You can only pick one duo................

I saw this on HipHopDX, and i thought it was interesting. As a duo, who would you pick between Royce/Em and Jay/Kanye?

Uh Royce/Em for me. Way better combo on the mic. Jay and Kanye are all about pop music now, Em is leaning that way too, but at least Royce keeps him competitive. I still need to hear the Bad Meets Evil, but at least on paper Em/Royce for me.

Royce & Em for me. I just prefer their lyricism and I think they work better together than Jay & Kanye IMO...

"Uh Royce/Em for me. Way better combo on the mic. Jay and Kanye are all about pop music now, Em is leaning that way too,"


For real halfy! Em is "leaning" that way?? hmmm songs with Rihanna, Lil Wayne, Pink, Drake, Nikki Minaj, all within the last 2 years....halfy he's not leaning that way he has fell the fuck over already....lol


as for which combo I'm going with Jay/Kanye EASILY....Kanye will handle the production, and Jay the lyrics...ladies and gentlemen say hello to the new Gangstarr, maybe Pete Rock And CL Smooth....lol...nah but they would beat Em and Royce with no problem IMO!

I don't beleive the question was asked with the intent of Ye producing their album. It was just with them on the mic, but that's fair enough i suppose.

I added a poll

Royce/Em, because I think Kanye sucks.

"For real halfy! Em is "leaning" that way?? hmmm songs with Rihanna, Lil Wayne, Pink, Drake, Nikki Minaj, all within the last 2 years....halfy he's not leaning that way he has fell the fuck over already....lol"

But Jay doing the exact same thing is different

Shaun wrote:

"For real halfy! Em is "leaning" that way?? hmmm songs with Rihanna, Lil Wayne, Pink, Drake, Nikki Minaj, all within the last 2 years....halfy he's not leaning that way he has fell the fuck over already....lol"

But Jay doing the exact same thing is different

He didn't mention Jay cause Half said Jay was all the way pop too.

D.Powell wrote:

"Uh Royce/Em for me. Way better combo on the mic. Jay and Kanye are all about pop music now, Em is leaning that way too,"


For real halfy! Em is "leaning" that way?? hmmm songs with Rihanna, Lil Wayne, Pink, Drake, Nikki Minaj, all within the last 2 years....halfy he's not leaning that way he has fell the fuck over already....lol


as for which combo I'm going with Jay/Kanye EASILY....Kanye will handle the production, and Jay the lyrics...ladies and gentlemen say hello to the new Gangstarr, maybe Pete Rock And CL Smooth....lol...nah but they would beat Em and Royce with no problem IMO!

Fair enough, but it feels different with Em. When he tries to make pop singles and whatnot it comes off as really cheesy and awkward to me, and it sounds like a guy coming from hip hop desperately trying to appeal to more people through poppy sounds. With Jay and Kanye, but much more with Kanye, it sounds more and more like the intention is to make a pop single or catchy tune and the more traditional hip hop elements are thrown in as an afterthought (I'm looking at MBDTF here). I'm not totally against pop music or trying to make a catchy yet good song. Jay and Kanye are better at that than Em to me. I just feel much more comfortable labeling Jay and Kanye pop nowadays than I do Eminem. That's why I said "leaning".

I was getting into how Powell said Jay/Kanye would be the next Gangstarr or Pete&CL, but then I saw that he said 'nah' right after lol. My mistake

Don't chu know, Blue Scholars are the next Pete Rock & CL Smooth!

As for this, I'll go with Em/Royce. If only Jay/Kanye were spitting like they were on Never Let Me Down.

I agree Tran Ye & Jay on Never Let Me Down or even Diamonds (remix)>>>>>>>>>

I haven't heard Watch The Throne yet so i may CONTRADICK what i'm about to say later. Since I know how many of you live for finding CONTRADICKIONS.

But I think Royce & Em would be a better duo but they still have more too prove. Because Bad Meets Evil had some suspect hook and beat choices. Jay & Ye have been hit or miss on the lyrical side lately.

I didn't like BME EP nor WTT. But as far as the two duos go, I'd go with BME they have more potential, IMO.

Royce/Em circa 1999 >>>>>>>>>>> almost all

now i dont care, so my answer is BME

Em and Royce win this one GOING AWAY!!

While Bad Meets Evil wasn't a great album, it sounds like Illmatic compared to Watch The (Porcelain) Throne.

LMAO at Powell saying that Jay and Ye could be like GS or Pete & CL. First off, Kanye is nowhere fucking near as good as Primo or Pete Rock. Jay may be a better lyricist than Guru and CL, but he doesn't bring it consistently anymore.

And it's also crazy that he criticized Em for making tracks with guys like Drake, Weezy, and Rihanna when the Jiggaman has done the EXACT SAME FUCKING THING! Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!

Kanye is very near as fucking good as Premo or Pete Rock. Ye has waaaaaaaay more range as a producer than Premo.

"LMAO at Powell saying that Jay and Ye could be like GS or Pete & CL. First off, Kanye is nowhere fucking near as good as Primo or Pete Rock. Jay may be a better lyricist than Guru and CL, but he doesn't bring it consistently anymore"

KJ, I thought he said the same thing, too. But, after that sentence, he wrote "lol... nah", which I implied as meaning he was joking

Kanye does not have more range than Preemo... lol

KJ Styles wrote:

Em and Royce win this one GOING AWAY!!

While Bad Meets Evil wasn't a great album, it sounds like Illmatic compared to Watch The (Porcelain) Throne.

LMAO at Powell saying that Jay and Ye could be like GS or Pete & CL. First off, Kanye is nowhere fucking near as good as Primo or Pete Rock. Jay may be a better lyricist than Guru and CL, but he doesn't bring it consistently anymore.

And it's also crazy that he criticized Em for making tracks with guys like Drake, Weezy, and Rihanna when the Jiggaman has done the EXACT SAME FUCKING THING! Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!

as usual KJ you are absolutely right again...how do you do these things mane??

TicNitty706 wrote:

Kanye is very near as fucking good as Premo or Pete Rock. Ye has waaaaaaaay more range as a producer than Premo.

How do you figure that? Kanye is a pop producer. Not to mention that Premo makes MC's sound better than they really are. He doesn't have anything close to Premo's range. GTFOH with that bullshit!

D.Powell wrote:

KJ Styles wrote:

Em and Royce win this one GOING AWAY!!

While Bad Meets Evil wasn't a great album, it sounds like Illmatic compared to Watch The (Porcelain) Throne.

LMAO at Powell saying that Jay and Ye could be like GS or Pete & CL. First off, Kanye is nowhere fucking near as good as Primo or Pete Rock. Jay may be a better lyricist than Guru and CL, but he doesn't bring it consistently anymore.

And it's also crazy that he criticized Em for making tracks with guys like Drake, Weezy, and Rihanna when the Jiggaman has done the EXACT SAME FUCKING THING! Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!

as usual KJ you are absolutely right again...how do you do these things mane??

All I do is listen to the music and then drop my 2 cents.

DJ Premier >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Kanye West on the boards...not even close Kev

Lmmfao @ Watch The Porcelain Throne

Yeah Kev, Kanye is not fucking with Preemo in any way, shape or form..



as for the other stuff it was a joke KJ......but let's not fool ourselves Jigga lyrically is beating up CL and Guru IMO...whether he's fallen a bit recently or not.....that doesn't erase In My Lifetime Vol 1, Reasonable Doubt, The Black Album, BP1, BP3, American Gangster, etc..etc... so it's really in the production side that Pete and Preemo are winning against Ye...but Jay is beating both of those guys on the mic...so it might be a damn wash....lol

D.Powell wrote:

Yeah Kev, Kanye is not fucking with Preemo in any way, shape or form..



as for the other stuff it was a joke KJ......but let's not fool ourselves Jigga lyrically is beating up CL and Guru IMO...whether he's fallen a bit recently or not.....that doesn't erase In My Lifetime Vol 1, Reasonable Doubt, The Black Album, BP1, BP3, American Gangster, etc..etc... so it's really in the production side that Pete and Preemo are winning against Ye...but Jay is beating both of those guys on the mic...so it might be a damn wash....lol

I agree with Jay's lyrical ability, and career wise I have him ahead of Em and Royce but nowadays not so much.

D.Powell wrote:

Yeah Kev, Kanye is not fucking with Preemo in any way, shape or form..



as for the other stuff it was a joke KJ......but let's not fool ourselves Jigga lyrically is beating up CL and Guru IMO...whether he's fallen a bit recently or not.....that doesn't erase In My Lifetime Vol 1, Reasonable Doubt, The Black Album, BP1, BP3, American Gangster, etc..etc... so it's really in the production side that Pete and Preemo are winning against Ye...but Jay is beating both of those guys on the mic...so it might be a damn wash....lol

Jay did absolutely nothing lyrically on that album.

Half wrote:

D.Powell wrote:

Yeah Kev, Kanye is not fucking with Preemo in any way, shape or form..



as for the other stuff it was a joke KJ......but let's not fool ourselves Jigga lyrically is beating up CL and Guru IMO...whether he's fallen a bit recently or not.....that doesn't erase In My Lifetime Vol 1, Reasonable Doubt, The Black Album, BP1, BP3, American Gangster, etc..etc... so it's really in the production side that Pete and Preemo are winning against Ye...but Jay is beating both of those guys on the mic...so it might be a damn wash....lol

Jay did absolutely nothing lyrically on that album.

To you he didn't but to me he was fine on it....it was like his version of Exit 13 by Cool J..another album unreasonably panned IMO...but just because the majority don't like them doesn't mean I don't....


KJ Jigga's legacy is safe no matter if he releases another classic or not....he's getting lazy due to getting older and fuckin Beyonce...hey mane shit happens....lol

D.Powell wrote:

Half wrote:

D.Powell wrote:

Yeah Kev, Kanye is not fucking with Preemo in any way, shape or form..



as for the other stuff it was a joke KJ......but let's not fool ourselves Jigga lyrically is beating up CL and Guru IMO...whether he's fallen a bit recently or not.....that doesn't erase In My Lifetime Vol 1, Reasonable Doubt, The Black Album, BP1, BP3, American Gangster, etc..etc... so it's really in the production side that Pete and Preemo are winning against Ye...but Jay is beating both of those guys on the mic...so it might be a damn wash....lol

Jay did absolutely nothing lyrically on that album.

To you he didn't but to me he was fine on it....it was like his version of Exit 13 by Cool J..another album unreasonably panned IMO...but just because the majority don't like them doesn't mean I don't....


KJ Jigga's legacy is safe no matter if he releases another classic or not....he's getting lazy due to getting older and fuckin Beyonce...hey mane shit happens....lol

Ok, well why is Jay better lyrically than Guru then? To be honest with you, I remember more Guru lines than I do Jay lines. And he never fell off on the mic. If anything, he was getting more animated on the mic over time. He didn't fall off. Jay has fallen off. Even though I thought AG was a great album he wasn't too impressive with the lyrics on that album either. He hasn't been really good on the mic since The Black Album if you ask me. He still can make good music, but the idea that he is still a great lyricist is pretty crazy now. I read Decoded, I know he put a lot of thought into his lines back in the day. But most of the tracks he broke down were from The Black Album or earlier, and for good reason.

Half wrote:

D.Powell wrote:

Half wrote:

D.Powell wrote:

Yeah Kev, Kanye is not fucking with Preemo in any way, shape or form..



as for the other stuff it was a joke KJ......but let's not fool ourselves Jigga lyrically is beating up CL and Guru IMO...whether he's fallen a bit recently or not.....that doesn't erase In My Lifetime Vol 1, Reasonable Doubt, The Black Album, BP1, BP3, American Gangster, etc..etc... so it's really in the production side that Pete and Preemo are winning against Ye...but Jay is beating both of those guys on the mic...so it might be a damn wash....lol

Jay did absolutely nothing lyrically on that album.

To you he didn't but to me he was fine on it....it was like his version of Exit 13 by Cool J..another album unreasonably panned IMO...but just because the majority don't like them doesn't mean I don't....


KJ Jigga's legacy is safe no matter if he releases another classic or not....he's getting lazy due to getting older and fuckin Beyonce...hey mane shit happens....lol

Ok, well why is Jay better lyrically than Guru then? To be honest with you, I remember more Guru lines than I do Jay lines. And he never fell off on the mic. If anything, he was getting more animated on the mic over time. He didn't fall off. Jay has fallen off. Even though I thought AG was a great album he wasn't too impressive with the lyrics on that album either. He hasn't been really good on the mic since The Black Album if you ask me. He still can make good music, but the idea that he is still a great lyricist is pretty crazy now. I read Decoded, I know he put a lot of thought into his lines back in the day. But most of the tracks he broke down were from The Black Album or earlier, and for good reason.

Guru took a dive as well on that Baldheaded Slick solo shit....most emcees go downhill even if it's just a little bit after being in the game for awhile....Black Though being a rare exception.....but even with those dives it does nothing to their legacies IMO...as far as Jigga being better than Guru well IMO Jigga is a GREAT emcee....Guru was slightly above average...he was dope though and really rode those Preemo beats better than anyone else IMO....as far as him (Jay-Z) not being good on the mic since The Black Album well I disagree with that 100%....he was good on American Gangster...and had his moments on BP3 and even had a few on Kingdom Come (although that album was about 3 stars overall)...again this is in my opinion...

Ye has way more range than Premo. Most of Premo beats have the same vibe and signature scratches and samples running thru the hooks. Not saying thats a bad thing because most great producers have a signature sound but Kanye can make more diverse beats. He can make "pop" beats that still feel str8 hip hop. Imo he's the new generation Marley Marl.

I luv Premo beats but just like some people view Dre as overrated I feel the same about Prem at times. Of course there are some die hard Gangstarr fans on this forum so thats like foreign language i'm speaking.

And Half I do not how you judge lyricism and good rappers but imo Jay had some real stand out moments on BP3. There are some songs I skip on it and that come off boring but the oens that hit or base hits to me.