Cyrus Langhorne
Atlanta rapper Future has a strong opinion on rap mogul Jay Z and his now-classic Reasonable Doubt album. In his opinion, Young Hov’s global fame came after the passing of hip-hop moguls Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur.
In a new interview clip, Future explained what ultimately sparked Jay’s rise as a hip-hop powerhouse.
“Jay Z wasn’t great when 2Pac and Biggie were alive. It was Biggie, 2Pac, Ice Cube, – [Reasonable Doubt?] It wasn’t hot until they died. Nobody really was jamming it. It’s flames. Like it’s hard, it’s a classic, but I’m saying at that time. It’s like your classic album, they always go back for your classic album. When Nas dropped his first album, it was great then. Like when ‘I Ruled the World’ came out, it was the best then. You had to go back and listen to Reasonable Doubt. That’s his best sh*t ever.”
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Last year, G-Unit’s 50 Cent called Reasonable Doubt a hip-hop classic.
“Look at all of those classic albums. Look at “It Was Written, Reasonable Doubt, Get Rich or Die Tryin’.” Look at “Tha Carter.” Look at those records that have stood out and you’ll see it’s various production and if you ask the artist, it was a big time period that it took for them to accumulate the music and to sequence it the way it was for it to be what we consider a classic album.” (SOHH)
A couple years ago, Jay’s original Reasonable Doubt tracklisting surfaced online.
Meanwhile, the order itself was changed. The original tracklist was supposed to have “Dead Presidents,” “Feelin It,” and “Ain’t No” as the first three songs on the album. The final version started with “Can’t Knock The Hustle,” “Politics As Usual,” and “Brooklyn’s Finest.” Also, the list of guest appearances on the album is incomplete, omitting Jaz-O and Sauce Money from “Bring It On” and Mary J. Blige from “Can’t Knock The Hustle.” It also incorrectly states that Memphis Bleek appeared on “Can I Live;” Bleek actually appeared on “Coming Of Age.” Had Reasonable Doubt been released in its original tracklist form, the album would be remembered far differently than it is now. As it stands, Jay has ranked his debut album as his best work. (Complex)
In honor of his 44th birthday, Jigga ranked his 12 solo efforts and put Reasonable Doubt atop the list.
1. Reasonable Doubt (Classic) 2. The Blueprint (Classic) 3. The Black Album (Classic) 4. Vol. 2 (Classic) 5. American Gangster (4 1/2, cohesive) 6. Magna Carta (F*ckwit, Tom Ford, Oceans, Beach, On the Run, Grail) 7. Vol. 1 (Sunshine kills this album…f*ck… Streets, Where I’m from, You Must Love Me…) 8. BP3 (Sorry critics, it’s good. Empire (Gave Frank a run for his money)) 9. Dynasty (Intro alone…) 10. Vol. 3 (Pimp C verse alone… oh, So Ghetto) 11. BP2 (Too many songs. Fucking Guru and Hip Hop, ha) 12. Kingdom Come (First game back, don’t shoot me) (Life + Times)
