The only rapper Jay-Z considered his competition: “I would leave and go make some music”
Jay-Z is one of the most successful rappers in the music industry and has been on top of the game since 1997. Following the release of Reasonable Doubt, the lyricist has been unrelenting and unbelievably creative.
With Just Blaze and Kanye West signed to Roc-a-Fella, the music coming out of the label was unparalleled, and Jay-Z’s lyricism was on a different level. During his tenure, he has had barely any competition. In the late-1990s, the best lyricists were predominantly based in New York, with Biggie Smalls and Nas. Although many would argue the latter had peaked too early, he was undeniably the same or better than Hov.
That said, after the murder of Biggie Smalls and the decline of Nas’ relevancy, Jay-Z was well and truly a one-person show. However, he would have people hot on his heels by the turn of the millennium.
In 1998, when interviewed by MTV News, Jay admitted that the death of Biggie Smalls, whom he had grown up around, did have an effect on him. The two Brooklyn MCs both went to the same school, so when Hov first began releasing music, he was regularly around friends and other older Brooklyn figures.
Speaking about his 1997 project, In My Lifetime Vol. 1, Jay told MTV News, “The album to me — this album wasn’t fun to me like Reasonable Doubt, because it was like, it seemed really slow to me, and I didn’t set out to do that, just looking back now and listening to it now.”
Aside from being his friend, Jay-Z also admitted that it left him feeling unchallenged and lonely as Biggie was the only person he felt pushed him to be better. In his opinion, the Ready To Die emcee was on another level to him, and he wanted to reach it.
Detailing this predicament, he said, “I don’t have anyone to bounce off of, you understand? We bounced off each other like, ‘Oh, that was crazy; I gotta make something crazier.’ When you don’t have that, you don’t have that gauge. It’s just hard to adjust; you have to find other ways to motivate yourself.”
However, in 2003, long after Biggie’s death, Jay-Z spoke with Playboy magazine. During the interview, he admitted that Detroit lyricist Eminem had him on his toes and labelled him “extraordinary.”
Concerning his thoughts on Em as an artist, Jay-Z told the publication, “He’s an extraordinary talent. He’s a genius, bottom line. But race has something to do with it. If you listen to his record ‘White America,’ he addresses that topic.” However, concerning competition, he still insisted Biggie Smalls is the one and only, asserting, “There was one person: Big. If I heard ‘Who Shot Ya?’ in a club, I would leave and go make some music. That’s not to take anything away from Eminem or Nas. I just don’t look at them as that.”
Although Jay-Z felt unchallenged after the death of Biggie Smalls, many would argue there was an abundance of rappers who were lyrically better and sharper than him although he would most probably deny such a claim.