Why couldn't Jay blow up when Big and Pac were alive?

[south4life]

Jay sounded like Das Efx on some of the earlier shit and then after getting down with Biggie, he started sounding like him.

The truth is nobody was checking for Jay because he sounded like Das Efx, labels did not want to sign him and they had to start their own label to get Jay album out, him hanging with Big and Pac calling him out was how I found out about him.

 

[ohhhla]

I swear Shadyteam copies and paste her material with slight editing from the last 3yrs.

 

[locksmith1]

LOL @ niggas saying Jay-Z wasn't on a major label,Priority Records had NWA,Eazy-E,Ice Cube's solos,Ice-T,Scarface,

Master P,all before Jay. Shit,Priority might have as many classic albums as Def Jam. The talent pool was way too

deep in hip-hop at that time for Jay to compete,Fugees,Tribe,Busta,Nas,Wu,Raekwon,Ghost,Meth,Redman,Ice-Cube

Scarface,Master P. Tupac and Big were just way more popular and if they both live,especially Tupac I don't think Jay

would be AS successful as he is because Pac wasn't gonna allow it. I definetly think Big would still shine because he

was Pac's equal but at the time Jay was looked at as a little nigga.

I remembered that Jay did sold Gold and has a Gold single in 96 while Big and Pac was alive. Why Tupac couldn't stop that ?

 

[freshb651]

You have to remember how lucrative hip-hop was back in the mid 90's,everybody was going gold.But it's about

perception,what Tupac did with Hit em up and Bomb First was like what Jay did to Mobb Deep at Summer Jam. It

made Prodigy look like he was a phony even though it was a childhood pic. When Pac was throwin' light Jabs at Jay

about being in Hawaiian Sophie,had he lived he would have deaded all that Drug Lord talk from Jay. The crowd

wouldn't have bought it . And don't attack me Jigga warriors because I'm a Jay fan too,but you guys always try to

rewrite history like he didn't start off as a little nigga.

 

[NikeAirMax]

Hooking up with Beyonce was the smartest move Jay Z ever did to benefit his career

 

[c.b.b.]

LOL @ niggas saying Jay-Z wasn't on a major label,Priority Records had NWA,Eazy-E,Ice Cube's solos,Ice-T,Scarface,

Master P,all before Jay. Shit,Priority might have as many classic albums as Def Jam. The talent pool was way too

deep in hip-hop at that time for Jay to compete,Fugees,Tribe,Busta,Nas,Wu,Raekwon,Ghost,Meth,Redman,Ice-Cube

Scarface,Master P. Tupac and Big were just way more popular and if they both live,especially Tupac I don't think Jay

would be AS successful as he is because Pac wasn't gonna allow it. I definetly think Big would still shine because he

was Pac's equal but at the time Jay was looked at as a little nigga.

Great analysis

The level of competition was so good that Jay Z was only able to blow up once most of those rappers fell off or faded out.

Jay Z was like the 27 year old quarterback winning the heisman when the rest of his competition is only 19-21.

 

[NikeAirMax]

I dunno about anyone else but i think Beanie Sigel always made better Music than Jay Z and been better than him

So even Rappers like this were better to me than Jay Z so he was never ever in 2pac or Biggies league as far as quality of Music

 

[innercity99]

all I ever hear about jay-z is that he's the goat, the greatest ever, the mj of rap, best rapper of all time, and all that other bullshit. whenever i talk to these camel jockeys they always use sales as the reason why he's better than other mcs. but when pac and big was alive, where was he? why wasn't he doing big numbers? why wasn't he going plat like they was? why did he have to wait until big & pac left until he blew up?

you even had boring ass nawse going multi-plat in 96 when rap was at its most competitive. how can this cat be named the greatest when he had to wait for the two biggest names to die before he got on?

Thats like asking "y couldn't Kobe win a Ship while Jordan was around"

And for the record it's because they died

 

[PK_TK_187]

I'm sure Pac would have been smashed by Jay if he stayed alive and kept beefing with NYC.

Jay and BIG together would have been trouble and maybe Nas would have been down with them.

There may have never bee na Jay vs Nas cuz they woulda been destroying Pac instead of each other

 

[plocc]

LOL @ niggas saying Jay-Z wasn't on a major label,Priority Records had NWA,Eazy-E,Ice Cube's solos,Ice-T,Scarface,

Master P,all before Jay. Shit,Priority might have as many classic albums as Def Jam. The talent pool was way too

deep in hip-hop at that time for Jay to compete,Fugees,Tribe,Busta,Nas,Wu,Raekwon,Ghost,Meth,Redman,Ice-Cube

Scarface,Master P. Tupac and Big were just way more popular and if they both live,especially Tupac I don't think Jay

would be AS successful as he is because Pac wasn't gonna allow it. I definetly think Big would still shine because he

was Pac's equal but at the time Jay was looked at as a little nigga.

Pac wasn't gonna allow it? He barely controlled his own career, how he gonna controll somebody else's?

 

[bull6599]

LOL @ niggas saying Jay-Z wasn't on a major label,Priority Records had NWA,Eazy-E,Ice Cube's solos,Ice-T,Scarface,

Master P,all before Jay. Shit,Priority might have as many classic albums as Def Jam. The talent pool was way too

deep in hip-hop at that time for Jay to compete,Fugees,Tribe,Busta,Nas,Wu,Raekwon,Ghost,Meth,Redman,Ice-Cube

Scarface,Master P. Tupac and Big were just way more popular and if they both live,especially Tupac I don't think Jay

would be AS successful as he is because Pac wasn't gonna allow it. I definetly think Big would still shine because he

was Pac's equal but at the time Jay was looked at as a little nigga.

I think Roc-A-Fella only had a distribution deal w/ Priority meaning that they helped w/ the manufacturing & shipping of the album. As far as studio time, producers, videos, radio spins, etc Jay, Dane, & Biggs came outta pocket & did the groundwork.

 

[DR. JEK]

I'm sure Pac would have been smashed by Jay if he stayed alive and kept beefing with NYC.

Jay and BIG together would have been trouble and maybe Nas would have been down with them.

There may have never bee na Jay vs Nas cuz they woulda been destroying Pac instead of each other

first of all Pac woulda been smashed by Jay? why didn't he smash him then if the nigga was so tight? Jay woulda smashed him? yeah ok, just like he did when Camron, Canibus, Game, Beans, and Nas all called him out and did unanswered Diss records....yeah, alright. And Nas woulda rolled wit Pac cuz Nas and PAc squashed what they was beefing about. Nas wouldn't fuck wit Jay he was too much of a stan and wasn't gonna fuck wit Big because they was beefin by then which is why kick in the door was made.

 

[almighty breeze]

What this thread ignores is that Biggie had a vested interest in Jay-Z's success. People gloss over things that dont fit their agenda. Jay was more in no mans land than he was anyones "lil nigga" BIG had a lil nigga and it was Cease.

There was also in New York a large desire to HEAR Jay-Zs debut. not nationally and not to the tune of huge advertisements and promotional backing (indie vs major debate people were saying). The Nas beef stems originally from him agreeing to and then not appearin on Can I Live or some song off RD. So there u have off the bat the two biggest & most respected NY MC's on one rappers debut. That woulda been somethin no one can claim. Platinum plaque or not....It goes against logic to say that Jay-Z was such a nobody that the biggest rapper in hip hop was his friend & frequent collaborator and that the 2nd biggest went out of his way to diss him.

Mobb Deep

Nas

BIG

Jay-Z

this is who Pac viewed as the East Coast according to song. who he named specifically. So this contradicts the nobody/lil nigga theory. If we agree that there "was so much quality in hip hop & NY at the time" then if Jay was a nobody who no one knew or cared about someone else's name would be here. Mobb had no affilation with BIG so that doesnt fly. neither did Nas.

 

[NikeAirMax]

Jay Z has always been just a Rapper not a good Artist just pretty much mainly RApped about typical things like Drugs, Cash, Cars etc as far as Content and relied on a formula of getting RnB Singers to do the Hooks on his Singles especially 99% of his Singles

Always been about Flow

 

[a_list]

yo first off dude wasnt even a signed rapper for most of the time that big and pac were around.....in 96 he had a gold album just like ghostface, gza, mobb deep etc....I kno this shyt it trying to slight jay but why do we only ask this about jay....y didnt masta p blow up with big and pac around why didnt Jarule blow up with big and pac around? see where this can go?

Is this logic?

think his math went to shit towards the end... or either that nigga was smoking reeeeeeeheheally good shit and lost his train of thought at the end.

What? Wasnt Master P around in 96? JaRule was in the Cash Money Click....they was out in 94/ 95......

 

[freshb651]

What this thread ignores is that Biggie had a vested interest in Jay-Z's success. People gloss over things that dont fit their agenda. Jay was more in no mans land than he was anyones "lil nigga" BIG had a lil nigga and it was Cease.

There was also in New York a large desire to HEAR Jay-Zs debut. not nationally and not to the tune of huge advertisements and promotional backing (indie vs major debate people were saying). The Nas beef stems originally from him agreeing to and then not appearin on Can I Live or some song off RD. So there u have off the bat the two biggest & most respected NY MC's on one rappers debut. That woulda been somethin no one can claim. Platinum plaque or not....It goes against logic to say that Jay-Z was such a nobody that the biggest rapper in hip hop was his friend & frequent collaborator and that the 2nd biggest went out of his way to diss him.

Mobb Deep

Nas

BIG

Jay-Z

this is who Pac viewed as the East Coast according to song. who he named specifically. So this contradicts the nobody/lil nigga theory. If we agree that there "was so much quality in hip hop & NY at the time" then if Jay was a nobody who no one knew or cared about someone else's name would be here. Mobb had no affilation with BIG so that doesnt fly. neither did Nas.

No,Jay got dissed by Pac because he was cool with Big,and because of the line on BK's finest "If Faith have twins..."

is from Jay's album also the subtle diss in the Dead Presidents video when they're playing Monopoly "What's that

California ?,There's a lotta money there Imma take all of it ", Nas got dissed because of the song the Message that

Pac thought was aimed at him "Fake Thug,no love you get the slug..." . Pac had those Emcees fearful to even say

his name in verse,the only time Big does it is subliminally on BK's finest.

 

[Buy Beats]

Had to reinvent himself musically and find his niche. find his sound. Big and Pac didn't eclipse him, he just wasn't as marketable/listenable then as he is now.

 

[DR. JEK]

What this thread ignores is that Biggie had a vested interest in Jay-Z's success. People gloss over things that dont fit their agenda. Jay was more in no mans land than he was anyones "lil nigga" BIG had a lil nigga and it was Cease.

There was also in New York a large desire to HEAR Jay-Zs debut. not nationally and not to the tune of huge advertisements and promotional backing (indie vs major debate people were saying). The Nas beef stems originally from him agreeing to and then not appearin on Can I Live or some song off RD. So there u have off the bat the two biggest & most respected NY MC's on one rappers debut. That woulda been somethin no one can claim. Platinum plaque or not....It goes against logic to say that Jay-Z was such a nobody that the biggest rapper in hip hop was his friend & frequent collaborator and that the 2nd biggest went out of his way to diss him.

Mobb Deep

Nas

BIG

Jay-Z

this is who Pac viewed as the East Coast according to song. who he named specifically. So this contradicts the nobody/lil nigga theory. If we agree that there "was so much quality in hip hop & NY at the time" then if Jay was a nobody who no one knew or cared about someone else's name would be here. Mobb had no affilation with BIG so that doesnt fly. neither did Nas.

No,Jay got dissed by Pac because he was cool with Big,and because of the line on BK's finest "If Faith have twins..."

is from Jay's album also the subtle diss in the Dead Presidents video when they're playing Monopoly "What's that

California ?,There's a lotta money there Imma take all of it ", Nas got dissed because of the song the Message that

Pac thought was aimed at him "Fake Thug,no love you get the slug..." . Pac had those Emcees fearful to even say

his name in verse,the only time Big does it is subliminally on BK's finest.

And even then it could be argued that that line was more about exposing Faith. New York niggas was shook as fuck to say the word tupac with distain on wax back then

 

[locksmith1]

What this thread ignores is that Biggie had a vested interest in Jay-Z's success. People gloss over things that dont fit their agenda. Jay was more in no mans land than he was anyones "lil nigga" BIG had a lil nigga and it was Cease.

There was also in New York a large desire to HEAR Jay-Zs debut. not nationally and not to the tune of huge advertisements and promotional backing (indie vs major debate people were saying). The Nas beef stems originally from him agreeing to and then not appearin on Can I Live or some song off RD. So there u have off the bat the two biggest & most respected NY MC's on one rappers debut. That woulda been somethin no one can claim. Platinum plaque or not....It goes against logic to say that Jay-Z was such a nobody that the biggest rapper in hip hop was his friend & frequent collaborator and that the 2nd biggest went out of his way to diss him.

Mobb Deep

Nas

BIG

Jay-Z

this is who Pac viewed as the East Coast according to song. who he named specifically. So this contradicts the nobody/lil nigga theory. If we agree that there "was so much quality in hip hop & NY at the time" then if Jay was a nobody who no one knew or cared about someone else's name would be here. Mobb had no affilation with BIG so that doesnt fly. neither did Nas.

No,Jay got dissed by Pac because he was cool with Big,and because of the line on BK's finest "If Faith have twins..."

is from Jay's album also the subtle diss in the Dead Presidents video when they're playing Monopoly "What's that

California ?,There's a lotta money there Imma take all of it ", Nas got dissed because of the song the Message that

Pac thought was aimed at him "Fake Thug,no love you get the slug..." . Pac had those Emcees fearful to even say

his name in verse,the only time Big does it is subliminally on BK's finest.

Nobody wasn't scare of Tupac, Fam. Where did you get this lied from ? Jay didn't respond to Tupac because he didn't have a problem with Pac. Nas and Pac had personally made truce before Pac passed away. Nas and his people were deep at that the time when they had met Pac. Suge and Pac was about to get a butt whoppin if they didn't dead the beef. Also, DeathRow had their trailer sprayed up NY goons in NY. Mobb Deep Drop a Gem on Pac. Why are you trying to rewrite history as if Tupac was a invulnerable, formidable , tough guy ?

When Tupac was alive, he didn't have the influence, connection, and power to blackball Jayz.

 

[ohhhla]

What this thread ignores is that Biggie had a vested interest in Jay-Z's success. People gloss over things that dont fit their agenda. Jay was more in no mans land than he was anyones "lil nigga" BIG had a lil nigga and it was Cease.

There was also in New York a large desire to HEAR Jay-Zs debut. not nationally and not to the tune of huge advertisements and promotional backing (indie vs major debate people were saying). The Nas beef stems originally from him agreeing to and then not appearin on Can I Live or some song off RD. So there u have off the bat the two biggest & most respected NY MC's on one rappers debut. That woulda been somethin no one can claim. Platinum plaque or not....It goes against logic to say that Jay-Z was such a nobody that the biggest rapper in hip hop was his friend & frequent collaborator and that the 2nd biggest went out of his way to diss him.

Mobb Deep

Nas

BIG

Jay-Z

this is who Pac viewed as the East Coast according to song. who he named specifically. So this contradicts the nobody/lil nigga theory. If we agree that there "was so much quality in hip hop & NY at the time" then if Jay was a nobody who no one knew or cared about someone else's name would be here. Mobb had no affilation with BIG so that doesnt fly. neither did Nas.

No,Jay got dissed by Pac because he was cool with Big,and because of the line on BK's finest "If Faith have twins..."

is from Jay's album also the subtle diss in the Dead Presidents video when they're playing Monopoly "What's that

California ?,There's a lotta money there Imma take all of it ", Nas got dissed because of the song the Message that

Pac thought was aimed at him "Fake Thug,no love you get the slug..." . Pac had those Emcees fearful to even say

his name in verse,the only time Big does it is subliminally on BK's finest.

Nobody wasn't scare of Tupac, Fam. Where did you get this lied from ? Jay didn't respond to Tupac because he didn't have a problem with Pac. Nas and Pac had personally made truce before Pac passed away. Nas and his people were deep at that the time when they had met Pac. Suge and Pac was about to get a butt whoppin if they didn't dead the beef. Also, DeathRow had their trailer sprayed up NY goons in NY. Mobb Deep Drop a Gem on Pac. Why are you trying to rewrite history as if Tupac was a invulnerable, formidable , tough guy ?

When Tupac was alive, he didn't have the influence, connection, and power to blackball Jayz.

I don't think he tried to, tho.

But co-sign the rest.