Nas

Juvenile Claims His Higher Album Sales Give Him “Best Rapper” Title Over Jay-Z & Nas

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The conversation around who is the best rapper of all time has lasted in hip-hop culture ever since the 1980s, and it will continue to define the community’s values and philosophies. Of course, there are many different metrics to consider: lyrics, sales, hits, impact, influence, innovation, or a holistic combination of all those things. But according to Juvenile, the massive sales behind his classic 1998 album 400 Degreez puts him above rap legends like Jay-Z and Nas (for the record, the Cash Money MC’s pick for the best rapper is Lil Wayne). He made these comments during a recent interview, specifically speaking on how people broadly compare Southern rap to more lyrically minded East Coast counterparts such as Hov and Esco and undervalue it as a result.

“A hit is a hit,” Juveline’s remarks began. “You don’t have to be the best rapper. Some of the best rappers… can’t make a hit. That s**t don’t mean nothing. The best rapper in the world don’t mean nothing if you ain’t got no f***ing hits. N***as always talk about ‘Man, Nas, da da da, Jay-Z…’ Okay, who sold the most records? I think that’s what counts, right?

Read More: Juvenile & Turk Put Airline On Blast After Heated Confrontation

Juvenile Makes A Case For Himself As A Better Rapper Than Nas & Jay-Z

“Yeah, let’s not go off the – let’s just do numbers,” Juvenile continued. “Know what I’m saying? Yeah. Let’s see who sold the most records on each solo album. Numbers don’t lie, man. Pick your best Nas album. Pick your best Jay-Z album, right? Yeah. And I’m going to take [400 Degreez] and you tell me who sold the most on a solo album. I’m taking 400.” For what it’s worth, this project has sold over six million units as of 2021 and received a quadruple platinum certification in 2000.

Meanwhile, Nas’ best-selling album, It Was Written, has sold around 3 million units, whereas Jay-Z’s best-seller Hard Knock Life… Vol. 2 is right up there with 400 Degreez with 6 million units. So while Juvenile has a point here, the conversation definitely shifts when you talk about total sales across a discography, and when comparing one rapper’s biggest hit to another’s. There are many different metrics to consider here, and many different reasons to call someone the best rapper.

Read More: Jay-Z, Biggie, Nas & More Don’t Make The Top 5 In “Family Feud” Best Rappers Survey

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John Cena Reveals Surprising Picks For Mount Rushmore Of Rappers

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John Cena used to rap. It feels like a lifetime ago, and in some ways, it was. In the two decades since Cena dropped his debut album, he’s become a household name and a bankable movie star. He doesn’t need music to bolster his fame anymore. That said, he still has a love for the genre. John Cena recently went on the Club Shay Shay podcast, and was asked to break down his four favorite emcees. His Mount Rushmore. His answers were unexpected, but admittedly pretty airtight in terms of logic (no, Logic is not one of his picks).

John Cena knew his answer would be controversial. He tried to get out in front of the inevitable pushback he’d get for excluding certain rappers. “Everyone has their bias,” he noted. “I know the list is gonna incite riots, [but] we all have our bias, our favorites. That’s what makes music special.” Despite his reticence, John Cena took the bait. He told host Shannon Sharpe that New York artists made up the bulk of his Mount Rushmore: Nas, JAY-Z and Rakim. “But I was brought up in East Coast, boom bap,” he explained. “I love wordplay, I love poetry. It’s what I based my [WWE] character on.”

Read More: John Cena Accused Of Participating In Naked “Humiliation Ritual” At The Oscars

John Cena Has Voiced A Desire To Work With Eminem

John Cena’s fourth choice? Eminem. The decision to show Slim Shady love should come as no surprise to longtime Cena fans. The wrestler-turned-actor has been an admirer of Em’s since day one. He even tried to manifest a remix to his iconic theme song with the Detroit rapper. “He’s one of the most gifted, prolific poets I’ve ever had the chance to listen to,” John Cena told Esquire in 2022. “I think if you gave him this music.. I would like to think he would completely put me to shame by giving it his own Eminem touch.”

John Cena is obviously more famous as a wrestler than a rapper. That said, he claims the latter saved his wrestling career. During a 2023 appearance on the Whiskey Ginger podcast, Cena claimed that his raps actually kept him employed. He claimed that Stephanie McMahon, daughter of WWE executive chairman Vince McMahon, was impressed with Cena’s rhymes and gave him more screen time as a result. “She was the head of the writing team,” the wrestler recalled. “And she was like, ‘Well, make something up about me right now.’” The rest, as they say, is history.

Read More: Shannon Sharpe’s Kendrick Lamar And Drake Stance Leads To An Admission From John Cena

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Lin-Manuel Miranda Is Planning A Concept Album Inspired By Cult Classic Film ‘The Warriors’ And Fans Are Pretty Skeptical

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Lin-Manuel Miranda has had a fascinating career arc. The playwright shot to stardom behind the runaway success of his historical hip-hop musical Hamilton, but then, fans quickly felt that the market was oversaturated after the cast was booked to perform on seemingly every late-night show and award show for a solid year (certain optics didn’t help either). Miranda moved onto other projects, but the more he did, it seemed, the more fans wished he’d do less.

That was the general sentiment on social media when Manuel announced his next project: a concept album inspired by the 1979 cult classic film, The Warriors. I must admit, I’ve been softer on Miranda than most — Hamilton is good, Miranda’s a decent technical rapper with legit hip-hop chops, and the Moana and Encanto soundtracks are leagues better than either Frozen — and I declared no longer than a week ago that the “Rap Concept Album Is Back,” and even I’m a little skeptical, albeit cautiously so.

If there’s anyone I’d trust to be able to pull it off, it would be Miranda. The album will feature a full cast, recounting the plot of the film, which follows a small band of New York City gangbangers as they fight their way back to their Coney Island stomping grounds from a meetup gone wrong in the Bronx. At the very least, it’s closer in historical context to the rise of rap music than the retelling of nation’s founding, as The Warriors and “Rapper’s Delight” were released within six months of each other (the former on February 9, 1979, the latter on August 2).

The album’s got some legit hip-hop bonafides behind it, too; it’s executive-produced by none other than Nas. Also, let’s be real; remake-mania has already come for The Warriors, which a lot of you only know because Rockstar made a video game about it, so not too much on my man Lin, alright?

[WATCH] Jay-Z, Biggie, Nas And “The Big 3” Left Out Of Top 5 Of “Family Feud” Best Rapper Survey

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Labeled by many as the “Top 3” of all time, Jay-Z, Biggie and Nas, as well as “The Big 3” of rthis generation, J. Cole, Drake and kendrick Lamar, were all left off of the Top 5 list of best rappers of all time n a recent episode of Family Feud.

Only Biggie and Jay made it on the list of eight rapper, which made host Steve Harvey even comment that the top 100 people surveyed for that answer were obviously not Hip Hop fans.

A TikTok user shared the footage showing a member of singer Meghan Trainor’s team answers first to reply to Harvey’s question, “Who is the greatest rapper of all time?”, who swiftly responded, “J. Cole.”

See the Family Feud footage HERE

Cole’s name results in a strike, which resulted in a member of the opposing team, led by Tori Kelly, then suggests Kendrick, who was also left off the list. It wasn’t until the fourth answer was given and Kelly’s team answered Tupac, who appeared as number two on the board. Kelly’s father’s answer was B.I.,G., who appeared in the number eight slot.

JAY-Z came in as the 8th and final most popular answer, while Nas and Drake, both suggested by contestants, didn’t make the board at all. Ice Cube was also offered as an answer, but a wrong one.

“We in Rhode Island again, where we at?,” said Harvey. He later tells Tori Kelly, “You’re thinking as a Hip-Hop head. I don’t think that’s who answered these questions.”

The final list, according to those who answered Family Feud‘s poll were, in order from first to last: Snoop Dogg, 2Pac, Eminem, Dr. Dre, LL Cool J, B.I.G., 50 Cent, and Jay-Z.

The post [WATCH] Jay-Z, Biggie, Nas And “The Big 3” Left Out Of Top 5 Of “Family Feud” Best Rapper Survey first appeared on The Source.

The post [WATCH] Jay-Z, Biggie, Nas And “The Big 3” Left Out Of Top 5 Of “Family Feud” Best Rapper Survey appeared first on The Source.

Nas Shows Love After “Illmatic” Is Crowned Greatest Rap Album Ever

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Album rankings are always going to inspire debate. It’s part of the fun of ranking in the first place. Billboard courted controversy (as all list-making outlets do) when they decided to roll out the 100 greatest hip-hop albums of all time. Their selection for the number one, however, was undeniable. Billboard chose Illmatic as the greatest release in the genre’s history, and fans were pretty much in agreement that Nas’ 1994 debut was as close to perfect as an album can get.

Nas reposted the number one ranking on his Instagram July 12. He also thanked the outlet for giving Illmatic such a glowing write-up. “Thank you to @billboard,” he wrote. Of course, the rapper took time out to thank the generations of fans who grew up with Illmatic, as well. “N the people,” he added. “We here #1 Illmatic.” Nas also claimed the number 57 spot on the Billboard list with his 1996 album, It Was Written. The rapper has had a fascinating relationship with his debut over the years. There was a time where he considered it an albatross, something that affected the way people listened to the rest of his music.

Read More: Nas Calls Ghostface Killah His Favorite Rapper While Performing Alongside Him

Nas’ Relationship With Illmatic Has Changed Over Time

Over time, however, Nas has made peace with the legacy of Illmatic. It exists, in many ways, outside of the rest of his catalog. A catalog that has actually gotten better over the last decade. Nas talked about the gift and the curse of dropping a classic debut back in 2014. He likened Illmatic to another acclaimed debut, Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City, and told Complex that there’s a lot of pressure that comes with making a successor. “They called it the sophomore jinx back then,” Nas recalled. “So many artists never got past their first album… It was so crazy that I had to take it seriously.”

Illmatic has gone from albatross to crown jewel in the rapper’s estimation. Nas released a deluxe version of the album for its 20th anniversary in 2014. He also participated in the acclaimed documentary Time Is Illmatic, which chronicled the album’s making. For the album’s 30th anniversary, which happened back in April, Nas praised his collaborators in an Instagram post. “Even tho the album leaked months before the release date,” he wrote in the caption. “We still are apart of music history.”

Read More: “Illmatic” By Nas Turns 30: Revisiting One Of The Greatest Hip-Hop Songs Ever, “N.Y. State Of Mind”

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Today in Hip-Hop History: Nas Dropped His Sophomore Album ‘It Was Written’ 28 Years Ago

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On July 2, 1996, Nas unleashed the follow-up to his critically acclaimed debut, 1994’s Illmatic entitled It Was Written, the album featured production from DJ Premier, Dr. Dre, and Havoc.

This time around, the fresh-faced, 22-year-old Brooklyn-born emcee consciously pushed the album in a more mainstream direction, hoping to secure a wider fan base. It worked.

The album proved to be Nas’ most commercially successful release, debuting at #1 on the US Billboard 200 chart. It’s viewed by music critics as one of Nas’ strongest records and remains his best-selling release, with over four million copies sold in the U.S. alone.

One of the album’s standout singles, “If I Ruled the World,” featured Lauryn Hill, who (at the time) was riding the wave of her recent success with The Fugees. Other guests included Foxy Brown, Dr. Dre, and Mobb Deep.

The post Today in Hip-Hop History: Nas Dropped His Sophomore Album ‘It Was Written’ 28 Years Ago first appeared on The Source.

The post Today in Hip-Hop History: Nas Dropped His Sophomore Album ‘It Was Written’ 28 Years Ago appeared first on The Source.

Shaq Finally Released The First Collaboration Between Jay-Z And Nas After Nearly 30 Years

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Long before their rivalry and subsequent string of collaborations, Jay-Z and Nas first appeared on a record together called “No Love Lost” nearly 30 years ago. The record in question was to appear on Shaquille O’Neal’s third studio album, You Can’t Stop The Reign. However, for one reason or another, when the album was released, the song only featured Jay-Z and Lord Tariq.

And so, for the 28 or so years since that album’s 1996 release, rumors and rough cuts and mashups circulated rap forums, all purporting to be the original collaboration between Jay-Z and Nas. All hope was lost — until earlier this year, when Andrew Barber of Fake Shore Drive revealed that not only would You Can’t Stop The Reign come to streaming at long last, but it would also feature the original version of “No Love Lost” with Nas’ verse restored.

You can now hear the song in all its glory, featuring Jay and Nas in their respective primes over a beat by Poke & Tone below. 2024 has turned out to be a prolific year for gems from Shaq’s storied second career; earlier this month, Shaq reminisced on Ice Cube stopping him from dropping a song with Dr. Dre. Prior to that, the NBA Hall of Famer dropped a diss track for Shannon Sharpe over Nikola Jokic — no, really.

Shaquille O’Neal, Nas And Jay-Z Link Up For “No Love Lost” Single

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Shaquille O’Neal is a pop culture icon. He’s a Hall of Fame basketball player, a colorful personality, and a fixture in commercials. One thing he is not is a great rapper. Shaq’s celebrity status allowed him to drop several albums in the 1990s. Some of the songs are decent due to production or guest verses, but it was clear Shaquille O’Neal was no wordsmith. That being said, there’s something fascinating about hearing the athlete dig back in the time machine and pull out a collaboration of this magnitude. “No Love Lost” was originally recorded in 1996, which means his features, Nas and Jay-Z, were at creative peaks.

Boy, does it show. “No Love Lost” has a solid instrumental. Nothing face-scrunch-ingly good, but it allows plenty of room for the rappers to do their thing. Shaquille O’Neal goes first and handles the chorus. He’s pretty good, all things considered. He has a few clunkers, but he had the good sense to get out of the way and let the masters go to work. Nas was killing every track he got on in the mid-90s, and “No Love Lost” is no different. His flow is impeccable, and his wordplay is razor sharp. He walks away with the best verse, which is saying a lot considering Reasonable Doubt-era Jay-Z follows him. Hov is great, even if he does still have the Jaz-O influence that he would minimize from his second album on. Old school hip-hop fans are going to love this, plain and simple.

Let us know what you think of this brand-new track, in the comments section down below. Additionally, stay tuned to HNHH for the latest news and updates from around the music world. We will continue to keep you informed on all of your favorite artists and their upcoming projects.

Read More: Shaquille O’Neal Rereleases Two 28-Year-Old Tracks Via The “SHAQ Pack”

Nas Steals This Classic Song From Shaquille O’Neal And Hov

Quotable Lyrics:

Fo’ sho’, everything’s for dough now
The flow, y’all gotta pay a little mo’ now
It’s platinum, nowadays we put the gold down
We stepped it up, y’all don’t ever wanna showdown

Read More: Shaquille O’Neal Confuses Fans By Trolling Drake With Strange “BBL Drizzy” Picture

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Pusha T Teases Features On New Clipse Album After Listening Party

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Clipse are back. The Virginia duo haven’t dropped since 2009, but they have confirmed their plans to reunite with producer Pharrell Williams on their fourth studio album. Considering how good their stuff is when Pharrell is behind the boards, fans are in for a classic. The promo for the album definitely makes it seem that way. Clipse and Pharrell hosted a listening party for new album in Paris on June 20. Feedback was glowing, but it was Pusha T’s comments afterwards that got fans more excited.

The listening party revealed crucial details about the album. The album is reportedly 90% done, and rappers who have been confirmed to appear on the tracklist include Nas, John Legend, and Stove God Cooks. The revelations, didn’t stop there, though. Pusha quoted a tweet about the listening party, and wrote: “Plus a couple more features…” with an upside down smiley face emoji. The notion of a stacked feature list on a Clipse album is novel, given the tracklist for their first two releases. The guest verses were mainly handled by Re-Up Gang. Til the Casket Drops, their third album, had more star power to offer, but it’s also considered Clipse’s weakest. It also featured the least Pharrell production.

Read More: Pusha T Breaks His Silence On Being Namedropped By Kendrick Lamar On “Euphoria”

Clipse Promise To Drop Their Most “Mature” Album Yet

All the pieces are in play for the new album to work. Pusha T and Nas have never officially been on the same song. Nas was supposed to be on Push’s 2022 album It’s Almost Dry, but it never came together. “Nas was gonna be on my last verse of ‘Hear Me Clearly,’” he told Spotify. “I don’t know, man. It pisses me off. It was my biggest regret for the album.” Stove God Cooks has never worked with Pusha T either, though it’s easy to see, lyrically and stylistically, how they would mesh. If anything, John Legend is the head-scratcher of an inclusion. Legend’s image seems to clash with Clipse’s, but if anybody can make their incongruous sounds work, it’s Pharrell.

Pusha T and No Malice are confident the new album will be their most mature yet. The latter said as much during a recent profile with Vulture. “I think the album shows the supreme maturation of a rap duo,” he posited. “I think this is where you get the difference between taste and filler. This music is curated. This is a high taste-level piece of work. You can only have that level of taste when you have the fundamentals down to a science.” No Malice concurs. “This is what the true evolution of the Clipse looks like,” he concluded.

Read More: Clipse Clears Up Rumors That They Have Beef With Justin Timberlake

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Cam’ron Claims Jay-Z Loves Money More Than Hip-Hop Culture

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Jay-Z decided to pay tribute to another G.O.A.T. last week. He performed “Public Service Announcement” during Tom Brady’s Patriot Hall of Fame induction ceremony, and was shown love by the ex-quarterback in return. Other high-profile celebrities were less than thrilled with Jay’s decision, however. Some criticized him for taking such a low level role in Brady’s ceremony. Others, like Cam’ron, went as far as to suggest that Jay-Z is indifferent to the hip-hop culture he helped popularize.

Cam’ron made this bold claim during a June 18 episode of his podcast, It Is What It Is. The Harlem rapper posited that Jay-Z does “not love” hip-hop the way that fans think he does. “I think he likes hip-hop a lot,” Cam explained. “I think he likes money more, and opportunities to take his brand to the next level.” He alluded to the Hip Hop 50 concerts that took place in 2023, and the fact that Jay-Z did not participate in the celebration. “As far as Hip Hop 50 is concerned, I don’t think he loves it,” the rapper added. “As much as somebody like Nas loves it.”

Read More: 50 Cent Brings Out Former Foe Cam’ron For Las Vegas Concert

Cam’ron Appreciates Jay-Z’s Business Acumen

The conversation stemmed from an Antonio Brown tweet criticizing Jay’s decision. Brown, a former teammate of Tom Brady’s, was much more blunt. He voiced disappointment in the “Empire State of Mind” rapper for choosing an induction ceremony over a concert that would have been attended by adoring fans. “Jay didn’t perform at any Hip Hop 50 concerts last year,” AB wrote. “Where the fans would’ve known every word to his songs. But he makes time to get ignored by rich folks smh.” Cam’ron has a more level-headed approach to the situation, and pointed out that Jay-Z may have performed with a greater purpose in mind.

“Sometimes you do something for somebody so they can do something for you,” Cam’ron asserted. “A favor for a favor.” The Dipset leader also gave Jay the benefit of the doubt, reminding viewers what Jay has done for the commercial appeal of the genre. “Jay-Z’s saying, ‘Nah we need to take this somewhere else,’” Cam added. “Let’s start getting our culture at halftime at the Super Bowl. You have to think about business as well.” It is the music business, after all.

Read More: Cam’ron Flees New York Amid City’s “Disgusting” Rat Problem

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