I Listened To EVERY Jay-Z Album And Ranked Them

[@zeniyuhh]

What artist should I do next? also subscribe trying to reach 500 subs :)

[@mathieunolet8236]

Dang bro. This felt like a 3k+ sub channel

[@atomix2-24]

Nas

[@tanzmauz]

Big L

[@laflame.23]

Nas

[@seandoroja907]

Its Jay-Z and Nas In my opinion Nas' discography has higher highs, but lower lows He has several comeback eras and primes, so get ready for a ride...

[@GoofyNewfie13]

Ngl I for a long time I thought jay z was the most overated rapper ever but after I heard the blueprint I was hooked and understood the hype

[@Historicutuber]

Blueprint is one of the best albums of all time

[@lilmonke2190]

Everybody literally calls him overrated, and they fr just never listened to him

[@fettywapsmissingeye]

you called him overrated before really ever listening?

[@LessGo7921]

Jay Z being called “mid” is just the cool trend in hip hop and rap related comment sections posted by those who never listened to him. He isn’t the goat, but he’s def not mid. Don’t listen to the comment section mobs

[@GoofyNewfie13]

@@fettywapsmissingeye yeah ik it was dumb

[@kiko6217]

Similar to Kanye ALOT of Jay-Z’s discography needs context of what was going on in HipHop and his life. For example Reasonable Doubt was supposed to be a one and done which is why Vol. 1 seems so lack luster. Vol. 2 is the “pop” album of the trilogy since that’s when Jay fully entered the mainstream and Vol. 3 was the victory lap. Dynasty was supposed to be a Label album. Blueprint was Jay mastering his sound and the concept of massive radio hits and classic album cuts which Black Album perfected. Blueprint 2 he got overzealous. He retires and every album after kinda feels like a “why not” in good ways and some bad. Sorry for nerding out.

[@milesvstheworld]

never apologize for nerding out.

[@mandem2362]

American Gangster and 4:44 are fire imo

[@prod.kidmizu]

You explained everything perfectly, no need to apologize. I've listened to his whole discography and feel the same way, especially about his later albums.

[@MultiDwizzle]

Reasonable Doubt, The Blueprint, The Black Album , and 4:44 are🔥🔥

[@ToAsTOnDeck]

Those are his best!

[@johngreen6521]

You had me until 4:44

[@shawnwilliams8538]

Magna Carta 🔥🔥

[@ST-wp9iz]

4:44 is mid at best. Half of the album is absolute garbage.

[@johngreen6521]

@@shawnwilliams8538 🚮🗑

[@MukhtarMalamee]

in my lifetime, the black album, the blueprint and 4:44 are my fav jay z albums

[@ToAsTOnDeck]

No Reasonable Doubt?

[@roxlife8173]

@@ToAsTOnDeckin his lifetime

[@ToAsTOnDeck]

@@roxlife8173 in my lifetime is the name of a Jay album

[@SamadSaVage]

Honestly you doing the due diligence to go back and listen brings me joy

[@SamadSaVage]

@@AmiriHipHopwhat r u doin here

[@mkmj688]

Reasonable Doubt, The first Blueprint and The Black Album are the only ones I play from Jay

[@zeniyuhh]

Thats fair those are banger albums

[@Star-hg1kt]

Come on add American Gangster and 4:44.

[@darryldennis3487]

And there’s some bangers from Hard Knock Life

[@omegax1]

Same as you but throw 4:44 in there also

[@turtleanton6539]

Blueprint and black album. RD is trash😮

[@KhanCampsKBA]

Salute to you for taking a swing at this and being brave enough to put your opinion out there. I disagree with a lot of this video but I respect you for putting it out and I definitely respect your opinion on the music 👊🏾.

[@zacmirza6498]

I can tell you’re young lol, the reason he worked with R Kelly was becuase he was the hottest r&b artist at the time (before the sex scandal) so Hov thought it was a cool idea to merge two titans of different genres together.

[@viperrecords3288]

Exactly

[@bxmenacefrankie]

As a person who grew up on Jay (cuz he was my Pop’s favorite rapper) and finally taking a dive throughout his whole discography at 17, I was blown away by how refined Jay was not only as a rapper, but his growth as an artist. At now 20 years old, there’s a reason why he’s my top one for Greatest Rapper of all time. As I get older, the music gets better with time.

[@OdorGod]

Context: Hov was supposed to retire after Reasonable Doubt. Nobody likes Vol 1. It was a weird time when Bad Boy was runnin rap, it's called the shiny suit era since Puffy had those actual shiny silver suits & weird beats. Hov went to Bad Boy's production team to produce Vol 1 & it's basically ignored lol This almost ended his career. After this came out that's when ppl started to like Reasonable Doubt (RD didn't do at all good when it dropped.) Vol 2 is dope. I was a lil too young but I remember the video for Hard Knock Life. Vol 3 is dope as fuck. By this point Roc-A-Fella was 1000% runnin shit. The Dynasty isn't a real Jay album. It's a Roc-A-Fella collab album titled under Jay's name & it was Freeway's debut. Blueprint classic. I skipped class in middle school to go to buy it & he was the coolest nigga I ever knew of lol. Also it dropped on 9/11 Blueprint 2 imo is mid. Black Album/Kingdom Come was a weird time & where fans of his earlier shit didn't really rock with them.. Had some okay songs on them but by that point ppl agreed "this shit garbage." American Gangster was supposed to be the OST for the Denzel movie but they told him no so he just dropped it. Why the fuck would you record a whole album for a movie without them even knowing about it lol After that Hov hit his stride again & started dropping great albums.

[@zeniyuhh]

Thanks for the added context this was pretty cool to know from a fans perspective thats been around for almost all the drops

[@ossiejon-nwakalo8644]

Black Album is Jay-Zs best album. How is it that ppl weren’t messing with it?? Songs of that were getting a lot of radio play

[@AmiriHipHop]

You was on a roll until you said what you said about The Black Album. Nobody looked at The Black Album as "this is garbage". It has been considered a dope project ever since it came out. You can say that about Kingdom Come, sure. But The Black Album? That was just a complete lie for you to say that lol.

[@Knicksfan7]

@@AmiriHipHopYoo when you dropping a Jay Z ranked video

[@danbeforetime]

Old head here and although I'd argue a bunch of this with you, it's nice to see young people go back and take it seriously. Also, fun trivia... Blueprint 2.1 is the album that Jay wanted to release, but his team convinced him that he needed a double album to be considered among the greats.

[@FormalFilmsProductions]

4:44 is my favorite album. Love the storytelling and production

[@benjaminhedegaard4127]

The reason there's a 14 minute song with 2 minutes between the beats is because it was made with the CD format in mind, where it wouldn't necessarily show xx:xx/14:02, so it would come as a surprise when you thought it was finished. I think the modern day equivalent is post-credit scenes in movies. Great video btw!!

[@benbacharach3977]

I’m 20 from California, but i’ve listened to every Jay album. My favorite artist. He’s gracefully moved through the eras.

[@salmonsdontdie4952]

American Gangster is absolutely my favorite. Great concept album. I think a bit of context needed about Jay Z and his albums, he was dropping these every 9 months up until The Black Album. Which at that time was completely unheard of.

[@carlosmiranda3827]

Nice vídeo bro. From Peru, I love Reasonable Doubt, Volume 2, Blueprint 1, Black Album and 4:44

[@robertmatthews9650]

Back when people listened to CD’s and tapes. There would be large sections of silence before the last track because it was meant to be hidden.

[@realfloxks__0637]

Classic Jay-Z Albums 1. Reasonable Doubt 2. Vol.1 3. Vol.2 4. Vol.3 5. Dynasty Roc La Familia 6. Blueprint 7. The Black Album 8. American Gangster 9. Blueprint 2 10. MCHG 11. WTT Jay-Z only rapper in hip hop history that has 5 or more classic songs from every album he released

[@mikejones1572]

Best rapper discography. Thing is hip hop is separated into mainstream rap fans and the “hip hop heads” who generally hate mainstream rap Jay has both type of fans and there fore he had to make albums that suited both sides. But some mainstream fans can’t appreciate the “true hip hop” side and want nothing but hits. The hip hop heads hate the mainstream side If you are too far on one side of the fence you might not appreciate Hov’s body of work but if you have that balance and can differentiate between the two, most likely Hov is one of your favorite artists

[@zeniyuhh]

This makes sense I can see that 100%

[@esjorgen1]

You need to post more man this was a great video!

[@HireCoop]

grew up listening to Hov very heavy. top 5: reasonable doubt, blueprint 1, black album, american gangasta, dynasty roc la familia

[@DJ-82-CYJ]

My one thing with Jay is that you can tell what year an album came out based on the beat and sound. You could tell he followed trends. It makes some his albums sound dated.

[@rctm1313]

Volume 2 is so slept on! There’s no skips. His radio songs were great. It’s got street songs, great production from young Swizz and Timbo. It checks every box.

[@asgoredreemur7935]

Putting Blueprint 2 in A and Dynasty in B is a massive W from me. People say those are some of Jay Z's worst, when in reality, they are really enjoyable, and deserve a spot nowhere near Magna Carta or Kingdom Come (Kingdom Come got some bangers tho)

[@jfjvj8014]

Everything on vol 2 is fire I don't understand why people don't like it.

[@polo9n3worldwide39]

I also feel it this boy is young

[@gothicreggae]

You’re underrating Vol.3

[@icedoutchurchin]

Nice vid. Jay got 10 great albums but I could never put BP3 over Hardknock life & Vol. 3

[@VampChainz]

As a New Yorker Jay is inherently NY culture. I dont think he's the penultimate technical rapper but like X, in 6 albums he overall changed the game.

[@tsoyurhagamer7722]

You got to jam these albums more than once. You'll catch different things every single time

[@96TJAG]

im a jay-z fan since ever, and overtime I listen to some albums I catch new things about him its crazy

[@ka9202]

Add Outkast to the list, please...

[@zeniyuhh]

Will do! 🫡

[@demetriuservin2874]

Definitely!!

[@Ireezy15]

I feel like you should’ve included the Jay Electronica collab, some of Hov’s best rapping. Great content tho 💯

[@pourcelainpourtland2748]

Hovs verses better than alot of Jays offerings on there

[@Loganandvintagejosnumber1h8r]

Putting American Gangster in B Tier is crazy, nonetheless solid ranking

[@MuskeyIsntReal]

he is praised for a reason

[@TubeSavage]

I listened to every jay z song, freestyle and features

[@wolfhailey8432]

Magna Carta Holy Grail has Heaven which would be a top 10 song on any Hov album.

[@joeyhenderson1624]

The warm up vinyl 🔥🔥

[@exit2770]

Amazing video extremely underrated channel, would love to see a video on Kanye’s discography for sure

[@dcfridays777]

damn this video did numbers, also congrats on 500 subs🙏

[@zeniyuhh]

Thank you fridays! 🔥

[@toma8283]

I know is one of my favorite Jay songs. Almost everything the Neptunes and Jay did together ended up being incredible

[@mathieunolet8236]

I honestly think Vol. 3 is one of his best

[@wemmanuel3118]

I think its important for you to understand the Era and time Hov was rapping in. Also understand Drug and Hustle refrences. In my opinion Hov resignates with you if you have a passion and desire to win in life. if thats not your style it just won't resignate with you.

[@zeniyuhh]

Yeah I can see this to be fair. I notice a lot of big Jay fans connect to him in this way. I respect his pen for me it was more the music is hard to connect with at times. But as I said he has classic I do really enjoy just not every album

[@ka9202]

Agreed

[@thunder4374]

I know people hate on drake, but going through his discography u will find some great albums and songs

[@youtubeistreyyy]

damn the same idea, thumbnail, and title 😂 that’s crazy

[@zeniyuhh]

I’m switching up the format next video as well as title and thumbnail my fault gng 😭 I was inspired

[@botdogg7398]

Being my favourite rapper, I’ve listened to all of his work, and I go back to most of them

[@therealist33777]

Reasonable Doubt, Blueprint, V3, Dynasty, V2, 444 for me, and in that order. If you haven't done Kendrick already, you should. Though Nas' discography makes sense after Jay-Z

[@cantool]

People forget about Dynasty… had some great songs, especially that intro

[@mikewootson2085]

I always said American Gangster might be his most underrated album its almost a perfect hip hop album.

[@coolshirtkid]

i think the main reason why he gets so overlooked is that his music was not on streaming at the beginning of the streaming era. if it was when kanye was still on top of the world i think way more people would’ve listen to jay’s discography. he’s the goat imo

[@imanolvides3185]

jay z is a love him or hate him kind of artist. i've never heard a neutral opinion on him. hes either a goat or overrated. personally, hes a goat 🐐

[@jameshamilton8720]

Reasonable Doubt, The Blueprint and The Black Album are his top 3. Honorable mentions: Blueprint 2 and (kinda)Blueprint 3. Underrated albums The Dynasty(all Rocafella artistes collabing with him) and Watch The Throne with Kanye West

[@hoodietheentertainer884]

5:40 brother it’s known in the hip hop community his production is his best attribute what were you listening too😭 also VOL 1 and 3 are both A. I feel you on VOL 2 tho that one was a C

[@idklucam4040]

Really great vid, you seem like a cool dude. Subscribed.

[@zeniyuhh]

Thanks! :)

[@adamlefleur]

subscribed, more of these

[@AndzaniMukhawana-ux5ds]

Reseonble Doubt🔥🔥🔥🔥 The Blueprint 🔥🔥🔥 The black album 🔥🔥

[@kingsleyjackson8287]

Volume 1 & 2

[@realaspectrapper]

the black album is his best imo

[@Curtis-qg4ir]

Watch The Throne better be #1

[@valence7]

This Can't Be Life is one of the greatest songs ever

[@dmercy8477]

Though I’m not a huge fan, I do feel his discography is better than people portray it but it still hasn’t aged well. It’s a great catalog but if you compare it to other rappers’ catalogs like Nas, Ghostface, Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Common and OutKast, it just pails in comparison. He still has a lot of classics though despite the duds. He’s still a legend but I now I understand why people think he’s overrated. RD, Blueprint, Black Album, AG and Vol 1 are still in my album playlists though.

[@marnik261196]

If this is your opinion right now, few years in and you'll be in love with also the Volumes saga and The Dinasty. I hope you were checking Genius while listen to his music

[@hitopstl]

Pimp C on Big pimpin is the best part of the whole album

[@joeysmother7535]

Great ranking! Respect to 4:44

[@damonmcmann5293]

His most underrated album is the life and times of shawn carter album

[@jetiknight6454]

Busta Rhymes, T.I., M.F. Doom and Ghostface Killa reviews would be dope.

[@Hawkytaki-e9r]

Ay man you gotta do Nas. and I'd give things like Illmatic and It Was Written a few listens. Nas' lyrics can fly over peoples head alot of the time but when you actually look at the lyrics. The Dude is insane. Illmatic is crazy lyrical

[@EfonEkpo]

Good Ratings once again. I watched your Nas version before this one. I'm surprised that you feel the same way as I do about the Hard Knock Life album. It was highly commercialized and it's what made Jay but it was weak Hiphop-wise. Fans would come for you for that tho. The following is where disagreements start setting in and I feel strongly about these - Blueprint 2 - C( it's a good double album but a bit too bloated), Blueprint 2.1 - A( Now this is top-notch and where we both agree), Kingdom Come - B(the most underrated Jay Z album and it's disturbingly so. I guess God cursed it to be forever underrated), American Gangster - A( I consider anything A and above to be classic. This is one of his best albums) Blueprint 3 - D( Jay should've taken his time with this one) 4:44 - B. ( I can understand why everyone thinks this is S tier. They are mostly intrigued/consumed by the nature of the mature and vulnerable lyrics. For me, some of the beats could've been better to reach the heights where the lyrics took it)

[@wladchk]

i also considered blueprint 3 as D but this shit grew on me so good, just like magna carta, there are too many hidden gems

[@EfonEkpo]

@@wladchk An album can be C or D and still have lots of great tracks. All it takes is for it to also have lots of terrible tracks.

[@wladchk]

@@EfonEkpo I honestly think those albums don’t have terrible songs, either popular ones or hidden gems

[@EfonEkpo]

@@wladchk fair enough. We can agree to disagree on that. Also, for me there is a difference between a 'good song' and a 'good hip-hop track'. I could agree that the album has no bad songs but has lots of terrible hiphop tracks. Some albums are just more superior musically than they are in hiphop terms.

[@wladchk]

​@@EfonEkpo i get your point, but i like those 2 albums for being kinda experimental and not traditional hiphop. Let's be real jayz proved already he is a top tier hip hop artist, he doesnt need tostick to boom bap. the more different his sound the better it is for a listener (me)

[@thedoggbeast6942]

i went through every jay z album as well 6 months ago and now i get it hes in my top 10 now easy!

[@tomimpala]

Jay Z is to hip hop what Seinfeld is to comedy.

[@cantool]

Damn that is so accurate 😂😂

[@rjlopez13]

Even tho it’s not officially a collab album or a “Jay Z album” I think you definitely should’ve peeped A Written Testimony

[@zeniyuhh]

Yeah I totally forgot about that one my fault guys

[@rjlopez13]

@@zeniyuhh your good as long you peep that amazing album that is 🔥🔥🔥

[@michaelwhite7926]

Blueprint 3 his most underrated album

[@viperrecords3288]

I own every Jay albums on iTunes and had the CDs. But you’re a young kid who wasn’t there to feel the impact. So I’m not shocked you haven’t.

[@2muchReality7ven]

I might be the only one who preferred Vol. 3 over the others. I thought he got busy on those beats.

[@fentonflatt297]

wild that you only have 341 subscribers

[@niiik5951]

This is legendary do one for nas

[@zeniyuhh]

A lot of people are saying do Nas so ima lock that in

[@mindworm7689]

The minutes of silence In between beat switch usually we the “hidden tracks” on the cds but for dsp it is usually just time gapped it’s different per album tho

[@IsniperkennedyI]

Have you listened to A Written Testimony? It’s like an unofficial collab album between him and Jay Electronica.

[@martyrx3436]

Jay-Z’s one of the best beat selectors of all time lol. If anything, that’s one of the only things I’ve not heard him criticised on…

[@m12715]

I'm one of those guys who listens to Jay Z religiously last year I was in Top 0.1% of listeners for Jay Z on spotify wrapped

[@yaboycurtis1103]

Great video

[@nate_the_mate6715]

Reasonable Doubt is outrageously good

[@zaythedon2065]

The only thing I would change is moving Volume 2 and 3 up a tier they are very good albums that’s it’s otherwise you did good and his discography is higher then a 78/100

[@FJLUNA]

me. as an english man, dont worry about it.

[@TshoCa]

Not really feeling where you put American Gangster at all. I feel like fighting you. Bur solid review

[@mackavelly]

0:15 bro ofc he's legendary

[@TheSilentBattle]

Vol 2 is highly underrated.

[@magnifayamusic4364]

Just saw the Nas ranking before this. Do Ghostface Killah fam

[@donjohnson2758]

0:19 *Whispers* Me but there’s context to why tbh

[@Blackculture21]

4:44 is the best rap album of all time. I'm here to say it

[@Bmrk349]

Should listen to his collab with jay electrinica

[@luxuzesty3573]

Don't think I've listened through a whole Jay-Z album in my liiiiiiife 💀

[@LouisJones-v4v]

Fo real he never impressed me back in the day I thought he was boring and had weak rhymes

[@justasimplemanworkinghiswa1569]

@@LouisJones-v4vdude was mooching other people's bars, beats, and songs

[@Dragginfleye]

Hey at 5:00 when you were confused by the long song at the very end with silence between the beat switches. That's a byproduct of CDs not transferring perfectly to the digital age because the silence was put at the end to give the illusion of it being a "hidden track" when letting the CD play in a CD player.😁 There's a LOT of albums with tracks like that from the 90s-00s. Also your version of that song is actually a completely different first song than what was released here in the USA!😃

[@zeniyuhh]

Thank you for clearing this up! It was so confusing 😭😭😭

[@thereturnofglenhaven721]

Watch the throne is a Kanye album and you cannot change my mind

[@JamieNew-dh3mg]

Jay z is at his best when Kanye is producing for him

[@MirBlackwell]

I've heard all Jay z albums I've heard RD Vol.3 BP TBA 444 Everything is love Collision Course Unplugged I'm surprised u didn't like vol 3 it's so tuff to me

[@damareshizukani7957]

2 Minute silence was for the real fans. Back then when you listend to it on CDs you couldn't always tell the length on the tracks. I your a hardhead and you sticked with it without skipping or you forgot you would get a surprised a hidden track that is not mentioned on the tracklist. I loved that when I was a Child

[@grippe25]

Doesnt make sense to me to include Best of Both Worlds, both. And not really give them a chance. Especially if you are going to skip the Unplugged album and the collab album with Linkin Park. I know people want to cancel R. Kelly these days but he really was/is the goat. And those albums were pretty solid for what they were.

[@Farmer.88-q8l]

Jay z vs nas they are both 🐐

[@tiger_lord305]

Vol. 2 at C? Damn, that might be my favorite Jay album, along with Blueprint. Coming of Age (Da Sequel), Originators 98, Its Alright, Money Aint A Thang, Hardknock Life - too many bangers imo. Reasonable Doubt is a good album, but Vol. 2-3 is when Jay really came into his own. The Timbaland and Swizz beats were innovative for the time. His flow was still a little dated on RD and some of the songs are kind of boring.

[@AyyyCoco]

I actually don’t hate Kingdom Come

[@KILLER9783]

Yep s tier looks about right

[@KCGainz]

You forgot a written testimony with jay electronica and jay z