Jay-Z Ranks His Top Albums, Compares Two To ‘Thriller’ And ‘Off The Wall’
The ranking is understandable but predictable.
For the second part of his interview with Rap Radar's Elliott Wilson and Brian "B. Dot" Miller, Jay-Z ranked his top six solo albums and, honestly, it shouldn't come as a surprise.
6. 4:44
5. American Gangster
4. The Black Album
3. Reasonable Doubt
2. The Blueprint
Are you ready for number one? Are you sure?
Wait, are you sure? Ok.
1. Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life
Predictable, right? At the very least, Jay-Z also shows that he's just like us, considering Magna Carda Holy Grail is not in his top six list. Jay-Z also refers to Vol. 2 as his Thriller and The Blueprint as his Off The Wall.
WATCH: Jay-Z Discusses ‘4:44,’ Kanye West, Solange And More In ‘Rap Radar’ Interview
During the interview, Jay-Z also talks about Blue Ivy Carter's guest verse on 4:44 bonus track "Blue's Freestyle/We Family."
"She went and she got the headphones and she climbed on her little stool and then she started rapping," Jay-Z said. "And the pocket she was catching I was like s**t. I'm talking amazing pockets...she understands the concept of a hook. She's five."
After that, the conversation turned to rap beef and how Jay-Z has had his fair share throughout his career, including one with Prodigy, who passed away earlier this year.
"I have super respect for Prodigy. In order for me to really spar with you I got to respect you," Jay-Z said. "I sampled him for my first album so you know I was aware of him and had a respect for him."
"We spoke before he passed," Jay-Z continued. "I saw him in the club maybe five years ago or something like that and he came over and we just kicked it...it's just sad, blessings to his family."
Toward the end of the interview Jay-Z, while discussing mental health and the recent passing of Chester Bennington, talks about a moment he had with Amy Winehouse where, after seeing her perform at Joe's Pub in New York City, he then met her at the Spotted Pig where she was stuttering.
"I looked at her, and I was like, 'stay with us,'" he said. "The first time we hung out, I said 'stay with us.'"
In the first part of the interview with Wilson and Miller, Jay-Z discussed his issues with Kanye West (who's referenced in the song "Kill Jay Z"), saying:
“What really hurt me was, you can’t bring my wife and my kids into it…Like, Kanye is my little brother. He’s talked about me a hundred times. He even made a song called ‘Big Brother.’ We’ve gotten past bigger issues. But you brought my family into it, now it’s a problem…You know it’s a problem because me and him would have been talked about it, been resolved our issues. And he knows crossed the line. He knows. And I know he knows. ‘Cause we’ve never let this much space go between one of our disagreements and we’ve had many. That’s part of who we are.”
Check out part two below.