Jay-Z is considered the Hip-Hop G.O.A.T by many due to his ability, accolades, and longevity. Goodie Mob’s Big Gipp recently disputed that notion, stating 50 Cent and DMX were both bigger than Hov in their primes.
“When 50 came out, I ain’t hear no JAY-Z music — it just stopped playing,” the 49-year-old told The Art Of Dialogue during an interview on Wednesday (Feb. 15). “Come on, bruh! I was there when 50 came out, he shut everything down. And the reason why they didn’t give it to 50, you know why? Because the West Coast did his music. New York has never crowned 50 Cent because the West Coast did his music: Dr. Dre.”
DMX famously released two albums in 1998, It’s Dark And Hell Is Hot and Flesh Of My Flesh, Blood Of My Blood, both of which went No. 1 and outpaced the Brooklyn rapper’s Vol 2… Hard Knock Life, which also came out that year. The Atlanta rapper pointed out that fact, in addition to some of Dark Man X’s cultural impact.
“The movement that Ruff Ryders had was totally different than all of the sh*t that ever came through New York. It was just totally street. Nobody had seen a dude from New York sleep on bi**hes with dogs roof-roofing at the camera, ride motorcycles and sh*t, and then pray on stage and cry. DMX was a muthaf**king true artist because he never cared about money.”
His critiques for the 4:44 artist even extended to his former Roc-A-Fella Records imprint. “I still think Murder Inc. was bigger than Roc-A-Fella,” Gipp said. “When you go back and look at them numbers, Ja Rule was nothing but on the radio, [Ashanti] was nothing but on the radio. If you go back and look at the Roc-A-Fella roster, it was Beanie Sigel and them; it wasn’t Ashanti.”
The Dungeon Family member also stated that Jay-Z’s stardom primarily resides within New York, but he lacked transcendence into other regions. “Jay-Z ain’t never been on the radio here hella crazy. No!” Gipp said. “He has big records, but all the records that people probably heard in New York, they never heard them records down here. Same goes out West. They probably heard the big records with Beyoncé, ‘Big Pimpin,’ but if you go back, they never heard a lot of sh*t that people love Jay for in New York.”
This discussion comes on the heels of Billboard and VIBE Magazine releasing their list ranking the top 50 rappers of all time in honor of Hip-Hop’s 50th anniversary. Jay-Z was ranked No. 1, 50 Cent No. 17, and DMX No. 21. Watch the top 10 slots below.