What was the "it" factor that Jay-Z had?

[Disciplined InSight]

Complex lyrics and higher degree of believability than a lot his peers

Every time he said something he had either done it or was doing it.

Reasonable Doubt and OB4CL were the soundtracks for dealing.

I can agree with that last notion, but Raekwon and Ghostface have complex lyrics too, possibly more due to the slang they were using in their song and their songs were more believable imo...

 

[thesynthesis]

you an industry insider or something

nope its a well known fact and it has been covered by the people working at Def Jam, they gave the entire story of what Dame did and how he got Jay his deal and how he blackballed himself and fucked up his career in the later years.....

 

[Disciplined InSight]

Pure Hip-Hop talent, Jay-z came out during that 90s golden era of Hip-Hop where talent and skill on the mic actually matter compared to today. Plus he seem to be able to rap on any track, no matter what the subject matter was.

Jay also got that flow and voice that makes him stand out, whenever he comes on a track you automatically know it's him.

Once again..we all know that's the obvious. But like I mentioned in my opening page it takes more than that...

 

[young_reezy]

jay and dame was marketing genius' , jay had a strong team around him, he had great timing with pac and big dying he was a part of that era, he was always there but once they died he shined brighter.

 

[thesynthesis]

niggas dying opens doors

like what it did for ja and dmx careers

 

[young_reezy]

jay just knew how to remain relevant.....

he ate off of everybody's plate too, he fucked with ja when he was hot, X when he was hot, no-limit when they was hot, and even cash money when they was a army better yet a navy....

jay found a way to click up with everybody while they was shinin , therfore he shined putting himself in that position....

ask any of them niggaz like silk the shocker can they get on a song wit jay now, hell naw....

jay played dame and cuthroated his way to the top.

 

[ustreet_monsta]

I can agree with that last notion, but Raekwon and Ghostface have complex lyrics too, possibly more due to the slang they were using in their song and their songs were more believable imo...

The difference between Jay's success and Rae & Ghost's success was the ability to crossover. They never dropped a Hard Knock Life.

Hard Knock Life went 5x plat. Those were and still are big numbers. Like that shit was huge for no reason.

The slang Rae & Ghost were kicking was only for die hard Hip Hop heads and hardcore Wutang fans.

The only 2 times I can remember people majorly buzzing about Wu-tang was during the lead up to Forever and right after the release of Supreme Clientele.

Then Rae dropped some subpar follow ups and Deck broke the streak of classic solos with his good, but underwhelming album.

Edit: The other thing he going for him after BIG died was his hustle. Jay went down south and made records with Face, Too Short, Juvenile, Silk The Shocker. Other NY rappers weren't doing that on the same level. They were hating on the South.

 

[Disciplined InSight]

The difference between Jay's success and Rae & Ghost's success was the ability to crossover. They never dropped a Hard Knock Life.

Hard Knock Life went 5x plat. Those were and still are big numbers. Like that shit was huge for no reason.

The slang Rae & Ghost were kicking was only for die hard Hip Hop heads and hardcore Wutang fans.

The only 2 times I can remember people majorly buzzing about Wu-tang was during the lead up to Forever and right after the release of Supreme Clientele.

Then Rae dropped some subpar follow ups and Deck broke the streak of classic solos with his good, but underwhelming album.

The key point brought up in your post. Question:

So is part of the "it" factor all about crossing over to White mainstream America to be accepted in Hip Hop?

 

[Nah Son]

He dumbed down for the audience, to double his dollars. If he didnt and stayed in his RD lane, not too many people would give two fucks about him. He would be at Mos Def Talib Kweli status today. So I guess the answer is his business sense, he knew what he had to do to become mainstream and by that commercially succesfull.

And this right here...

1: big and pac dying

2: biting bigs lyrics and swag

3. dame dash

 

[Disciplined InSight]

jay just knew how to remain relevant.....

he ate off of everybody's plate too, he fucked with ja when he was hot, X when he was hot, no-limit when they was hot, and even cash money when they was a army better yet a navy....

jay found a way to click up with everybody while they was shinin , therfore he shined putting himself in that position....

ask any of them niggaz like silk the shocker can they get on a song wit jay now, hell naw....

jay played dame and cuthroated his way to the top.

Nobody shouldn't argue with this fact....

 

[a.mann]

Timing........

 

[JokerzWyld]

.....................................

Nuff said right here.

 

[Disciplined InSight]

He dumbed down for the audience, to double his dollars. If he didnt and stayed in his RD lane, not too many people would give two fucks about him. He would be at Mos Def Talib Kweli status today. So I guess the answer is his business sense, he knew what he had to do to become mainstream and by that commercially succesfull.

That's where you're wrong.

Reasonable Doubt is Jay's most respected album. Regardless of him taking the pop route, that album still remains to be his rawest and truest so peeps still would give two fucks based off that alone. As far as his "business sense"...everybody knows ..

.....................................

 

[dabullsss]

honestly the biggest reason is BIG dying, yall can front all ya want but RD wasnt considered a classic until 99-00 when niggaz went back and re-listened as they saw him rising 2 da top. BIG being alive would have shadowed all dat. Jay had skills no doubt. And pls dont catch feelings on my next sentence.

With BIG alive.........JAY = jadakiss

a nice nigga wit hot joints but never considered the best....maybe top 10

 

[Disciplined InSight]

honestly the biggest reason is BIG dying, yall can front all ya want but RD wasnt considered a classic until 99-00 when niggaz went back and re-listened as they saw him rising 2 da top. BIG being alive would have shadowed all dat. Jay had skills no doubt. And pls dont catch feelings on my next sentence.
With BIG alive.........JAY = jadakiss
a nice nigga wit hot joints but never considered the best....maybe top 10

Correct...Reasonable Doubt wasn't considered a classic until later on down the line not out the gate.

 

[Nah Son]

That's where you're wrong.

Reasonable Doubt is Jay's most respected album. Regardless of him taking the pop route, that album still remains to be his rawest and truest so peeps still would give two fucks based off that alone. As far as his "business sense"...everybody knows ..

Of course it is but how many people would have even listened to it if he didnt switch up his style and kicked them commercial joints? We all know RD was classic material but no one cared about it back then.

 

[ustreet_monsta]

The key point brought up in your post. Question:

So is part of the "it" factor all about crossing over to White mainstream America to be accepted in Hip Hop?

Nah. I didn't see too many White Jay-Z fans until after Blueprint.

Jay was selling records to Black women. Thats who he crossed over to. Ladies loved Big Pimpin, Best of Me, Fiesta Remix, and Can I Get A.

My freshman year at college the entire city was playing The Dynasty album and then BP leaked the first week of classes. He had the whole city of Philly locked down.

Snoop, Dre, and Wu-tang had more White and Asian fans than any other rappers or group until Eminem and 50 Cent came along.

 

[Disciplined InSight]

Of course it is but how many people would have even listened to it if he didnt switch up his style and kicked them commercial joints? We all know RD was classic material but White mainstream America didn't cared about it back then.

Corrected.

Plus he didn't have to switch his style up at all...

 

[innercity99]

So from the posts in this thread I can tell that u tryin to make some type of point with this so let me just ask wut U think his "it" factor was/is since its obviously u know the answer

 

[young_reezy]

i mean jay's name has been poppin since the fuckin eastcoast vs. westcoast shit..

i'm pretty sure jay was greatfull when his name was mentioned on the intro to makaveli, thats free pub...

just like the pub jay gave 50 with the i'm about a dollar line...