This was the first album I've had to do away from my new girlfriend, since I had to go back home to work over the weekend. But we both listened to it separately.

This was one of the albums I was most excited going in for, honestly, because I knew and liked a lot of the commercial singles, and because I know it's quite a divisive one amongst the community, and I was excited to see where I'd stand on it. On first listen, I'd actually say it was one of his better albums. At first, I wasn't fully sold on the album tracks - my girlfriend really liked Thank You, but for me, five songs in, I was mostly invested in the singles, which I already knew.

I've got a weird relationship with D.O.A. - it's a good beat, but I find it a little annoying. The electric guitar is abrasive but I like the trumpet. I'm really not a fan of the chorus, but his rapping was alright. Low-key, though? I realised I was enjoying the song. You can sit and analyse what's working and what's not, but at the end of the day, I feel like you can just sort of choose to lay back and enjoy a song, even if there are criticisms your intellectual brain could make. I do find it a little corny, though, when anybody dedicates an entire song to a musical style they don't like. On this album, Hov suggests that anybody who wants his old shit should buy his old album. Why doesn't he just buy albums that don't have any Auto-Tune and leave that style alone for those of us who do enjoy it?

Run This Town is good. I want to say it's “obviously” good, but again, this is one that some people think is too commercial. Rihanna is a good singer. Kanye always seems to bring his best when he's on a Jay track. I am so excited for Watch the Throne. And the beat bangs. Honestly, maybe I love it for the reasons others hate it. It feels so big, and grand, and I love an anthem. This whole album does that really well, on the singles.

Speaking of anthems, I think the best song is Empire State of Mind. Maybe it's a basic pick. To me, it feels obvious. This is one of Jay’s defining songs and if I ever get the privilege of visiting New York, this will be the song I'm bumping first. Even though there are so many songs dedicated to that city. My second choice would be City of Gods by Fivio Foreign, Kanye West & Alicia Keys, so you can decide for yourself whether my taste is valid. One thing that's always struck me, Jay’s rapping on the last verse is good. Some of the lyrics throughout the song are a little bit cheap, I suppose, but there was a time when I only really knew his singles and features and I considered this to be one of his best verses. Having explored his whole discography, I think calling it “one of his best” would oversell it a tad, but I still think it's incredibly solid for what it is.

This is where we get into some more tracks I hadn't heard before. I don't remember loving Real As It Gets, but I do remember loving On To The Next One (which I already knew). To me, this was always just another Jay-Z song, but fuck, I've never connected with that beat before. Last night, when I was listening to the album, I think I really deeped just how good the production is. One of the best beats I've ever heard. Big up Swizz.

I remember liking Off That and struggling with whether it was playlist-worthy; I'd already sort of decided that these album cuts were not it - enjoyable enough as fodder to bridge the singles together - but A Star Is Born (the only single I didn't know) changed my mind. I don't know whether the album is genuinely stronger on the back half, or whether this song just loosened me up like a pickle jar, but I started to really enjoy every track after that.

I'm a J. Cole fan, and I was expecting a good verse - not on the level of his recent feature run, but young and hungry - but I left with a song that I thoroughly enjoyed, from the beat, to the chorus, to Jay’s rapping, too. I was a little mad at my girl, who'd already listened to this album, and had heard me hyping the J. Cole feature, for not warning me that this song was so much more than that.

Every song after that could be playlist-worthy, so now I've got another album to re-dive into. Her favourite, overall (not counting the ones she'd already heard), was Venus vs. Mars, which I honestly think is a very respectable pick. The lyrics were more interesting than normal, and from this point the tracks were all more musically enjoyable, I think.

Jay kept doing this shit where he'd pick a theme for a verse and stick to it, which was nice, because it meant even if he wasn't storytelling, his verses felt like more than just random collections of bars.

I remember Already Home being really good, and I remember Hate living up to my expectations. I hadn't expected another Run This Town, and I figured that this would be the more mediocre Kanye feature, which is why they'd chosen to bury it at track 12. It wasn't another Run This Town, but hearing them trade bars was fun, and the energy was infectious. Of course the beat was good. Yet another reason why I am so excited for Watch the Throne.

The last two tracks were probably playlist-worthy - again, I'd have to relisten - but by this point in the album, I don't feel I can say much about why. They were mostly good for the same reasons, so it would be redundant to explain it, but I didn't just feel like I was listening to the same song over and over, this album gave me some decent engagement. Perhaps it's because this is the first one I've done where I was locked in, with lyrics up, instead of cuddling her. Either way, I find the radio-friendly, conventional sounds of this considerably more enjoyable than some of the bleak gangster rap from earlier on, even if the production isn't as soulful.

Young Forever is the last one I knew, and it worked really well as an outro track. I don't know how people normally feel about this song, but I heard it before the Alphaville version, which my sister loves. I think a main draw of that song is that it's quite repetitive, and you can kind of sink into it, but I find that loses my interest, sometimes, so I like this version more - Jay-Z rapping breaks up that beautiful hook nicely, and it ends the album on a reflective note. I really want to play this for my sister, and see what she thinks.

I really enjoyed this album, and would rank it as one of his stronger records (though the weakest Blueprint). It's got me a whole lot more optimistic about Magna Carter, which is my last studio album before 4:44, which my interest is already piqued for. I don't really care if this is the consensus take or not, I'd rather enjoy music even if others hate it, and now I've found a new album I can put in my rotation.

This verse was way too crazy to be wasted on this song

So I've been seeing 50 Cent run his mouth lately about Jay never dominating the game and how Reasonable Doubt only charted at 23 blah blah blah. I know he's a troll but let's be honest for a second here, GRODT has to be one of the most overrated 'classics' in hip hop. It's a good album but mostly for the production and 50 has a talent with melodies and doing hooks. But lyrically? Very mid. I know it's not all about lyrics but I feel your lyrics need to be a little better if we're discussing classics.

Also, many of the songs didn't age well on GRODT. I'd argue that every single one of Jay's albums except MCHG, Blueprint 3 and Kingdom Come are better than GRODT.

Thoughts?

this thread wasnt allowed in hiphopheads for some reason

How were the Side pit tickets for the Yankee shows. Thinking about getting pit for LA, was it easy to get to the front? Was the view good, or was it annoying/obstructed when he wasn’t by your side?

Title, just looking for the best recordings, had some saved on YT but got removed.

What's Jay's best haircut? I just watched that freestyle at Roots Picnic, bro since when is that his hair??? Looks fucking awesome. Anyway he's been basically bald and he's had dreadlocks now he's got a fro? What's his best hairstyle

After all the hype and emails back and forth with Ticketmaster, the Yankee stadium exclusive is finally here. I expected the stadium on the cover or the promo artwork he used for the concerts. Showing up at night 1 and no one knew where to pick up the records was disappointing. For a while I thought I would end up with a refund, but they finally arrived. I like them and exclusive to the ticket holders who purchased them so I’m good with that.

Obviously a lot of people here consider Jay the greatest ever or near the top

My question is if Jay isn't the GOAT in your eyes what is the lowest spot he can be ranked?

Is he in your top 3?

Would it be inconceivable for you to rank him outside your top 5?

We got started on this one quite late, because we couldn't peel ourselves out of bed, but once we did, we went to the beach and listened to it in the same spot as The Black Album. I was curious going into this one. I didn't have super high expectations, because I'd never heard of it, but I also knew I was a fan of his later work, and could see myself enjoying a comeback. The first few albums were kind of interchangeable for me, and this was a whole new era, so I thought this might be one of the first ones to be either a step up or a step down, even if people talk about his earlier stuff more.

I have to say, I didn't come out of this one with all that much to say, but I have comments on a couple of tracks. The Prelude was really dope, and I remember saying I hope the whole album sounds like this. The beat was chill and there was more of a focus on rapping. The rest of the album did not sound like this, but I still have hope that 4:44 will. Plus, I really didn't mind the production. Oh My God’s beat was insane, particularly that outro, so I was okay with the next two tracks also being Just Blaze.

Honestly, the production on this album was one of its main draws, with Dr. Dre coming in after Just Blaze. Me and my girlfriend were both most excited for the Kanye track, although it wasn't the best on the album (I had also been craving a Beyoncé feature). 30 Something was good, though, as was I Made It.

This was the point I stood up and started to move. It was chilly and I put my hoodie on, and I started enjoying the album a lot more. This may be related - there's such an obvious reason for that correlation - but I do honestly believe that the music started getting better on the back half. Anything was fun, and must have been the most danceable track, and whilst Hollywood kind of slipped into the background, Beyoncé didn't disappoint.

I think the best song was Trouble, for its mixture of dope production and good rapping, but Dig a Hole was close. Finally, I spent the last two songs, Minority Report and Beach Chair waiting for the last song, 44 Four’s, as listed on Genius, but it turns out that was just Genius being Genius and it wasn't the last song. We checked it out anyway and it was on YouTube instead of Spotify, so of course it banged.

I would put this quite low in Jay-Z’s overall discography, but I still liked it, and it was nice that it wasn't shit. I'm hearing a clear difference between his street rap and his luxury rap, and I feel like this luxury shit could almost have a higher ceiling, because it's a very Hov-specific lane. I wasn't expecting American Gangster to be much more than this, but I've heard that it's a concept album and one of his better releases, which I like. It also has a Nas feature.

I’m not sure if anyone’s posted this but this is the current selection. Tried getting a s.carter cassette but couldn’t. FOG merch was pretty sick.

What are your favorite songs and least favorite songs from each album?

Mine:

RD: Dead Presidents/Ain’t No Nigga

Vol. 1: Lucky Me/I Know What Girls Like

Vol. 2: Nigga What/If I Should Die

Vol. 3: Come and Get Me/Things That U Do

Dynasty: This Can’t Be Life/Holla

BP: The Ruler’s Back/Jigga That Nigga

BP2: Hovi Baby/As One

TBA: Threat/Justify My Thug

KC: Kingdom Come/Hollywood

AG: I Know/American Gangster

BP3: Already Home/Hate

MCHG: fuckwithmeyouknowigotit/BBC

4:44: Caught Their Eyes/4:44