Hip-Hop Head To Head: Jay-Z vs. Raekwon the Chef

Two weeks ago on the same day, two titans of hip-hop released highly-anticipated follow-ups to some of their most famous material: Jay-Z discarded the legacies of his previous two post-retirement releases in order to deliver The Blueprint 3, while Wu-Tang member Raekwon attempted to recalibrate his career with Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Pt. II, a sequel to his 1995 solo debut.

But the question is, who’s got more to lose or gain with these spinoffs of earlier successes? And for that matter, which one is actually more successful? Even though we’re fans of both artists, we decided to take an in-depth look at each album, check out its conception, design and collective impact, and determine, even arbitrarily, which of the two will – or maybe just who should – be able to resuscitate their career with the release of this record.

1. Previous batting average.

Naturally, the first question is, who needs a hit more? The obvious answer is Raekwon: after the release of the original Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, the former Wu-Tang member’s next two albums secured mediocre promotion and almost nonexistent commercial recognition, partial testament to which being the fact we actually forgot he released anything as a solo artist since 1995. That said, both 1999’s Immobilarity and 2003’s The Lex Diamond Story were exceedingly well-received… by the four people who heard them.

Meanwhile, Jay-Z has released eight albums and four collaborations with other artists, not counting the two previous Blueprint albums. While he’s certainly released at least a couple of indisputable classics, among them the original Blueprint, The Black Album, he also put out a handful of clunkers, and his last two albums received mixed reviews at best.

Advantage: Jay-Z

2. Identity versus integrity.

While Jay-Z’s 1996 debut Reasonable Doubt was heralded as a sacred text of street realism, he has since transformed himself into a cultural phenomenon, thanks not only to his millions upon millions of records sold, but his high-profile job as the president of Def Jam Records (and of course his relationship to “the hottest chick in the game,” Beyonce Knowles). But while his music has similarly evolved from basement tapes to Billboard charts, and his subject matter changed from back alleys to boardrooms, he’s been far more eager than his colleague to concede to popular tastes.

By comparison, Raekwon seems determined to be successful, but without kowtowing to commercial expectations; notwithstanding a few guests spots here and there on other artists’ albums, he’s mostly stayed out of the spotlight, and seldom produced a song that sounded, well, anything like a pop single.

Advantage: Raekwon

3. Who’s behind the boards.

As a proven hitmaker, much less the guy who can greenlight the budget for his own albums, Jay-Z no doubt had more money to throw into his latest than Raekwon did into Cuban Linx Pt. II. The list of A-list producers on The Blueprint 3 is impressive: Kanye West produces or co-produces seven tracks, Timbaland tackles three, and The Neptunes and Swizz Beatz each do one. As a result, the album is more pop-polished than its competitor and ready to roll out a series of singles. On Cuban Linx, Raekwon uses a more eclectic roster of producers, including old-school luminaries like Pete Rock, Erick Sermon and Marley Marl, contemporary standard-bearers like Dr. Dre and RZA, and underground icons and newcomers such as the late J Dilla, The Alchemist, Scram Jones and Allah Justice. Surprisingly, however, the record doesn’t have an instant, standout single; rather, even with so many different talents producing him, Cuban Linx Pt. II manages to sound remarkably cohesive, sustaining both a narrative throughline and an appropriate aural backdrop.

In other words, one of these records is essentially a collection of hits, while the other is a story set to music.

Advantage: Raekwon

4. Gaggles of guest stars.

By my count, there are twelve guest stars on Jay-Z’s album, not counting double-duty production efforts but including two separate Kanye West verses; on Cuban Linx Pt. II, there are 30 total, including seven appearances by longtime collaborator and fellow Wu-Tang member Ghostface Killah. Giving Raekwon the benefit of the doubt, he did begin his career as part of a hip-hop collective, so it might be concession to an old habit to have so many other folks chiming in on the rhyming, but like in golf, a low number is better than a high one, and Jigga cuts the Chef’s number in less than half.

That said, there are three additional considerations, one quantitative and two qualitative: how many songs are on each album, how good or bad are the guests, and how well do they work together? The Blueprint 3 contains 15 tracks, which averages out to about a song and a quarter between guest spots, while Cuban Linx Pt. II boasts 22 tracks, but averages about three-quarters of a track between supporting players, indicating that Jay-Z is comparatively less reliant on other folks to flesh out his verses. In terms of the quality of guests, however, the seeming criteria is street cred versus commercial viability: Jay-Z recruits Kanye, Rihanna, Alicia Keys, Swizz Beatz, Drake, and Pharrell among others, ensuring at least a couple of chart-toppers in the rapper’s future, while Raekwon employs Ghostface, Method Man, RZA, Jadakiss, Beanie Siegel, and other up-and-comers, virtually all of whom eschew conventional flash in favor of fleshier depictions of street life.

Advantage: Jay-Z

5. What they’re talking about.

Raekwon more or less takes the idea of a sequel to Cuban Linx literally, and puts together a remarkably mature collection of songs that further explore the melancholy glamour and inescapable danger of a life of crime. Rather than waxing nostalgic – to even his earlier record – or preying upon hip-hop listeners’ appetite for street stories, Raekwon aims for a kind of social realism, albeit abstracted through Wu-Tang’s extensive lexicon of obtuse phrases and pop-culture references, creating an album that manages to encapsulate the experience and wisdom hard-won during those intervening years between installments.

On the other hand, between his 2003 retirement and the release of Blueprint 3, Jay-Z has cast off comeback jitters, finished a concept album-cum-movie cash-in, and comfortably taken his place at the head of hip-hop’s grown-up table. His delivery is smoother and more confident than ever, and he knows better than to try and reclaim some of his underdog glories. Instead, he calls himself the C.E.O. of the industry itself, the kind of boilerplate hyperbole that manages to have some merit when proclaimed by him. At the same time, that kind of seven-figure seniority does alienate him to some extent from his listeners – the folks whose ticket and album purchases helped make him the mogul he is today. Moreover, it makes his efforts to seem unduly cool or controversial come off as false contrarianism or forced hipster posturing, as evidenced by the album’s terrific but hardly transgressive first single, “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune).”

Advantage: Raekwon

And the winner is?

Raekwon. Suffice it to say that each of these artists is aiming for a different kind of artistic expression, neither is ultimately in any particular danger of disappearing, and both deserve critical accolades and commercial success. But as a truly worthy follow-up to its predecessor, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Pt. II is really the more complete (and completely effective) of the two releases, since it feels like a perfect conceptual companion piece and logical next step at the same time. The Blueprint 3, meanwhile, feels more like “just” Jay-Z’s latest effort – or, yeah, a textbook sequel – than his definitive, dedicated successor to his best-selling album series, even if it’s still pretty damn great.

Given our methodical, vaguely mathematical but mostly made-up method of determining hip-hop superiority, however, we recommend you check out both discs and make a decision for yourself. Because regardless which one you end up picking, choosing or preferring, simply having two terrific mainstream hip-hop records released at the same time counts as a victory for the fans as well as the artists.

Leave a comment and let us know if you agree or disagree!

Written by Todd Gilchrist