check out tha dogg pound - dogg food dj quik - safe + sound t.i. - urban legend jay z - the blueprint snoop dogg - doggystyle t.i. - king nas - god's son gangstarr - moment of truth
This album and Nas' debut album just have a different vibe to them. They're so raw and the artists are so young. You can just imagine the vibes in the studio as these masterpieces were being put together. There's just something different about them, something so special. I absolutely love that era!
honestly they arent really comparable. Nas was a street kid who had a huge come up in the game with the best NY producers backing him. Jay was a big time hustler and already an established figure in the rap industry who originally only wanted to make one album. Nas was making a masterpiece because he wanted to make it big and be respected. Jay was making a masterpiece because he felt like this one album was going to be his entire legacy in the game.
@@WHG369 so 26 and 27 aren’t young ? What are you like 12 or something ? He was a young man when that album dropped in 96 u making it seem like he as 48 or something
Jay-Z said something years ago that always stuck with me: "People say Reasonable Doubt is my best album... of course, it took me 26 years to make that album. Every other album I only took a year or two to make." The sheer breadth of experience and the amount of thought he put into this album dwarfs anything else he did except maybe 4:44.... and the MUSIC and FLOW are better.
Jigga rank his albums on how they sold. We rank them based on how nice it is. Vol 1 my fav, black album, blueprint, 4:44, then kingdom come is my top 5
@@Dave2one6 Vol 1 my favorite too. I love Vol 3 and The Dynasty. I even LOVE Blueprint 2. But I gotta put The Blueprint and RD and also Black Album as his best from start to finish.
@@Dave2one6 I got Reasonable, Black Album, Blueprint, American Gangster, Vol. 2, 4:44, and Vol. 3 in that order. He's so nice there's almost no wrong answer.
The exchange between you and your father was beautiful god! Secondly the bar on can I live " you can lock my body but can't trap my mind" ...the book " the curse of Willie lynch basically explains that eventually to keep the slaves is psychologically...stay up god
Takes your whole life to make your first album depending on how old the person is . Every album after that is basically on a time frame . That’s why debuts albums have so much substance and feeling to them
@@jayant-vb2kl my top ten all have great first albums. KRS-One, Jay-Z, Eminem, 2pac, Biggie, Talib Kweli tied with Lupe Fiasco, DMX, Guru, Big Pun tied with Big L.
“ Nigga, please, like short sleeves, I bear arms ” 🔥🔥🔥 that line is still hot till this day and so is biggie’s “THE M.A.F.I.A KEEP CANNONS IN THEIR MARC BUCHANAN’S “
I have CAN I LIVE tattooed on my arm. I got that tattoo 25 years ago. Love to hear you say that CAN I LIVE is the best song on this album. This is my #1 fav album all time. Great review!!
One of the best things about this album are all the hidden jewels. There are a lot of double/triple meanings sprinkled throughout the album. This was ‘96 when rhymes were a lot more simplistic and straightforward. He was giving us bars but real life not just meaningless wordplay.
Brooklyn- Jay & BIG QUEENS - Nas Prodigy 50 LL Bronx- Fat Joe, Pun KRS 1 Harlem- Big L, Cam Yonkers- X LOX Im missing other MCs from these borroughs but kings there
love that piece with you and ya pops, you can hear in his conviction he loves you and you’ve blessed his life in ways you’ll never understand. we need to love each other like this more often this community would be stronger
Something you mentioned early in the review was the songs were making you feel like a boss. That definitely was the intention. In the mid-90s a lotta East Coast rappers adapted Mafioso personas (Nas=Escobar, Kool G Rap=Giacano, Biggie=Frank White, Ghostface=Pretty Tony, etc). Some amazing music came out during those times.
Peace to you and your pops. That visualization you painted and the love between both y'all touched me. Coming from a representative of young men raised by single mother's. And father myself too. Peace Ahmad.
@@KingAhmadTv appreciate it. Idea!!!! Do a review with your Pops on another song y'all use to listen to. Music is a time machine. Only way we go back in time and relive special moments.
Introspective Jay-Z is my favorite Jay-Z. You get that on 'd'evils', 'regrets', 'you must love me' and 'this can't be life' to name a few. On 'moment of clarity' he let's it be known that he simplified his rhymes for wider appeal. I dumb down for my audience and double my dollars They criticize me for it, yet they all yell "holla"
Nope. Nas has never written for Fox, that's a straight up lie. Foxy wrote her OWN verse on Affirmative Action up until the part "Bet It On, my whole crew..." That part was Nas's reprise second verse but Foxy's flow was on fire and it sounded better with Fox closing the song out so Nas gave Fox his final verse to close out but originally that was his verse to close out but Foxy was just too good
What often gets overlooked about Reasonable Doubt is that Jay was about 27-28 when it came out. Compared to most of his peers he was an old man yet this album put him in the “he got next” class of emcees that came out that year.
That moment on the call with your dad was powerful. To me Can I live is Hov's most powerful song. It instantly puts you in a different state of mind and mood where your confidence goes to level 10.
Dad moment was so wholesome and relatable. I’m from Brooklyn and when I was 7 me, mom , and dad moved out to Arizona - and Jay Z is a CORE memory for me. He’s still my favorite rapper to this day, but the man has so many flows. And you have to listen to some of these lines a few times to catch on. “Like short sleeves I bare arms”. Definitely feel like a big time drug dealer 😂 And Foxy is NOT to be played with. In Fade to Black (documentary) they confirmed that Foxy wrote the verse herself at 16.
This is one of my Top 5 albums, and it's the project that solidified Jay-Z as one of the best to ever do it. The Roc A Fella era was one of the dopest in Hip-Hop history, and back then we were gifted with a few albums that were 5 Mic classics, and this is definitely one of them! Side Note: The Brown Sugar line by Jaz references the ladies (Nice way to put it)(Check D'Angelo's brown sugar)
I know Nas is your favorite but keep listening to Jay-Z's albums and you might change your mind. You should hear The Blueprint. Arguably the album of that decade.
@@edwinlopezjr2011 nah not even close. But Jay z switched his whole rhyme style once he heard Nas “And bring it back up top, remove the fake king of New York You show off, I count off when you sample my voice I rule you, before, you used to rap like the Fu-Schnickens Nas designed your Blueprint, who you kidding? Is he H to the izzo, M to the izzo? For shizzle you phony, the rapper version of Sisqo”
Another fun fact: The beat for "Feelin' It" was originally intended for Camp Lo. They actually recorded it before Reasonable Doubt came out. It's on RU-vid
What up Ahmad?! You have the best reactions man, it’s awesome seeing how you react like we did hearing all these back in the day, glad you’re back bro, keep it up 💯
“The price of LEATHERS got me deeper than ever, and just think winters here, I’m trying to feel MINK nigga…” basically he been going hard just to get a leather and shit like that. Now he about to turn up even more cause he want minks and more lavish shit🔥🔥🔥
Where the rap game is today talking about big money, moving weight, trips out the country, this where it started. Cats was rhyming about it before Jay but Jay was doing it before he rhymed about it and you can tell the difference. Mind you this was his first album. Wasn’t like he dropped the album, blew up then started talking like this, he came in like this and kept going up from here
You right Bruh. That's why this album didn't sell like it was supposed to. He was talking REAL BIG BOY SHIT not rinky dink shit. Most people never really ever sold drugs and ones who did only were workers so the references were going WAY over people's heads. Most people just rap cliches they heard from their Uncles and Friends. It's like Too Short versus Suga Free one talks fly and the other Really did what he was talking about.
When you said that the album made you feel like a Mafia Boss, immediately I knew that you got it. This is what made Jay-Z who he is. This is why people say that he's the goat. It's kind of like when Wu-Tang came out with their first album & how they made you want to be from Staten Island and talk that Kung Fu stuff. Jay-Z change the rap game, but even more he changed the street game. All the dudes on the block selling nickels and dimes, all of sudden wanted to hustle harder and do better and make more money, so that they could live how he was talking on the album. He's not the first person to ever come out talking about that level of lifestyle, but he did it so amazingly, that it influenced people to want to follow his blueprint. I had never sold drugs in my life, but after I heard a promotional 3 song and 4 snippet tape of that album before it even dropped, i started selling crack 2 Days Later. And I actually tried to do it exactly the way he described on the songs that I had heard. When I say exactly, I mean with the same mindset that he's talking about.
Love this reaction people act like Jay wasnt nice back in the Biggie era btw you should do Biggie's freestyle called "Real niggas do real things" is basically Biggie killing West Coast beats
Great album! I missed when you dropped this video. I was listening to this album today and wondered if you reacted to it and what you thought. I’m glad you liked it. It’s timeless! Great job bro! 😎
This album DEFINITELY 5 🎤 The crazy thing is it wasn't appreciated when it first came out. It was heavily slept on and took years to finally get the praise it deserved.
That was a product of Jay, Dame, Biggs being independent before it was a thing..the album didnt have a machine behind pushing it..Reasonable Doubt was too great to ignore, just took some time.
A lot of people lie about that. I argued everyone down saying that this album didn't come out on fire. It was like aged wine. Many people that knew- got it. But the masses aint get it till way later. I appreciate your honesty.
Once I REALLY got put on to Hov I went back to listen to this and mannnn this shìt is a CLASSIC dawg.. I was born in 94 and my ear for LYRICS developed around 07 so I was late lol
Crazy story: Middle school field trip to Amish country. Album wasnt out yet, but 2 tracks popped up on satellite radio and somebody taped the clean versions. I'm in the back of the bus trying to get action from this rich suburb chick. She didnt finish the job but i heard Dead Presidents on repeat for like a hour straight while catchin some mean hand on a Tinted Charter Bus. You couldnt tell me shit!!!!!!
Definitely one of my favorite Hip Hop Albums of all time 🔥 You described it perfectly at 22:05 this whole album got Vintage Mafia Don vibes, you will feel like Pablo Escobar in his prime after listening to this album 😂
Crazy what u said about dead prez. Kuz that’s when it was on the radio in NYC. Winter 96. Every time I hear it it puts me back in old newyork. On a winter night .. carving through the concrete and steel jungle.
Still my favourite Jay-Z album. I saw him live around 5 years ago and expected to hear mainly new stuff, but he played ALL the classics, including about half of this album.
Beautiful moment bro. Imagine growing up with this music. Nothing like it. We knew they were geniuses when the world didn't quite get it. Good job Pops #90sBestDecadePeriod
**CORRECTION**: On the 2nd verse of "D'Evils", Jay talked about how he undercut his boy to be intimate with his baby mother.....he would give her money and sex just so he could get more information about his old friend that is now his enemy....you know, keep you friends close but your enemy closer.
All of Jigga’s albums are excellent, but this one just hits a high water mark that requires CRAZY hunger…and Jay became a legit millionaire after this album so that kinda hunger was gone. But even Jay knows this is his best album.
The way you described the feeling of listening to Dead Presidents II is how I feel when I listen to it and I'm from NY and was around when this dropped.
great job per usual on the reaction fam.....but this was about u and you dad....beautiful....can only imagine how things would be if more suns and fathers related on this level.....any level.... peace...peace...peace
Faith was pregnant at the time and this was after the infamous pic with her and Pac was floating around. That’s why BIG said if she had twins, she’ll have Tupac’s (as in 2 Pacs)
I get joy watching you react to these classics I’m 34 but most importantly I’m a student of hip hop I’ve went back to listen to the music that was out before I was born
