Jay-Z and Nas fans have been butting heads for decades. The battle for the title of illest emcee never seems to get stale. However successful Jay-Z has been, money and fame are no indicators of true talent. Nas delivers a rich tapestry of story telling that elevates the hip-hop experience to another level.

Our debate opens with Team Jay-Z. Millions of albums sold? A given. Is he a great writer, musician, and overall pretty decent entertainer? Most definitely. I’m not saying Hov is terrible at what he does; he wouldn’t be here today if he didn’t possess some sort of musical talent. However, although the man balls hard these days, I feel as though he doesn’t rightfully deserve this much attention. Lyrically, I’d put him on the top 20, but even on that list, he ranks at a mid position for me, maybe at 10.

He’s never released an album better than “Reasonable Doubt.” He makes good music, and I’m sure he’ll continue to do so. His steady flow of releases is the result of a creative restlessness that wouldn’t allow him to repeat what worked for him the first time around. He constantly tries new avenues, and unfortunately, some avenues were bound to be dead ends. If he had to create an “I Know What Girls Like” to get a “Where I’m From,” then so be it.

His self-perpetuated thug image has never convinced me. When Jay-Z was scary, it was never because he was tough. He was scary because he was smart. He wasn’t going to beat you up or shoot you, he was going to outwit you-and that’s scarier.

“The Blueprint” was the beginning of the end. Although it was a great album, it marked the start of certain trends within his work that have since become destructive to his artistry. For one, he simplified his rapping. He had a lot to say with that album and wanted to make sure his listeners understood him, but that meant that the more complex cadences and rhyme schemes he’d been rocking in the late 90’s were dispensed in the name of clarity. Let’s get to the realness.

Nas, whose storytelling skills have yet to be topped by any other artist in the underground or mainstream hip-hop industry, is one of the most underrated rappers of our time.

First, he made the real blueprint for rap artists. In fact, he subverted the current hip-hop culture by claiming the art “dead” in 2006. Although Nas’ buzz has died in the limelight and radio plays, he is forever engraved in the history of hip-hop. His 1994 album, “Illmatic,” sheds light on the post-crack atmosphere of New York City. Nas paints aural pictures of the inner-city struggles-“hittin’ L’s,” “pack a black .32” and “keep an eye out for Jake.”

In the background of the intro, you can vaguely make out Nas’ first recorded song “Live at the BBQ” with Main Source. Nas’ infamous line can be found in this song: “When I was 12, I went to hell for snuffin’ Jesus.” Taking jabs at Jesus? This shows that even at a young age, Nas grasped the rough nature of the streets. All of this came out in 1994; most artists will never achieve what Nas did with this album.

Nas captures the state of mind of the impoverished youth in New York during the nineties. How do you solve an irremediable problem? Let the public hear about it or see it. Nas reports to us live using his own news broadcasting approach.

Nas is still a major influence in rap. He helped boost East Coast rap to its prominent position. With his rap feud with Jay-Z, he kept the art alive after Biggie and Tupac died. Jay-Z went from a fast, bar-spitting rapper to a more paced-flow rapper. He created his style from Nas.

Nas influenced Eminem with his detailed story-telling tactics and gave Lil Wayne a bit of fame with their rap beef. He even has a collection of verses that are straight-up diss lines to the late Biggie Smalls that could be deemed “dead wrong.”

The struggle is eternal. Nas tells the story of the everyman. With such a great piece of work as “Illmatic,” Nas’ career has been humbled by the fact that none of his work, or any other rapper’s work, will ever come as close to perfection as “Illmatic” has come. That’s just one of his incredible albums that single-handedly upstages Jay-Z’s entire career.