success: The achievement of something desired, planned, or attempted; the gaining of fame or prosperity; the extent of such gain.
great(ness): Remarkable or outstanding in magnitude, degree, or extent; larger in size than others of the same kind; of outstanding significance or importance.
Last night I listened to 'Reasonable Doubt' from start to finish, always a treat. While Jay-Z is firmly entrenched in many minds as one of the greatest to ever do it, I wanted to assess the reasons why he just wasn't in true consideration for me - what was I missing? What stone had I left unturned? Was I just a hater?
It's an indisputable fact that Hov is the most successful hip-hop artist of all-time. When he calls it quits, his place in music history (not just hip-hop) will be talked about by music historians for years to come. While he may not have paved the way for the beginning of hip-hop, he sure took it to an unparalleled level.
How did he do it? Well, he's an extraordinary business man. By the time the dust settled on his first studio album, he had the ears of the industry. When 'In My Lifetime, Vol. 1' was released in 1997, Jay-Z's production and chorus choices allowed his music to be more universal. Simply put, his music would appeal to the masses, allowing more radio and television time for his eventual takeover of the industry. Hip-hop heads across the world were left desiring more from his second album, weighing 'Vol. 1' against the beauty and magic that he brought to the table with 'Reasonable Doubt,' but still, the album went platinum and his record label was growing.
It was selling, so why change the model?
I'm not going to walk through each album, as I think Jay-Z stayed with a similar model throughout his subsequent album drops. He brought it back in a big way for me with 'The Blueprint,' but by in large, I found myself really only liking a few songs on each of his albums. All the while, with each album, he took a larger piece of the pie. He was able to tend to mainstream pop culture, but also kept, let's say, 30% of his original following. The other 70% of his original following is truly a small number when weighted against the volume of mainstream pop culture.
Using easy, rounded numbers:
1,000,000 - Jay-Z's original fan base during/after Reasonable Doubt (i.e. 1995 - 1997)
700,000 - Jay-Z's fan base lost during his move to a more pop-cultured sound
50,000,000 - Jay-Z's gained fan base during his move to a more pop-cultured sound
It's not quite as simple as the above, as Jay-Z would have gained more than the original 1,000,000, but by no means would he have ever been as successful in the music industry had he stayed in the 'Reasonable Doubt' mold - it just wouldn't be possible.
Does that make Jay-Z a sell out? I don't think so. He had his dreams and his visions of how he wanted his life to play out, and used music as a vehicle to get him to that place. Contrast this with many artists who think more along the lines of "I will go where my music takes me."
I always combat those who consider Jay-Z a "top 5," but music is one of those things that it is tough to consider someone wrong based on their opinion. For as many that wished he would have stayed on the 'Reasonable Doubt' path, there are so many more who are happy he took it where he did. My questioning the stance of Jay-Z as one of the greats on a musical basis is due to the fact that it's quite easy to confuse overall success and greatness - for the average listener these two terms get intertwined, for me they do not. Jay-Z is great at many things, and I can certainly argue many points that suggest he fits into the definition at the top of this post, but being on the greatest lyricists of all-time is not one I can argue.
I respect everything that Jay-Z has done as an artist. As someone with a very strong drive I cannot fault any decisions he has made along the way, doing so and I'd be just as much a hater as anyone else. However, I am just always left with a, for lack of a better term, "dot dot dot" (yes, Christie and I watch the Bachelorette).
What could it have been had he stayed on the musical grind?
In the end, I cannot judge based on potential, I can only judge based on a body of work. Musically, Jay-Z's body of work just doesn't cut it for me when weighed against the other greats in the game.
So who do I consider the greatest of all-time? Stay tuned.
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