Maaaan... Listen...

For starters Jay Z is not in the top 5 rappers of all time... I am literally shocked you would say something like that.... He may be in the top 20/30 considering elements such as success and mass appeal... But top 5 is an amazingly ignorant exaduration..

As for being a household name... Ofcourse he is... Hes been around for what.. 20 years or so? The dudes over 40 years old... He is an average lyricist.. His music is also fairly average considering the amount of time hes been rapping and the amount of money that gets thrown at his production... The guy bites lines and even entire paragraphs at times to spruce up his songs hiding his unorigionality by saying he bites out of 'respect' AND he has ghost writers... See, there are 100 rappers that are far more talented musically but simply wernt in the right place at the right time like he was...

People have respect for Jay because hes been in the game for a long ass time and most people started listening way back when he was slightly more small time and wasnt really trynna take anything over... Now a days its different...

Rap music is an industry that needs a leader... And Jay Z fell into that spot simply because everyone else that was filling that slot either got killed or retired long before.. And there is absolutly no problem with that... However I will tell it to you straight up.. He possesses absolutly no qualitys of a leader.. He is un-origional and it is simply not acceptable for rap to be led by such a weak artist..... Which is the reason why Jay Z pisses me off so much, its NOT even a skill thing.. He got put in a high up podium and he aint done jack shit but fuck around and weaken the image of rap by strengthening negative steriotypes and doing very little on a real scale towards the progression of the art form itself...

Now I have NO problem with people being Jay Z fans.. I have NO problem with people enjoying his music.. My problem with him lies in the backwards mindframe he has spread around the rap game.. And I would have the same problem with any other rapper in his position doing what hes doing...

As for the underground.. I agree... Underground rappers these days are increasingly becomming snobby little bitches that think they are so amazingly skilled when in reality they lack mass appeal and musical talent..... Part of this problem is due to the internet and its general views on lyricism...

I will say though... Lyricism IS what rap is about.. Hooks and instrumentals are the tools utalised in order to make your poetic lyricism sell... But in order to gain appeal, an artist has to have both.... And I wont lie.. To an extent, Jay has both... But he isnt a master of either like people make him out to be.

And he is NOT top 5.