He's richer than 50 Cent, more beloved than Nas, more popular than OutKast, more credible than Snoop. As an icon of contemporary black culture, he has none. This, of course, makes him a far more compelling proposition than his your-bullets-cannot-harm-me contemporaries.ДЄs a rapper, then, he has few equals. The fictional Jay-Z - the Jiggaman, the Jay Hova - is a formidable figure for sure, but he's not without neuroses. There's braggadocio, of course, but also an unprecedented sensitivity, particularly on later records such as 'Song Cry', in which he dissects the break-up of a past relationship. Occasionally, he strives for universality: Jay-Z as ghetto Everyman more often he's content simply to trust in the power of his specific experience. He picks at his past like a scab - the childhood in the streets, the father who left when he was 11, the failed relationships, the years selling drugs, the supernova success.

Jay-Z's raps are relentlessly autobiographical. His subject, as ever, is himself and his extraordinary history. His wordplay thrives on the comparative and the oppositional - each line mirrors or contradicts the one that went before. His phrasing - or 'flow', as it's termed in hip-hop - is melodious, relaxed, apparently effortless.

His sentences are punctuated by laughs, sighs, exhalations, giving them an instantly accessible, conversational tone. His style, as on his records, is laid-back, commanding but patient, occasionally almost exasperated, as if he were a mathematician explaining a complicated equation to a small child.

Future jay-z reasonable doubt weak