Who would of had the bigger career: Jay-Z or Biggie?

[TheIraq]

I don't deal in hypotheticals when it comes to rap

 

[brklynbread]

I hate this hypothetical cuz its so unfair. B.I.G's career can never be properly plotted out cuz he was killed and left such a short amount of material behind. If he made it out the chaos that was the east coast/ west coast beef, who knows what couldve happen. Yall gotta get off this mentality that he wouldve just been churning out Ready to Dies for the rest of his career. Every artists has a rise and decline and the audience has changes in tastes from time to time. You give me a top 5 MC alive and they have at least 1 album where they came short. How would the world would have viewed B.I.G if in some aspect came short on album? it would've grounded him more. How Hov gon' win u got him fightin ghosts? lol

 

[mrclassick]

Big woulda been the bigger star. Unlike Jay he actually had a good enough personally to possibly get some movie money as well. When he was alive and had his best album out and Jay Z was around and had what many believe to this day(I don't) was his best album RD out....Jay Z was still getting looked at like he was Big' s lil brother and had tons of trouble garnering interest in his so called classic. His best song at the time that Big was alive which was BK' s finest HAD BIG ON IT for Gods sake!!!! It's hard for me to imagine Jay pullin a Diggy Simons and being better than the B.I.G bro. Biggie is far from being as mediocre as a JoJo

You made A compelling argument, But here is A flip side, What if Jay died, And Big was alive, Would he still be doing his thing 10-15 years later ?

 

[ibedamned]

jay wouldnt have half his lines if big wouldnt have died, but big didnt demonstrate the business sense that Jay has.

 

[supersajinfo]

Biggie was away to out of shape to live long I think Jay would out hustle Big to the top he was extremely determined.

 

[bkkbully]

You mean who HAS had the bigger career? Jay

 

[jek]

You made A compelling argument, But here is A flip side, What if Jay died, And Big was alive, Would he still be doing his thing 10-15 years later ?

Look at it like this. Jay was fighting a battle as far as tryna get people to even feel his shit(remember, this man was on the grind cuz other labels didn't even wanna sign him when Big was on Bad Boy and I think Nas was on Columbia) so he was fighting to just get on and get his shit poppin AND fighting against Big and his Eastcoast popularity. I don't think Jay woulda been as revered and loved if he died first. I don't mean this to be fucked up but I think if Jay woulda died in 96 or even in 97 before his second album dropped he woulda been more of a relic with the mainstream more so than a Pac or Biggie could be you know why? Because he wasn't as popular as those guys was from the jump. It would be like how when ODB died. If Method Man the more popular Wu member dies before Ol Dirty its completely different. The more popular you are before you dead the more your music is a factor after death.

 

[...MVP...]

Nas experienced his most success while Big was alive. Nas was a multi platnuim artist just like Big was

...........What?

 

[Disciplined InSight]

Biggie dying was the best thing (in context of this discussion not overall) that happened for Jay's career.

 

[...MVP...]

A thread full of fortune-tellers....

 

[Mumo X]

This right here. Jay wasnt even seen as his lil homie at the time though, just a dude who was eating off BIG's blueprint. BIG dying was the best thing to happen to Jay's career for real

Couldnt hav said it any better. I dont fucks wit neither rappers but Notorious Thugs >>>>> Jay

 

[dalyricalbandit]

the world may never know

 

[dabullsss]

man, BIG is da GOAT.....jay is a nurse, a RN, = regular nigga

close thread

 

[coolc31]

I can't tell you how things would have been. I do know Hov has been that dude for a minute even with cats critiquing his every move.

 

[Kalecrunch]

Jay- Z isn't the best rapper of All Time but he's the most successful rapper of all time. Particularly career wise other rappers like LL have long jevity also but Jay has been able to effectively maintain his popularity the longest and stay relevent. And this is coming from a Nas fan.

 

[c.g. productionz]

Tough question, cant say because BIG would have gone alot further than most hip-hop artists, thats for sure

 

[unspoken_respect]

Easily Jay Z. Biggy made 2 classics and died. I'm not putting dead rappers on a pedestal and I'm not speculating on what might have happened.

 

[Nascobar]

I still think Jay would be popular and relevant but all evidence points to Big being way bigger at the time and throughout his career

 

[Sweat jones]

Stupid question