The list includes not only Jay singles and album cuts, but also features, unreleased songs, and even a few freestyles. The results of that extremely scientific voting process are below, where you’ll find the top 100 Jay-Z songs, ranked. For others, the answers were simple-even with all those songs, there’s a clear order to the best of Jay’s best. For some, it was an impossible ask-by some counts, Jay has appeared on 119 singles throughout his three-decade career, and that’s before counting album cuts and loosies. In an attempt to answer that question, The Ringer gathered a brain trust of staffers and extended fam, asking them to submit their top 20 Jay-Z songs, ranked to the best of their abilities. Rather, we have a different question we’ve argued all day about: What’s the best Jay-Z song? And what better day to settle that debate than today, one day before the 25th anniversary of Jay’s debut LP, Reasonable Doubt-the legacy of which we’ve explored throughout the network today, in both print and on No Skips With Jinx and Shea. We are not here right now to relitigate that battle, or any type of MC hierarchy. 1-Jay and Nas would go to war over the answer to the question he posed. Years after that song-“Where I’m From,” the crown jewel of Jay’s second album, In My Lifetime, Vol. 2:21-cv-04848.In the opening verse to one of Jay-Z’s best songs-we’ll get to that in a bit-Hov hits pause on the stories of boosters hawking clothes and dealers dodging police vans and speaks like a true-blooded rap fan: “I’m from where n-s pull your card, and argue all day about / Who’s the best MCs, Biggie, Jay-Z, or Nas?” That taps into the reality for anyone who lives and breathes this music-that no matter how dirty the hustler, no matter how big the star, no matter how average the fan, people love debating hip-hop supremacy. District Court for the Central District of California, No. He also said allegations that Mannion sold merchandise featuring Jay-Z's image, not just the photos themselves, were "alone sufficient to undermine" Mannion's First Amendment argument at this point.Īnderson also declined to find that the state right-of-publicity claims should be dismissed based on the federal Copyright Act, which preempts "equivalent" state law claims.Įven if the court found that Jay-Z's claims related to Mannion's photos were preempted - "a determination the Court declines to make at this stage" - his allegations that Mannion misuses his image on t-shirts and slipmats were sufficient to create plausible right-of-publicity claims, Anderson said. The relevant question is whether Mannion's works added creative elements that transformed Jay-Z's image "into something more than a mere celebrity likeness," and Anderson said he couldn't answer it yet. "Such a result offends not only federal copyright law, but also the First Amendment."Īnderson said in the opinion that he couldn't determine at the early stages of the case whether the pictures were protected by the First Amendment. "Taken to their logical conclusion, Plaintiff's right of publicity claims would permit powerful celebrities to constrain artists from selling or licensing their creative works simply because their names or likenesses appear therein," Mannion's motion said. Mannion moved to dismiss the claims in August, calling Jay-Z's filing a "vitriolic complaint filled with false insinuations of exploitation." He argued the claims were preempted by the Copyright Act and precluded by the First Amendment. Jay-Z sued in June, alleging Mannion, who shot the cover of "Reasonable Doubt" and took other photos of him, violated his right of publicity by misusing his likeness to sell shirts, turntable slipmats, and copies of the pictures. Mannion is known for his work with prominent hip-hop artists. Jay-Z's attorney Alex Spiro of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan declined to comment. Mannion's attorney Steven Marenberg of Paul Hastings said in an email that the ruling "increases our confidence that Jonathan Mannion will ultimately win this lawsuit." District Judge Percy Anderson said he couldn't find at this early stage of the case that Mannion's use of Jay-Z's image was protected by the First Amendment or that the claims were preempted by the Copyright Act, in an opinion entered Thursday. (Reuters) - Photographer Jonathan Mannion, who took the photo of rapper Jay-Z that appears on the cover of his debut album "Reasonable Doubt", lost his bid to escape Jay-Z's claims in Los Angeles federal court that he has been misusing the rapper's image to sell merchandise. Not enough information to find Mannion's uses protected, judge says.Jay-Z sued Jonathan Mannion for misusing image in advertising.