Boxing With The Carters: Jay-Z vs Lil Wayne

Str8 outta Marcy Projects with almost over 2 decades of platinum records after platinum records in the Black corner is the H to the Izzo, JAY-Z. In the red corner, weighing in with a little over a decade of Hollygrove anthems also hitting the Billboards with hit after hit is the ONE, the ONLY.... LIL' WAYNE. This is a clean fight, no hitting below the belt. GENTLEMEN: POUND MICS...

LET'S GET READY 2 RUMMBBBLLLLEEEEE!

Jay-Z aka Jigga aka HOV

Shawn Corey Carter aka Jay-Z was abandoned by his father and raised by a single mother. He experienced the tough life on the streets of Marcy Project (located in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn) in New York but that type of lifestyle was not the only thing on his mind as he briefly attended high school along with AZ until it was closed down, where he explored his rap skills. In 1982, Jay shot his brother in the shoulder for stealing his jewelry. After that, he attended a career and technical education high school in Downtown Brooklyn with The Notorious B.I.G. and Busta Rhymes, and his 3rd high school in Trenton, New Jersey but did not graduate. In his music, he refers to selling illegal substances during the crack epidemic era.

According to his momma dukes, he used to bang out drum patterns on the kitchen table waking up his siblings at night. Eventually, she bought him a boom box for his birthday, sparking his interest in music through freestyling, writing lyrics, and following the music of many popular artists at that time. In his neighborhood, Carter was known as "Jazzy", a nickname that eventually developed into his showbiz/stage name, "Jay-Z". This moniker is also an homage to his musical mentor, Jaz-O, as well as to the J/Z subway lines that stops at Marcy Avenue.

Jay-Z partnered up with Jaz-O during the late 1980s and early 1990s on collabos like "The Originators" and "Hawaiian Sophie". He was also involved in and won several battles with rapper LL Cool J in the early 90s as part of a plan to get a career-breaking record deal. He first became known to a wide audience by being featured on Big Daddy Kane's posse cut "Show and Prove" on the 1994 album Daddy's Home. Jay has been referred to as Big Daddy Kane's hype man during this period, though Kane explains that he didn't fill the traditional hype man role, instead Jay-Z made cameo appearances on stage.

Big Daddy Kane stated "When I would leave the stage to go change outfits, I would bring out Jay-Z and Positive K and let them freestyle until I came back to the stage". He also made an appearance on Big L's classic "Da Graveyard", and on Mic Geronimo's "Time to Build", which featured appearances by DMX, and Ja Rule in 1995. Jay-Z's first official rap single was called "In My Lifetime". Around the same time he released his debut album Reasonable Doubt, he showed the world what he been through in the movie "The Streets Are Watching", which was his first appearance on the big screen. Since '97, Jigga has released over 13 studio albums and over hundreds of features. Hov is considered as one of the last of Vietnam War's Baby Booming artists that has survived decades of dropping countless hits consistently to this date. Even though Jay-Z already created something bigger than a team known as the "Dynasty", which was stated on his 5th solo album, he has developed/ governed multiple headlining acts over the years: Memphis Bleek, Beanie Sigel, Amil, "Philly" Freeway, Rihanna, Kanye West and many more... along with a whole record label (Def Jam) to remain holding the same position to the late legendary singer, Elvis Presley, having 10 of his albums opened at the top position.

Lil Wayne aka Weezy aka Tunechi

Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. aka Lil Wayne was raised in the infamous New Orleans neighborhood of Hollygrove In school, he was a straight-A student but never felt his true intelligence was expressed through report cards. He found music was the best way to express himself, at this time he went by the name of Gangsta D writing rhymes. Combining a strong work ethic with aggressive self-promotion, the 11-year-old convinced the Cash Money label to take him on, even if it was just of odd jobs around the office. A year later, in-house producer Mannie Fresh partnered him with the 14-year-old B.G. and dubbed the duo the B.G.’z. Although only B.G.’s name appeared on the cover, the 1995 album True Story has since been accepted as the B.G.’z debut album both by fans and the Cash Money label. The 1997 album Chopper City was supposed to be the follow-up, but when Wayne accidentally shot himself in the chest with a .44, it became a solo B.G. release. The media release consider Young Carter as a "Child Performer" in regards to the age that he started wrecking the microphone.

That same year, he officially took on the alias of Lil Wayne, dropping the “D” from his first name in order to separate himself from his absent father. He joined B.G., Juvenile, and Young Turk for another Fresh project, the teen hardcore rap group the Hot Boy$, who released their debut album, Get It How U Live!, in 1997. Two years later, Cash Money signed a distribution deal with the major-label Universal. Mainstream distribution helped the Hot Boy$ album Guerrilla Warfare to reach the number one spot on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart that year.

In 1998, Lil Wayne appeared on Juvenile’s hit single “Back That Thing Up” or “Back That Azz Up” as it appeared on Juvie’s album 400 Degreez. Afterwards Wayne launch his solo career a year later with the album Tha Block Is Hot, featuring the hit single title track. It went double platinum but his artistry was still unknown to Middle America, since his hardcore rhymes and the rough Cash Money sound had not yet crossed over. Thirteen years into Wayne's career, we have heard countless hits along with 9 studio albums, multiple compilations, over hundreds of mixtapes and features. Wayne holds the title as the "King of Mixtapes". As you may know, Lil Wayne has put on a whole team (Young Money aka YMCMB) of various talents such as: Drake, Nicki Minaj, Tyga, Lil Twist and many more...

The Battle Between 2 Empires

Now lets put both empires (Roc Nation, formerly known as Roc-A-Fella and Young Money, son label to Cash Money) head up against each other in the forever ending bout, you will see that each ruler has extraordinary strengths and power in today's Hip Hop culture/ music. Jay-Z holds the throne of New Age Hip Hop in the East Coast, while Lil Wayne holds the throne in the South. After Wayne called Jigga on the phone stating "I'm coming for you", this battle between thrones became more visible to the world. Unlike other rap battles, this one particularly is not violence driven instead it is to prove who will be the last King standing in the Hip Hop industry. Here is where these two musical genuses seperates at: Jay-Z is a master-lyricist but Lil Wayne is a stylistic-metaphor rapper. In certain songs, you will hear them throw shots at one another in this radiovized duo to the def jams. Even though both are highly competitive against each other, there's really is no parallel with these two Greats. Let's see as the match up start unraveling: