The true answer is...
Jay made rap, Ye made hip hop
Ye was just always more pop influenced, so ofc it would sell better.
It’s not like Kanye was an unknown name either. People knew he was producing a lot of Jay hits
Kanye was huge even back then, Jay was already a household name, so the excitement was gone when he dropped
Immediately post-9/11 was a covid quarantine where all the businesses were still open, but culture has to be censored because someone flew a plane into a tall office in NY and the pentagon blew themselves up the same day, it was so weird and muslims and indians were attacked and demonized indiscriminately. The nation turned to one man:
!https://youtu.be/ruNrdmjcNTc
I don’t think jay had top 10 billboard single until Izzo
Ill be went top 10 and heartbreaker 1 fiesta 6


Theres was a lot goin on, his whole s*** went against what niggas was doin at the time + Jesus walks