Black Album is better.

good album, but not as good as reasonable doubt. renagade has eminem's best ever verse in his entire career

Don't let anyone fool you, the critics were correct. This is jay-z's best attempt at rap. His black album is often smooth melodically but his lyrics don't touch the caliber of The Blueprint. Renegade, Song Cry and Take over are the three most genuine to his style. They distill his essence

The perfect distillation of Jigga. It's better lyrically than everything that came afterwards, and the beats are the best he's ever rapped over. It's not as good as Reasonable Doubt IMO, but if someone asked me for a starting point for listening to Jay-Z then it'd be this. Anyone that thinks the Black Album is remotely near this level needs their ears checked.

Hip hop royalty at his best.

It's funny he called this the blueprint. Ironically, it established a blueprint for his future albums, with which he couldn't come close to topping this. Jay-Z rapping had already started to slide a little since Reasonable Doubt, but it's made up for by the brilliant production. His best.

I'm still surprised at this album acclaim. Topping critic's lists is confusing. It's not that great of an album. Like, yeah, it's decent here and there, but I even think that the Black Album was better than this. Not saying it's bad, just over-rated.

A true rap masterpiece, with a great fresh soul blended Kanye West sound, yet I don't think it reaches the height of Jay-Z's debut album "Reasonable Doubt".

I think in terms of Jay-Z albums, it's definitely between this and the Black album. While the Black album is still solid, especially so much later on in his career, tracks like Takeover and Heart of the City on this one make it top dawg.

Best Tracks: Takeover, Renegade.