Black Superhero Music: Jay-Z’s 13 Studio Albums Ranked
In the course of 25 years, Jay-Z has developed an outstanding rap discography. Although not every album isn’t an absolute classic, and a few albums aren’t that good at all, for the most part Jay has released a consistent body of works spanning two decades and his status as an arguable GOAT in hip-hop justifies that. I’ve been revisiting all of his solo albums over the past two weeks, and I wanted to rank them in my own list. Keep in mind that this is simply my opinion, not fact, so if your favorite Hov album isn’t ranked as high as you think it should be, please don’t kill the messenger!
13. Kingdom Come (2006)
Sigh.
You don’t need me to tell you that Kingdom Come is a bad album. I’m sure that most of you clicked on this article and expected this album to be ranked at the bottom, and for good reason; Kingdom Come was critically panned by critics and fans alike upon its release in 2006, three years after Jay-Z’s classic “retirement” effort The Black Album.
If I could describe this album in one word, it would be lifeless. The beats aren’t as bombastic as they were on previous efforts, the lyrics aren’t on point like usual, the hooks aren’t nearly catchy enough to hold your attention…it’s simply not an album that anyone would want to go back to in any capacity. No song with Jay-Z and Usher should be as forgettable as “Anything”… let alone with Pharrell on it as well!
Perhaps the biggest indictment of Hov, and Kingdom Come in general, is “Show Me What You Got”, a decent enough track on the album that Lil Wayne, arguably the hottest rapper out at the time, remixed a year later on his Da Drought 3 mixtape and…yeah, I’m just gonna let the two songs speak for themselves.
Jay-Z was ready to come back to the rap game after a short hiatus, but in just three years it appeared that the rap game had passed the emcee up.
12. The Blueprint 3 (2009)
The Blueprint 3 bewilders me.
The first 7 tracks of this album are actually solid, with some notable songs being the singles “Run This Town” and “Empire State of Mind”, the latter of which earned Jay-Z his first #1 single. Other highlights include the cocky, braggadocios “Thank You” and a nice feature from Young Jeezy on “Real As It Gets”. The first half of this album would lead you to believe that The Blueprint 3 is a solid, if unspectacular, Jay-Z album.
And then the second half of the album happens.
Simply put, this might be the worst stretch of music I’ve ever heard from the Brooklyn rapper in his entire career. Some particular lowlights of note are “Venus Vs. Mars” and “Reminder”, not to mention “Young Forever”, a song that literally no one likes.
What baffles me the most about this album is its title: why the fuck is this even called The Blueprint 3 in the first place? There’s little, if anything, that connects this album to the previous two in the trilogy, either sonically or thematically. It feels like Jay was trying–and failing–to maintain relevance while simultaneously turning his nose at everything that was trending and would continue to trend in hip-hop (see: D.O.A.) and the results were not pretty.
Much like the previous album, Jay-Z appeared uninspired and out of his element on this album, but I give Blueprint 3 the advantage of at least having some songs with an ounce of replay value in them.
11. The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse (2002)
I really, really did not enjoy going back to this album.
Clocking in at 25 tracks and a ridiculous hour and 49 minute run time, The Blueprint 2 is a double album, and unfortunately for Hov this does not work to his advantage like it did for his deceased contemporaries 2Pac and Biggie. You know an album is too long and maybe not too good when you have to release a new, condensed version of it a year later and even THAT doesn’t salvage it.
That’s not to say that the album is all bad, though. Excuse Me Miss is still one of Jay’s better singles, Hovi Baby features Jay rapping his ass off at all his detractors, and Meet the Parents is simply an incredible song that reminds us that Hov is one of the best storytellers in rap.
However, these tracks don’t excuse the heap of mediocrity that plagues this record, especially given it followed one of the greatest albums in rap history AND preceded another one of the best rap albums ever. At this point, Jay was completely engaged in an all-out beef with Nas, and you could see the influence this had on this album; it led to an inconsistent, unfocused half-assed effort that most fans would like to forget exists.
10. Magna Carta…Holy Grail (2013)
I came to a shocking realization as I was re-listening to Magna Carta…Holy Grail for the first time in years: I actually like this album.
Let me be clear: this is far from Jay’s strongest effort, as evidenced by its ranking on this list. Songs like Holy Grail and especially Tom Ford are, at best, cringeworthy and there’s not many songs you can personally attach yourself to a la “Hard Knock Life” or “Heart of the City”. Indeed, Jay spends most of the album boasting about his accomplishments and wealth, which understandably alienated a large part of his fanbase who expected a more introspective effort from a 43-year-old with close to two decades in the industry under his belt.
However, despite the glaring lack of substance in subject matter and a noticeable decline in lyrical ability, I think something about this album just… works, for me at least.
For one, the features on this album are great (save Justin Timberlake, but that could just be my dislike of “Holy Grail”). In particular Frank Ocean’s hook on “Oceans” is incredible, and I think it truly makes the song stand out.
Another part of the album that is very strong is the production. Songs like “Somewhereinamerica” and “Heaven” stand out even when the lyrics don’t impress like they used to. I think it’s interesting to compare this album to Yeezus, also released in 2013, in that way because it almost feels like Jay adopted Kanye’s concept of letting the music speak more than the lyrics.
Overall, this is not a great album by any stretch of the imagination. Some songs are forgettable at best, Jay sounds more like an elitist than he ever has (again, the hook on Tom Ford is god-awful), and the music isn’t as joyful as it once was. But I do think it’s better than it’s given credit for, and I believe it has aged better than every album I have ranked under it.
9. 4:44 (2017)
Despite a career of bragging and boasting and guns and cars and girls in his lyrics, Jay-Z has almost always had time to add more introspective tracks to his records, going all the way back to “Regrets” on his debut album. However, it wasn’t until his latest solo effort that we finally got an entire album dedicated to that side of Jay’s music, which stands in stark contrast to the cold, detached nature of his previous album.
4:44 is an album that tackles numerous topics, from fatherhood to marriage and infidelity. Jay is unflinchingly honest about his failures in a way that surprised even the most hardcore fan of his music. He also started rapping again in a fashion that most people believed he could never touch again, with some notable standouts being “The Story of OJ” and “4:44”.
This album benefits greatly from three factors: a consistent theme throughout, the use of a single producer for every track in No I.D., and a 10 track, 36 minute runtime that doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. These three factors work with one another to create a consistent body of music, the complete antithesis to The Blueprint 2.
One song in particular that stuck out to me while revisiting this album was the final track, “Legacy”. Maybe I’m just a sucker for a good Donny Hathaway sample, but I really enjoyed this song about the legacy of the Carter name and it made me reflect on Jay’s legacy in the rap game.
Overall, while I wouldn’t say 4:44 stands with Jay’s classic albums, I think that it’s a great record and I hope that he builds off it if he ever decides to make another album.
8. American Gangster (2007)
Time travel a decade prior, and we have landed at perhaps Jay’s most under-appreciated album…and maybe the most controversial ranking on this list.
American Gangster is named after the 2007 film directed by Ridley Scott, and the fact that this album is ranked 8th should tell you a lot about how great Hov’s discography really is. This album might be the rapper’s most consistent body of work since Reasonable Doubt, and THAT is saying something. Following the abysmal Kingdom Come that was released just a year prior, this album was a return to form for the acclaimed rapper.
This album is interesting to me because it’s not really similar to any other album Jay-Z had released before or has released since. For one, it serves as a concept album of sorts, with the beginning focusing on the struggle before achieving success towards the middle and crashing back down to reality at the end, not dissimilar to how the film played out. Secondly, it doesn't really have any songs you could call “hits”; that’s not to say some of the music isn’t radio friendly, but it really feels as though Jay was focused on making music far more than selling records with this album in particular.
In my opinion, it’s impossible to talk about this album without highlighting “Ignorant Shit”. The beat is great, using the same Isley Brothers sample that Biggie used over a decade prior with “Big Poppa”, and Jay spits two of the best verses of his career. As if that wasn’t enough, the ever consistent Beanie Siegel spits a solid verse of his own that keeps up with song’s the theme of censorship in hip hop.
7. In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 (1997)
Time travel another decade (I promise this is a coincidence) and we arrive at yet another underlooked album in Hov’s discography…and man, did it hurt to have to rank this one as low as it is.
Initially I had this album ranked higher than it is now, and that’s because the great tracks on this album are fucking phenomenal. “Streets is Watching” is maybe a top 5 Jay-Z song ever, and you could easily make the same claim for the hard-hitting penultimate track “Where I’m From”; Friend or Foe ’98 is on an Empire Strikes Back level of rap sequels; even the final track, “You Must Love Me”, is one of Jay’s best and most personal tracks, telling three stories about people in his life that he felt he failed.
You would think, given these great songs, that this album would be closer to top 5 than it is…well, I did too, until I remembered that “I Know What Girls Like” and “(Always Be My Sunshine)” existed. Genuinely, you could not pay me to willingly listened to the hook on the former again, and Hov himself acknowledged that the latter was far from his best work.
It’s unfortunate that Jay felt pressured into making obvious radio hits in order to sell records, especially in the wake of Biggie Smalls’ passing, as it really drags down what is otherwise a great record. Jay wasn’t ready to take over the crown of “best rapper alive” just yet, but it wouldn’t take long for that to change.
6. Vol. 3…Life and Times of S. Carter (1999)
Maybe another controversial ranking, but hear me out.
In 1999, Jay was at the top of his game. His rhyming ability was as consistent as it has ever been, and he finally was able to have mainstream success the year prior with the release of his third LP Vol 2. He was finally able to say, without a doubt, that he was the best rapper alive.
The thing is, though, the music on Vol 3. is less consistent, and it hurts the album slightly. It seemed as though Jay wanted to check as many boxes as possible with this record, which is an admirable goal, but not one that lent itself to providing a cohesive sound. Some of the risks that were taken worked well, such as the smash hit “Big Pimpin” with UGK, while others like the concept track “Dope Man” didn’t age as well.
Still, there’s no denying that this is one of Jay’s best albums, and the highs on this LP can stand with any in his discography. the DJ Premier produced “So Ghetto” still hits as hard as it did when it first came out, and it’s impossible to deny the smoothness of “It’s Hot (Some Like It Hot)”.
5. The Dynasty: Roc La Familia (2000)
I was surprised that I liked this album as much as I did on register, especially considering that it’s generally considered a posse album disguised as a solo effort. Nevertheless, I will absolutely argue that this album deserves the spot I’ve ranked it at.
Similar to Vol. 3, The Dynasty sees Hov at the peak of his power, and this time he’s content with taking a bit of a backseat in order to let his crew shine; he doesn’t even appear on two of the 16 tracks. However, this did not stop the album from being one of the rapper’s most consistent effort, save a few tracks like “Guilty Until Proven Innocent” featuring R. Kelly…yeah, don’t think that one needs an explanation.
Where else could I start when speaking of this album’s highlights if not it’s intro? Simply put, this is Jay’s best intro track, on any of his albums, bar none. Despite the rapper not actually rapping until well over a minute into the track, Hov manages to spit one of his most memorable verses of his career.
It’s on this album where we see a more personal side of Jay that previous albums only hinted at. “Where Have You Been” is a heartbreaking tale of childhood abandonment that Beans and Jay deliver on; Soon You’ll Understand features Jay being candid about his failures in a relationship and his perception of his relationship with his mother. These two songs are great, but it’s the Kanye West-produced “This Can’t Be Life” that really stands out, with three contemplative verses from Jigga, Beans and a standout verse from Scarface about the death of his friend’s child.
There’s still room for Jay to talk his shit, though, and some of the notable highlights in this category are “Streets Is Talking” and “You, Me, Him, and Her”. Perhaps the biggest flaw about this album is Beanie Sigel maybe shines a bit brighter than Hov on his own songs, but Jay more than held his own and then some throughout the entire album.
While this album was released during the peak of Jay’s resign at the top of the hip-hop throne, it seems like no one really talks about it. And that’s a shame, because it’s a great record that has some of the best material Jay ever recorded.
4. Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life (1998)
At #4 we’ve landed on the album where Jay-Z truly became the Jay-Z we know him today. Vol. 2 is the first album to make a big buzz commercially, debuting at #1 on the Billboard Top 100 and selling over 5 million records. The crazy thing is, all that success wasn’t compromised by a decrease in musical quality or lyrical ability as Hov would suggest on “Public Service Announcement”; this album is amazing, from top to bottom.
Where to begin with this album? I guess we could start at the second track, “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)”, which uses an incredible Annie sample to its advantage to create a smash hit that would catapult Jay-Z into superstardom. Or maybe the slick Irv Gotti produced “Can I Get A…”, a track that originated on the soundtrack to Rush Hour. Or maybe “Ride Or Die” and “It’s Like That”, scathing responses to rapper Ma$e that made clear that Jay would not run from any smoke.
It would be remiss of me to not write about “Money, Cash, Hoes” though, as it’s one of the first collaborations we heard between Jay-Z and his would-be Murder Inc. member DMX. Swizz Beatz produced the track, which you can immediately tell as it doesn’t rely on the flashy samples that were popular at the time, instead using keyboards to create a completely original sound that rap had not heard before.
Hip-Hop was in a weird place in 1997. 2Pac had died the year prior, and Biggie Smalls would lose his life not long after. A void was left that no one would fill for the rest of the year. However, the following year would see Jay-Z finally assert his claim as the best rapper alive.
3. The Black Album (2003)
The top three of Jay-Z’s discography is often not questioned, and that’s because these next three albums are among the greatest of all time. While The Black Album is only ranked third on this list, I could easily see the case for it being his best album.
In 2003, Jay-Z was ready to retire. It’s funny because, prior to the release of his debut album, Jay planned to only release a single album before stepping into an executive position. It’s a good idea he changed his mind, then, otherwise we might not have gotten this instant classic.
Fresh off the aftermath of the underwhelming Blueprint 2 and his beef with Nas, Jay was locked in for this album. He made sure he got his best producers in the studio, including a young Kanye West on the verge of breaking out with his own debut album, who hooked him up with “Lucifer”. Frequent collaborator Timbaland provided Jay with one of the best tracks on the album in “Dirt Off Ya Shoulder”, a futuristic sounding beat that was ahead of its time.
The absolute peak of this album is no doubt “99 Problems”, a hard-hitting, Rick Rubin produced single that went 2x platinum. In particular the second verse, an anecdote about a tense encounter Jay had with an officer, stands out as one of his best in his career. The song was ranked #2 in Rolling Stone’s top 100 songs of the 2000s, and it’s not hard to see why.
The only real weak link on this record is “Justify My Thug”, which really feels out of place compared to the rest of the album. The beat is mediocre, one of the rare misses of DJ Quik’s discography, and the hook is cringeworthy. The fact this album is ranked so highly despite this black sheep of a track should tell you how great the rest of the record is.
Hov is often considered the “Michael Jordan of rap”, and if this album were to symbolize any years of MJ’s career, it would definitely be the second threepeat from 96–98; Jay’s “retirement” serves as Jordan’s game winning shot in game 6 of the ’98 Finals, going out in iconic fashion (although it may be disrespectful to Jordan to compare his Wizards years to Kingdom Come).
2. The Blueprint (2001)
Keeping in theme with the Jordan comparison, The Blueprint would symbolize Jordan’s first threepeat years from 91–93. He had achieved success before, but this album was on another level. From the start, Jay proved that he was on a mission to not just be considered the best rapper alive, but the best rapper ever.
The Blueprint opens with the triumphant “The Ruler’s Back” before launching into the ultimate middle finger of a track in “Takeover”. Jay’s motto at this time was that he would not lose (which you can hear on “U Don’t Know”) so it’s no surprise that he would engage in all out warfare with Mobb Deep AND Nas on this track, even going so far as to put the former on the “Summer Jam Screen”.
“Izzo (H.O.V.A.)” is an instantly recognizable hit off this record, reaching 8th on the Billboard Top 100. “Girls, Girls, Girls” is a solid single that adopts the playful nature of Jay’s mentor in “Just Playing (Dreams)”.
However, as good as these hits are, nothing compares to Jay’s magnum opus, “Heart of the City (Ain’t No Love)”. Ye works his magic again with a Bobby Bland sample to create an anthem that even the most uncultured hip-hop fan could recognize.
The deep cuts on this album are among the best of Jay’s discography, too. “Song Cry” was released as a single, but serves as a rap ballad of sorts that many can relate to; “Never Change” establishes that, despite changing circumstances, Jay would remain the same person he always was; “Momma Loves Me”, the album’s outro is a personal favorite of mine and focuses on the rapper’s upbringing and those that made him the man he became.
The claim that this album is Jay-Z’s finest is not unfounded. It has some of his best songs, some of his best verses, and arguably is a timeless work that you could go back to at any time in your life. Although I do think there’s one album better than The Blueprint in his discography, it’s no exaggeration to say that Jay created a masterpiece with this one.
Oh, and Jay was better than Eminem on Renegade. And Takeover was better than Ether.
1. Reasonable Doubt (1996)
It was always gonna be between Blueprint and Reasonable Doubt. You knew it, I knew it, and everyone that clicked on this article knew it.
Personally, I’ve always been on the side of Reasonable Doubt. Not only do I think this is Jay’s greatest album, I believe it’s the best debut rap album outside of maybe 36 Chambers, fitting for a rapper I and many others consider to be the GOAT.
Simply put, there’s no dry spot on this album at all save for the regrettable “Can I Live II”, which does not live up to its predecessor at all. Aside from that, this is probably the greatest stretch of music Jay’s ever recorded. From the very start, Jay sounds confident rhyming on “Can’t Knock the Hustle”, accompanied by a prime Mary J. Blidge. He trades verses with Biggie on “Brooklyn’s Finest” before rapping over the best rap beat ever on “Dead Presidents”, which would use a sample of the rapper that Jay would become embroiled in beef with just 5 years later.
I feel like “D’Evils” deserves a paragraph all on its own. Possibly Jay’s best track ever, this song is perfect in every way, from the samples of Snoop Dogg and Prodigy (another rapper Jay would beef with in 5 years) on the hook, the piano sample for the instrumental, or Jay’s mafioso-eqsue lyrics painting the image of violence and friends turned enemies.
Other notable highlights include the lyrical prowess showcased on “22 Two’s”, the silky smooth flow on “Can I Live”, or the DJ Premier produced “Bring It On” that served as a posse cut where Jay-Z, Jaz-O, and Sauce Money spit verses trying to one-up the other, with Hov coming out on top.
Reasonable Doubt was the world’s introduction to Jay-Z, yet he rapped as if he had been a vet in the rap game for over a decade. His flow charisma was palpable, his rhymes were blistering, and his flows were maybe too advanced in 1996 for the music to be properly appreciated at the time.
Tying this Michael Jordan analogy up, if The Blueprint and The Black Album were Jay’s championship years, Reasonable Doubt is ’88 MVP season, setting the world on fire but going underappreciated by in similar fashion to how Jordan would just miss the Finals. Hov was unstoppable in the same way that MJ was, but it would take a while for both of their greatness to finally translate into rings.
