— The Atlas of Popephoenix

This image comes courtesy of a Barnes and Noble conversation that I had on Friday.  So I’m hanging out with my boy The MarXman sitting around the cafe and we start up a conversation about music and the state of promotion as an independent artist. In the process a young lady sitting at the adjacent table chimed in and the conversation turned to who is better or a who do you prefer, Jay-Z or Nas debate.

Seeing how there is a profile image above of Jay there’s no real question of who I side with. Honestly, I don’t see how you couldn’t. Say what you would about who he is personally or outside of rap, which I really know nothing of. Like his line says “Critics might not admit but nobody in rap did it quite like I did it.” For eleven years he’s shaped the face of hip-hop through his vernacular, subject matter and fashion sense. He’s started and stopped trends with a manner of bars in a song. His worst album can still be considered better then some artist’s best.

In my eyes and ears, he’s the best that ever did. Who has been in the game this long and been this consistent? Who’s had this much influence over Hip-Hop? Who else is 40 and still relevant in Hip-Hop? If not him, then who? I would love to hear who you think is better.