Jay Z is a living legend and one of the reasons for that is that he has released hit album after hit album, each one capturing a moment in time and reflected in rap. On his 44th birthday, the rap titan took the time to reflect on his career and ranked his 12 solo albums in order of his personal preference. Of course he started with Reasonable Doubt and not surprisingly ended with Kingdom Come. Take a look at “The Scoreboard” below and take a moment to read Jigga’s annotations on each album.
1. Reasonable Doubt (Classic)
2. The Blueprint (Classic)
3. The Black Album (Classic)
4. Vol. 2 (Classic)
5. American Gangster (4 1/2, cohesive)
6. Magna Carta (Fuckwit, Tom Ford, Oceans, Beach, On the Run, Grail)
7. Vol. 1 (Sunshine kills this album…fuck… Streets, Where I’m from, You Must Love Me…)
8. BP3 (Sorry critics, it’s good. Empire (Gave Frank a run for his money))
9. Dynasty (Intro alone…)
10. Vol. 3 (Pimp C verse alone… oh, So Ghetto)
11. BP2 (Too many songs. Fucking Guru and Hip Hop, ha)
12. Kingdom Come (First game back, don’t shoot me)