JAY-Z - Please educate me fellas

[Gandalf]

I used to be into my hip-hop a few years back but not so much now. I'm still an expert though

Jay-Z is okish. But really is just one of the better commercial artists. There are far far better artists out there.

try a few of these -
Non - Phixion (listen to the track 'black helicopters').
Jedi mind tricks (check out album 'violent by design')
Saul Williams
Anit-pop consortium

And for a bit of lightweight but infectious student hip -hop its got to be Jurassic 5.

Miles, i'm not impressed. I thought you were a man of the world. Sure, acts like 50cent etc are crass and boring as sin, but there is a whole wealth of really good underground stuff. Intelligent people making intelligent music and not a single mention of hoes or guns.

If people like rap and hip hop then that's fair enough, but from what I have heard nothing has ever really grabbed me. I have a couple of Dr Dre CD's, but I never listen to them. I gave it a try, but nothing stuck. I'm willing to give anything a try musically, but if it doesn't stick, there isn't much I can do. I have two Eminem CD's too, but again interesting for a couple of days and seldom listened to again since. Admittedly, there are a handful of tracks on both albums that I think are pretty decent, but that's as far as I will go.

I'm drawn to what I think is good, and unfortunately rap has never really been something that I relate to all that much. It all boils down to individual taste I guess.

That's a much better post then your first one Hattonhammer is an idiot as usual, I didn't read past his first post.

I don't like opera, I don't listen to any opera, it just doesn't appeal to me. I'm not going to say 'Opera is shit' though because I just don't know enough about it to comment. It's fine if you don't listen to it, but if you don't listen to it then don't make judgements. It's really not that hard. I don't listen to punk, I don't say it's shit, that's disrespectful.

Jay Z in my book is the ATG, I think song for song, album for album he competes with absolutely everybody. Honestly Jaz I can't believe Eminem is in the ATG discussion. Eminem has made like 4 albums that on the whole were so-so. He's just not diverse enough in my book. Lupe Fiasco says some shit in rap that you didn't think was possible, that you could just get an education right there, but at some point that wears off too. I give him a chance but I'm not sure he will be able to stay fresh the way Jay Z has. I like Lupe Fiasco though.

Since I've been alive he's probably been the most consistently popular rapper through the times even if others passed him temporarily along the way. Fact is he has never made bad album and most have been well well above par.

Just don't let Mick in this thread, if he posts about Jay-Z it has to go in the 'irrational hate' thread

Yeah, it's unfair to just class an entire genre of music as shit when I have only skimmed along the surface. So, I am backtracking somewhat on what I said yesterday, it was a little bit rash and not thought through. I don't like rap based on what I have heard on the music channels and radio though, and nothing has really stood out for me. I've tried to make myself like a few things, but it just doesn't work. The same would go for heavy metal too, though I have never really tried to like heavy metal. I suppose there are just some genres that people don't really gel with.