[Certain]

My rankings of every Jay Z and Nas album (solo only, and yes, I own these and have heard them all 20-plus times through in order):

1. Illmatic: I put it second behind Reasonable Doubt in rap history.
2. The Black Album: The introspection and album unity puts this slightly above the rest of his catalogue.
3. Reasonable Doubt: If you took "Ain't No Nigga" off this album, it might move a spot up. But I can't stand that song.
4. The Blueprint: This is the most bumpable album and the last true classic on this list.
5. In My Lifetime, Vol. 1: The production is a little too shiny suit, but Jay is terrific.
6. The Lost Tapes: The album feel is missing because it's basically a compilation, but every single song goes hard.
7. American Gangster: People slept on this one. A few great songs are mixed with good ones.
8. God's Son: "Mastermind" and "Get Down" are two of the best songs Nas has put out in the past 15 years.
9. Stillmatic: I go back and forth on these two Nas albums because both have a few bad songs and a bunch of great ones.
10. Vol. 3... The Life and Times of S. Carter: It makes sense that this led into The Blueprint because it's similarly bumpable.
11. It Was Written:
12. The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse: It's easy to hate on this, but if you put the 15 actual best cuts (instead of the highest profile, which they actually tried) on to an album, it'd be no worse than No. 6 on this list.
13. Hip Hop is Dead: Nas gets a little too grumpy on this, but it is his most consistent offering of the past decade.
14. Life is Good: Nas finally sounds like he's over any idea of blowing up, and though the album is a little uninspired, you can't fault the content.
15. Magna Carta Holy Grail: There are a few really good songs, but even on those, Jay Z is mostly milking it.
16. Untitled: The statement missed on this one, and the songs don't really work because of it. I appreciate the effort.
17. Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life: There are a few hidden gems, but this is such a product of the shiny-suit era.
18. Street's Disciple: There wasn't anywhere near enough material for a double album.
19. The Blueprint 3: The singles are about the only worthwhile part of the album, with a couple exceptions.
20. I Am...: We've reached the shitty portion of the show.
21. Kingdom Come: I really don't know what Frank Metts was talking about. I appreciate Jay's "grown man" rap, but this was just lazy. There's a reason every review was negative.
22. Nastradamus: This was a thing of awfulness, aside from "Project Windows," which I stand by as one of Nas' best songs.