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Originally Posted by CripwalkinK
I'm not denying that there are listeners who would listen to more mainstream music. I'm not hating on him for it either, I'm just being real, he's not as good of a lyricist today as he was now. Not taking anything away from his career though.Originally Posted by LuketheJediKnight
Originally Posted by CripwalkinK
Fair point but his beat selection was always good before legit mainstream success (see Reasonable Doubt and Hard Knock Life). You listen to Can't Knock The Hustle today, then listen to anything on the Blueprint 3 today and it's almost hard to believe Jay wrote like that lol. At the same time, I know he's only making music to sell records but it'd be nice to see a few dope verses (which I think we saw on WTT with 'New Day' and maybe another one-two songs).
Jay doesn't just make music for NT though. You know how many people who would rather listen to BP3 than RD? They are definitely out there.Gotta at least respect Jay's willingness to appeal to that sector of music listeners, while still incorporating lyricism into his tracks.
I know what you mean. Still, the hyper-lyrical hip-hop tracks doesn't sell or get as many spins in today's music environment - you gotta compromise somewhere. The best artists (Jay, Em, Ye, Drake etc.) who target the mainstream population are good at balancing mainstream appeal while maintaining the lyrical artform.