There were a lot of raised eyebrows when rapper Jim Jones made the bold declaration that he had a better career and is more relevant in the hip-hop game than legendary emcee Nas.
Debate and controversy were ignited when Jones defended his catalog and career when a 21-year-old hip hop fan from New Jersey went viral by saying that Jim Jones had superseded Nasir Jones as an all-time artist.
Jim Jones agrees with the young rap fan
Jones defended the young fan while visiting the “Joe and Jada” podcast, adding that millennials don’t even know who Nas is, as incredulous as that sounds.
“These kids love me. They don’t really know who Nas [is],” Jones said, referencing the generational divide. He added that Nas dropped his debut album in the mid-1990s when Jones was still in high school, and younger listeners today are more familiar with Jones’ work.
For the record, Jim Jones is 48 and Nasir Jones is 51.
Jim Jones says Nas was one of his idols in high school
That notwithstanding, Jones said Nas was one of his musical idols while he progressed through his formative and high school years growing up in Harlem during the golden era of hip hop.
“I admired Nas,” Jones admitted to Fat Joe and Jadakiss. “When it came to dressin’, the wordplay, the music, everything. I was a superior Nas fan, period. I’ll never take that away from him.”
Jones continued cooking on the subject, adding, “But then, as I got in the game, you gotta realize, your idols become rivals. Not to take away anything from that. I developed my own style and my own lane that these kids started to gravitate towards [to], the same way I gravitated towards Nas when I [was] younger.”
Jadakiss tried to pump the brakes on that claim, though, and said his son is around the same age and is aware of Nas’ impact on the genre. But Jones dismissed that, saying his son knows Nas because he’s around Jada.
“He’s your son,” he retorted. “My son can’t tell you one Nas record. Let’s keep it a buck here. There must be some type of misconception when it comes to Jim Jones and what Jim Jones has done in this game,” Jones continued, speaking in the third person. “A lot of these rappers have done a tremendous job. And I take nothing away from them. But they forget, I got a helluva catalog. Gold records, platinum records. Gold albums, platinum albums … Check my track record. Then check everybody else’s track record.”
Fat Joe also tried to intercede in the conversation, saying “We can’t compare the two,” but Jones wasn’t trying to hear any of that.
“Pull up Nas [B]illboard entries, then pull up my Billboard entries,” Jones said.
“I’m not taking anything away from nobody,” Jones adds. “But I hear the comparisons. [N-words] be trying to act funny. No, I been spanking a lot of this [stuff]. I’m talking about the industry. I been putting on … If you want to go to the Billboard entries, pull up Nas’ Billboard entries and pull up my Billboard entries.”
Billboard has the receipts
According to Billboard, Jim Jones has two songs (“We Fly High” and “Pop Champagne”) on the Billboard Hot 100 with one top 10 hit and no No. 1s. Nas, on the other hand, has 27 songs that have entered the chart with two top 10 hits while also having no No. 1s.
As far as albums are concerned, Jim has nine entries in the Billboard albums chart with three top 10 albums and no No. 1s, while Nas has 27 entries, 16 top 10 albums and six that have reached No. 1.
After social media weighed in, Jones returned to the subject, telling his 3.7 million Instagram followers, “[Y’all] do know after I get [y’all] in [y’all] feelings on social media I go back to living a real good life lol,” he said. “Side bar, [going] viral is [a] major tool in [the] entertainment business. Don’t get stuck in [yesterday’s] grind. Stay current, my friend.”
