Grant JonesWhen a high-profile rapper declares themselves better than another, it’s always fun to debate the merits behind that claim. The latest piece of viral nonsense doing the rounds is Dipset’s Jim Jones stating that he’s more relevant than Nas, no doubt linked to marketing a new album. We’ve been here before with The Game dissing Eminem for no reason, and while there has not been a direct attack at Nas from Jim Jones, he’s been making some outlandish claims that need debunking, if not checking if they hold any weight.
Jim Jones is quoted as saying “Check my track record, then check everybody else’s track record. Then go to Billboard and check all my entries, then check all them n****s entries. I been spanking a lot of this shit. Pull up Nas’ Billboard entries, then pull up my Billboard entries.”
Jim Jones
| Album | Debut | Peak Position | Weeks at #1 | Weeks on chart |
| On My Way to Church | 2004 | 18 | 0 | 7 |
| Harlem: Diary of a Summer | 2005 | 5 | 0 | 11 |
| Hustler’s P.O.M.E. | 2006 | 6 | 0 | 21 |
| Harlem’s American Gangster | 2008 | 19 | 0 | 5 |
| M.O.B.: The Album | 2008 | 29 | 0 | 3 |
| Pray IV Reign | 2009 | 9 | 0 | 6 |
| Capo | 2011 | 20 | 0 | 4 |
| Wasted Talent | 2018 | 131 | 0 | 1 |
| El Capo | 2019 | 114 | 0 | 1 |
Total weeks on Billboard 200: 59
Nas
| Album | Debut | Peak Position | Weeks at #1 | Weeks on chart |
| Illmatic | 1994 | 12 | 0 | 23 |
| It Was Written | 1996 | 1 | 4 | 34 |
| I Am… | 1999 | 1 | 2 | 25 |
| Nastradamus | 1999 | 7 | 0 | 26 |
| Stillmatic | 2002 | 5 | 0 | 38 |
| The Lost Tapes | 2002 | 10 | 0 | 8 |
| From Illmatic to Stillmatic | 2002 | 123 | 0 | 3 |
| God’s Son | 2002 | 12 | 0 | 28 |
| Street’s Disciple | 2004 | 5 | 0 | 20 |
| Hip Hop Is Dead | 2007 | 1 | 1 | 16 |
| Greatest Hits | 2007 | 124 | 0 | 1 |
| Untitled | 2008 | 1 | 1 | 15 |
| Life Is Good | 2012 | 1 | 1 | 15 |
| Nasir | 2018 | 5 | 0 | 4 |
| Illmatic: Live from the Kennedy Center | 2018 | 192 | 0 | 1 |
| The Lost Tapes 2 | 2018 | 10 | 0 | 1 |
| King’s Disease | 2020 | 5 | 0 | 3 |
| King’s Disease II | 2021 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Magic | 2022 | 27 | 0 | 2 |
| King’s Disease III | 2022 | 10 | 0 | 2 |
| Magic 2 | 2023 | 52 | 0 | 1 |
| Magic 3 | 2023 | 65 | 0 | 1 |
Total weeks on Billboard 200: 270
Total weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200: 9
Maybe Jim was talking about the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart?
Jim Jones
| Single | Debut | Peak Position | Weeks at #1 | Weeks on chart |
| We Fly High | 2006 | 5 | 0 | 27 |
| Pop Champagne | 2008 | 22 | 0 | 20 |
Nas
| Single | Debut | Peak Position | Weeks at #1 | Weeks on chart |
| It Ain’t Hard to Tell | 1994 | 91 | 0 | 8 |
| Street Dreams | 1996 | 22 | 0 | 17 |
| If I Ruled The World | 1996 | 53 | 0 | 20 |
| Nas Is Like | 1999 | 86 | 0 | 4 |
| Hate Me Now | 1999 | 62 | 0 | 8 |
| NAStradamus | 1999 | 92 | 0 | 6 |
| You Owe Me | 2000 | 59 | 0 | 16 |
| Got Ur Self A… | 2001 | 87 | 0 | 19 |
| One Mic | 2002 | 43 | 0 | 13 |
| Made You Look | 2002 | 32 | 0 | 13 |
| I Can | 2003 | 12 | 0 | 20 |
| Bridging the Gap | 2004 | 94 | 0 | 4 |
| Hip Hop Is Dead | 2006 | 41 | 0 | 5 |
| Hero | 2008 | 97 | 0 | 1 |
| Cop Shot the Kid | 2018 | 96 | 0 | 1 |
| Spicy | 2020 | 96 | 0 | 1 |
| EPMD 2 | 2021 | 79 | 0 | 1 |
| Rare | 2021 | 100 | 0 | 1 |
Total weeks on Billboard Hot 100:
Jim Jones: 47
Nas: 158
And that’s not including the times when each emcee was a featured artist. That adds nothing to Jim Jones’ argument, but bolsters Nas’ time in the charts to 97 more weeks thanks to collaborations with names like Jennifer Lopez, Justin Bieber and Missy Elliott.
| Single | Debut | Peak Position | Weeks at #1 | Weeks on Chart |
| Head Over Heels | 1997 | 35 | 0 | 15 |
| Hot Boyz | 1999 | 5 | 0 | 21 |
| Oochie Wally | 2001 | 26 | 0 | 20 |
| I’m Gonna Be Alright | 2002 | 10 | 0 | 23 |
| My President | 2008 | 53 | 0 | 6 |
| Too Many Rappers | 2009 | 93 | 0 | 1 |
| We Are | 2015 | 88 | 0 | 1 |
| Rodeo | 2019 | 22 | 0 | 9 |
| Sorry Not Sorry | 2021 | 30 | 0 | 1 |
Jim Jones’ weeks on the Billboard Hot 100: 47
Nas’ weeks on the Billboard Hot 100: 255
“I been spanking a lot of this shit. Pull up Nas’ Billboard entries, then pull up my Billboard entries.”
So let’s summarise this to see who is spanking whom.
| Jim Jones | Nas | |
| Weeks on Billboard Hot 100 | 47 | 255 |
| Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 | 5 | 5 |
| Weeks on Billboard 200 | 59 | 270 |
| Weeks at #1 on Billboard 200 | 0 | 9 (10 if you include The Firm’s album) |
I did consider including The Diplomats output, but The Firm and the Damian Marley collaborations still favour Nas. The one argument Jim Jones could have used is that Nas has never had a solo song in the Top 5 on Billboard Hot 100. But as far as relevance and sustained success, Nas is roughly five times the star Jim Jones is. Only one rapper flies high here, and it ain’t hard to tell.