i can't be the only person that ever thought that jay-z was fronting when he said that. truth be told, he's more skilled than kweli from a technical rapping standpoint for sure. you're right that kweli is more educated but that just makes him sound like he's saying smarter/deeper shit. jay has made dumb shit and smart shit both, a great deal of it being pretty fucking great—particularly because he has (or at least had) something that kweli has NEVER had, which is FLOW. kweli is famously off-beat and lackadaisical, cramming too many syllables, and let's not forget he's boring as hell. jay was just trying to act humble so he namechecked the first few so-called "conscious" act's he could think of (kweli, common, roots).

no hate on kweli, just saying. this particular line of jay-z has always irritated me. real jay-z fans know when he's being disingenuous!

You and me, Lar.