Jay-Z is a great rapper, not the GOAT but undisputed the most consistent.
In there prime I put Nas slightly over him and not just due to Ether.
I felt Nas at the time was a bit more developed and further along his craft.
In the mid-late 2000's Jay-Z took the lead when Nas went rouge with extremist civil rights etc. etc. but hes back to better form as of late,thankfully.
Jay-Z has evolved into an iconic figure who now has much more business and industry knowledge than any current rapper with his talent. The only other person with his business credentials would be puffy but he never had any rapping skill to put it into a song. Jay-Z really excels at evolving his craft along with his interests and family etc. As I said the most consistent ever in the rap world in the form of an artist. Dr Dre also is in the conversation now but I think he always excelled at production even though his rapping is light years better than puffy.
Take a listen here for evolved Jay-Z:
https://youtu.be/RM7lw0Ovzq0
IMHO:
1. Big L
2. BIG
3. Nas
4. Jadakiss
5. Jay-Z
O yea Jay-Z has a serious watch collection, which has evolved as well from the early days.