Although both share(d) pinnacle hip hop popularity, how come Nas never mainstreamed as well as jay?

[Master Zik]

@ Nas couldn't do an AG or Dynasty. Yall +!*!*$ sound stupid. Youacting like everybody wasn't doing obviously better versions of AG in the 90s

AG is the poor man's RD, everybody know that and IWW is better than AG(coming from someone who isn't a fan of IWW).

This don't even got nothing to do with hating one person or the other. Just cuz Nas didn't do something doesn't mean he couldn't. Yall bringinup You Owe Me like Ol Man Jigga don't got trash commercial songs like Sunshine. Do the math, if a #*@+$ doesn't do a lot of commercial songs and youpick out the few ones that were bad nd then compare it to a rapper who's majority of music is dumb downed commercial music ofcourse it's going to looklike one can't do it as good.

 

[chozin87]

Sometimes I forget it's impossible to argue with these diehard Jay and Nas fans...

They're two different rappers, but as far as making music that MORE people like listening too. Sean Carter wins.

 

[Master Zik]

Originally Posted by chozin87

They're two different rappers, but as far as making music that MORE people like listening too. Sean Carter wins.

Did you even read the OP?

or you just assumed ppl werearguing over who made better commercial music?

 

[hiphopdoc09]

Yea tru that jay-z subject matter is more bragging, money cash %+%+, but to the people saying he is more "succesful"than nas because he completelysold out and got naked chicks all over his videos tryna get the white kids to buy it, yall act like it aint hundreds more rappers doing the same exact thingbut to a much much higher degree that cant even dream about the type of "success" that nas has acheived let alone jay-z so Its obviously more to itthan subject matter. And just so its known i believe that nas is just as good as a lyricist as anyone to ever do it but i do prefer jay-z, just my preference.For all yal sayin jay-z "sold out". If nas is an artist who prides himself on being a street poet with morals with super deep philisophicle lyricalswhos music is leaps and bounds more intelligent than that neanderthal jay-z, attempts to make u owe me etc. and fails even though he didnt do it alot than watdoes that make him?

 

[chozin87]

Originally Posted by Master Zik

Originally Posted by chozin87

They're two different rappers, but as far as making music that MORE people like listening too. Sean Carter wins.

Did you even read the OP?

or you just assumed ppl were arguing over who made better commercial music?

Yea...and he's wondering why Jay-Z has had more mainstream success. He's made more mainstream music. You know, more music that peopleother than rap fans and rappers will appreciate. Every artist has an audience, I think Nas sees his audience as the hood while Jay saw his as the world.

 

[Master Zik]

Originally Posted by chozin87

Originally Posted by Master Zik

Originally Posted by chozin87

They're two different rappers, but as far as making music that MORE people like listening too. Sean Carter wins.

Did you even read the OP?

or you just assumed ppl were arguing over who made better commercial music?

Yea...and he's wondering why Jay-Z has had more mainstream success. He's made more mainstream music. You know, more music that people other than rap fans and rappers will appreciate. Every artist has an audience, I think Nas sees his audience as the hood while Jay saw his as the world.

What I quoted did not reflect this reply

What I quotedsounds more like a reply to a "Who's makes better commercial music, Nas Or Ol Man Jigga" thread

 

[chozin87]

aight.

Kool.

 

[Jordan8]

JAY Z > NAS

 

[needsomejays]

Originally Posted by M16

Nas not entertaining ?

Maybe to white kids. Get out of here with that.

I'd rather hear Nastradamus than anything Jay did except RD.

so am i not white anymore since i find himentertaining?

 

[Master Zik]

Originally Posted by needsomejays

Originally Posted by M16

Nas not entertaining ?

Maybe to white kids. Get out of here with that.

I'd rather hear Nastradamus than anything Jay did except RD.

so am i not white anymore since i find him entertaining?

Guess not.

 

[mj4041]

swagger...

 

[m16]

Originally Posted by needsomejays

Originally Posted by M16

Nas not entertaining ?




Maybe to white kids. Get out of here with that.




I'd rather hear Nastradamus than anything Jay did except RD.

so am i not white anymore since i find him entertaining?

I didn't mean it like that. When I refer to "white kids" generally I'm talking about the teeny boppers (because face the facts, that'swho the majority of them are)

See:

Originally Posted by M16

There are ignorant rap fans of all races, but white teenagers are something like 70% + of all rap consumers (probably much higher IMO). It's also a fact that appealing to them (because they tend to be ignorant suburbanites just looking for a "hot beat" or MTV play) like Jay-Z did is how you get your sales and popularity up post '97. Nas's music was aimed more towards the urban crowd and he rarely deviated far beyond that with complete sell out garbage like Jay; and with albums like Untiled, a lot of his music is aimed specifically at urban minorities. Not something Kate and Tom in Idaho can blast in their new whip daddy bought them on the way to the tanning salon.

 

[SUSHI AND GRITS]

Cuz Jay wanted more... Nas was content. That's how I see it.

 

[bonafide hustla]

i aint read thru all this post but from reading a few of the early posts I think its funny that we got all of these scholarly hood dudes tryna to come off assome hip hop elitists and act like yall understanding !*#%!@ on a whole nother level. yall !*#%!@ aint that smart fambe serious. nas is rapping in the same english language, using the same words out of the same dictionary everybody else use

.

maybe if we talking to some low life idiots or bird brain females, but take those away and their irrelevant POV and we still have a debate here.

and nas obviously has concept songs and whatnot, but yall be talking like the !%$$ he raps is just so out of this world complex. its complex obviously butwhen dudes try to pull the "they just dont understand or they just aint gettin it" card its pretty annoying cuz it aint even an objective debate. its a cop out tactic

in particular this m16 character. i dont really be in and out of the music forums that deep but my man has made some of the wierdest comments ever. same catthat said any person who listens to drake is definitely homosexual and now saying he never met a person who is a knowledgeable rap fan that thinks jay >nas

. passing the issue off as fact

funniest part of it all is its all subjective. opinion. _s is off the wall.

oh and

at all the nas humanitarian talk. yea he obviously goes deeper(nh) but im questioning anybody who try to dismiss nas's braggadocio and swag talk.

end of the day i think they're a toss up based on preference. i think nas has by far shown better pure lyrical skills and i think jay has by far shown thebetter overall artist skills.

 

[acidicality]

Jay-Z just has more mass appeal and he's able to sell his music to a wider audience because he just can. Nas, on the other hand, does not. And I like Nas alot more than Jay-Z

 

[noslickremarks]

Originally Posted by OptimusPrimeAPhiA

"oh you wanna kick knowledge?" - Jay-Z

Nas flip-flops too much and I just realized this not too long...dude is making pro-black songs then going an making robbing anthems and club songs with B-words... not that it matters to me, but I realized why the average person might be turned off by that... He has always held himself to be an underdog, even when he arrived.

Jay always knew he was hot but didn't have to talk like he was an underdog. If you come in saying you won, who is going to doubt you much longer after that? Jay-Z is just consistent. The flow, the aura, the style, the lyrics, the voice, his connection to people...

edit

This is exactly why i cant listen to nas!!!!
His consistency in lyrical content is always out of whack.
Nas Sucks

 

[ninjahood]

at da end of da day Nas is better then jay-z.

doesn't mean jay-z isn't wining more though then Nas, cuz Jay-z hasn't took a L since ether...

 

[geegee]

Jay played the "game" better

 

[sir rob a lot]

Originally Posted by geegee

Jay played the "game" better

yup.

Jay fan checking in.

 

[jsindaa]

I absolutely hate when people say "Nas could do it if he wanted" well why the #$%# doesn't he then? The entire point of being signed IS to sellas much as possible...basically what you are saying is...Nas doesn't want to make money....that makes 0 sense. Jay is the most successful rapper ever for areason...and it dang sure ain't cuz he "dumbed down". He knew how to appeal to EVERYONE period.

 

[send one]

Nas doesn't want to make money
What makes you think he isn't?

Just cause he aint flashing it, doesn't mean he doesn't have it.

 

[njstress03]

I think its funni how must guys in here supporting nas are being pretty civil about their opinions but most the jayz fans are jus sayin nas sucks. Not a goodlook IMO. And about nas not being able to do a "dynasty" album, did u guys forget about the firm?

 

[Master Zik]

Originally Posted by JsindaA

I absolutely hate when people say "Nas could do it if he wanted" well why the #$%# doesn't he then? The entire point of being signed IS to sell as much as possible...basically what you are saying is...Nas doesn't want to make money....that makes 0 sense. Jay is the most successful rapper ever for a reason...and it dang sure ain't cuz he "dumbed down". He knew how to appeal to EVERYONE period.

Yall #%$#!! are confused. First you assume this is NaS' goal like he just wanted to be signed and that's it. It's already beenestablished Nas isn't that type of artist and the entire point of being an artist is expressing yourself throughyour music the way you want. Nas could go commercial but he chooses not to. He doesn't need to sell as much as possible, obviously. It's like youstrictly seeing rap music as a business and that's it.

You sound stupid. Yall dudes seem to be unable to rationalize and make sense out of things. For yall it's either one extreme or the other. Nas can'tmake the music he wants/keep his integrity and make money? You talking like he broke. Like cuz Ol Man Jigga is a multimillionaire and Nas isn't anywhereclose that he must be broke. You should eventually understand how dumb what your saying is. Nas aint have no problem doing him and going plat consistentlyuntil music sales across the board declined. You must have a short memory.

Ol Man Jiggas has said in interviews and his songs that he has dumbed down his music and it was so that he could appeal to everyone. How that line go again?"I wish I could rhyme like Common Sense but rhyming like Common don't make no cents" He has dumbed down his rhymes, consistently.

Also that's another thing why the %$!% do yall even care about who's making how muc money. That #@## don't affect you in anyway. I anything youshould be worried about the quality of his music and if it's losing any meaning.

At the end of the day artist integrity >

 

[hiphopdoc09]

Originally Posted by SEND ONE

Nas doesn't want to make money

What makes you think he isn't?

Just cause he aint flashing it, doesn't mean he doesn't have it.


Thats just the thing he does flash it, he brags just like every other rapper, he show up to award shows , photo shoots all that superstar %%$! with jewlery andfresh clothes so.....where are yal gettin this from

 

[m16]

Obviously Nas wants to make money, he just doing it while staying true to hip hop. For the most part.