West’s sophomore effort, 2005’s “Late Registration,” was nearly as awesome as his debut. To be blunt, Jay has seemingly been treading water since 2003’s “The Black Album.” 2 … Hard Knock Life” and 2001’s “The Blueprint.” The more recent offerings from his 11-solo-album-strong catalog - including 2009’s “The Blueprint 3” - haven’t matched the strength of the early output. Jay-Z kept right on rolling after “Reasonable Doubt,” dominating the late ’90s and early 2000s with such classics as 1997’s “In My Lifetime, Vol. It’s impossible to draw up a respectable list of the top hip-hop albums in history and not include both. West’s was the bigger commercial hit - selling 3 million to Jay’s 1.5 million - while Jay-Z’s earlier effort has proved to be more influential. Each upped the ante for all comers to the game, crystallizing the best of then-current hip-hop elements while expanding the genre’s horizons. Jay-Z and Kanye certainly accomplished the latter with 1996’s “Reasonable Doubt” and 2004’s “The College Dropout,” respectively. It’s important to come out of the gate fast and establish yourself as both a commercial force and an artist of merit. In hip-hop, perhaps more than in any other genre, so much is riding on that first record. Read the evidence and vote in each category, tally the score at the end and - voilà! - you have a winner. In honor of the dynamic duo’s highly anticipated Watch the Throne Tour coming to San Jose’s HP Pavilion on Wednesday, we’ve devised a score card to help rate who is the current king of hip-hop. One could argue that Jay’s protege, West, wrested the throne from the teacher somewhere around 2004 - an argument seemingly strengthened by the fact that West received the most nominations (seven) for the upcoming Grammy Awards (although “Throne” and West’s solo effort, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” were both snubbed in the all-important best album category). Kanye or Jay-Z: Who’s the real king of hip-hop? – The Mercury News

Jay z greatest hits album