Nas has incredibly poetic lyrics. Eminem has smart, complex lyrics. Biggie had an amazing delivery style. Pac touched people like no one else. But nobody, nobody flows like Jay-z. His style is extremely complex, changes direction several times in one verse, and yet comes out perfectly. With just about every other living rapper out there, you can basically anticipate the rhyme scheme. Yes, Nas and Eminem are incredible lyricists, but their rhyme delivery is still generally the structured A-B, A-B pattern with some variations that make each artist unique. But with Jay-Z: no matter the producer, the beat, the type of song, the speed, Jay-Z always flows PERFECTLY over the beat. The timing, the emotion, the breath control, everything comes together perfectly. Think about it: listen to your average Nas song and, while he is incredible, you can envision another rapper making a song on the beat. It may not be as good, but one could do it quite easily. But once Jay-Z puts his stamp on a track, he makes it his. He completely and utterly OWNS the beat. It's hard to even picture how someone else would flow over it. Also, the beats that he rhymes so well over are often atypical and very complex. Listen to Heart of the City, Politics as Usual, Money, Cash Hoes (yeah, I know it's real commercial), Lucifer, etc. How many rappers you know could rap over songs like that so well? But enough about my personal opinion. For the haters out there, let's look at the opinions of respected sources:
Source Magazine - usually I don't like it, but it is an established source. One thing they said in a Jay-Z album review has always stuck with me: that he has an almost "taoist flow" over any song he raps to. That pretty much says it all
Biggie - said that the only rapper he would fear going up against is Jay-Z
Jadakiss - has a great flow and beefed with Jay-Z. He finally admitted, "you just can't go to war with a n*gga like that"
Eminem - folks, do NOT get it twisted. Em said it himself: contrary to what haters say, he did not destroy Jay-Z on the renegade track. Em also said that that Jay's flow scheme on that song is ultra complex and ridiculous. People, really LISTEN to the timing, delivery, flow etc. next time you play Renegade, especially Jay's second verse. The change-ups are brutal and devastating.
Finally, many MCs can rap but don't know the art of making good songs and hits, no matter who they have producing the beats. Point blank, no other rapper consistently makes hit songs like Jigga. None. Factoring in all of the qualities which make an MC "great", Jay is the greatest rapper alive. Period.
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