Part One

Shawn Carter started out as a finesse, Mafioso rapper whose aim was to put his new business venture in Roc-A-Fella Records on the map by releasing his own album, seemingly as the only record that he would intend to record. Nasir Jones was a young 20-year-old from the projects in New York City who was seen as a prodigious upstart in the rap/hip-hop community; his street authenticity and amazing wisdom in his rhyming made others tout him as hip-hop's next messiah.

Now Jay-Z and Nas have become legends, living legends who have personified what it means to be the best, having given their fans many sides of themselves and many sounds of their evolutionary music for the past 13 years. There's no question that these artists are in the top five of the best all-time rappers in history (with many touting Jay as the best ever), and their album catalog speak wonders about their having been received by fans worldwide, but when it comes to classic albums, both share top honors. The question is: who has more classic albums? Here's a look at each of the artists and their top albums, in order from the earliest to latest year.

1994: Nas, Illmatic

Nas' Illmatic was a Nineties reinvention of what Eighties-era rap had been-raw lyrics over sample-heavy, rugged beats. Illmatic defined Nas' career in a way that was a gift and curse in his path to ascend to hip-hop royalty. With production from Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest, Pete Rock and L.E.S., the debut album was a major success, as said producers went on to proclaim of "Nasty Nas"' genius, as seen in album cuts such "Ain't Hard To Tell", "Halftime", "The World Is Mine". Because of this piece of work, it has been hard to say that Nas ever surpassed this timeless album 13 years later.

1996: Jay-Z, Reasonable Doubt

As the world's introduction to the man we know as "Jigga," "Jayhovah," "Young Hov," and the "God MC," Jay-Z came upon the rap scene as an unknown looking to put Roc-A-Fella Records on the map. Adopting a gangster mentality with a suave delivery, a la The Notorious B.I.G., Jay gave the rap a different look with honest street tales like "Can't Knock The Hustle", "Regrets" and "Politics As Usual". In the same way as Nas went, Jay's production on Reasonable Doubt was made with visionary producers, with DJ Ski and DJ Premier (who also produced on Nas' Illmatic) serving as Doubt's primary music technicians. While originally thought to be a one-and-done album for Hova's career, this was only the beginning for the Jiggaman.

1998: Jay-Z, Vol.2: Hard Knock Life

As the follow-up to Jay-Z's somewhat-forgettable Reasonable Doubt follow-up album in Vol. 1: In My Lifetime (1997), Young H.O. turned a LP that had masses excited, as Hard Knock Life's title track became the pop anthem for 1998 and 1999. Having gone to a more manic sound, Jay recruited the help of fellow Def Jam artists DMX, Redman and Ja Rule among others to assist him in making this successful record. With "Jigga What" and "Money, Cash, Hoes" becoming crossover hits beyond the rap world, Jay started to gain a name as a hip-hop heavyweight. Just as well, Jay (again) utilized the talents of producer DJ Premier, as well as getting help from the then-up-and-coming Swizz Beatz from Ruff Ryders Records, as well as the incomparable sonic wizard himself, Timbaland.

1999: Nas, I Am...

The I Am... album started out as a double album, but as fate had it, much of the album was leaked, requiring Nas to re-record and cut the original album in half to make it marketable to fans that had acquired the original copies. While suffering somewhat from a vision that wasn't truly realized in totality because of the unfortunate circumstances of bootlegging, Nas was still able to make a complete album that served as a "part one" to the later year's Nastradamus album. With the hit "Nas Is Like", the man formerly known as "Nasty Nas"-turned-"Nas Escobar" was re-adopted as a savior for what hip-hop purists deemed as true rap music. Other songs such as "We Will Survive" and "Dr. Knockboot" were underappreciated upon reception, but now serve as the album's highlights.

Score for classic albums in the Nineties: (tie) Jay-Z & Nas - 2 classic albums each