For Jay Z’s 44th birthday, the rapper decided to rank all 12 of his studio albums from best to worst on his website, Life + Times.
He wrote the following rankings for his discography, along with his own brief commentary of why each album is placed where it is:
- Reasonable Doubt (Classic)
- The Blueprint (Classic)
- The Black Album (Classic)
- Vol. 2 (Classic)
- American Gangster (4 1/2, cohesive)
- Magna Carta (F—wit, Tom Ford, Oceans, Beach, On the Run, Grail)
- Vol. 1 (Sunshine kills this album…f—… Streets, Where I’m from, You Must Love Me…)
- BP3 (Sorry critics, it’s good. Empire (Gave Frank a run for his money))
- Dynasty (Intro alone…)
- Vol. 3 (Pimp C verse alone… oh, So Ghetto)
- BP2 (Too many songs. F—ing Guru and Hip Hop, ha)
- Kingdom Come (First game back, don’t shoot me)
Reasonable Doubt, released in 1996, was Jay Z’s first release. The album went platinum and landed on Rolling Stone’s list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time,” along with The Black Album and The Blueprint.
Jay Z’s most recent album, Magna Carta…Holy Grail, which has received mixed reviews, appears halfway through the list.
How would you rank Jay Z’s albums? Write your own list of your top 12 favorite Jay Z albums in the comment section below.
