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THE VERSION OF JAY Z’S “FEELIN IT” THAT YOU’VE (PROBABLY) NEVER HEARD
Camp Lo's Geechi Suede recounts the making of a classic
Long before Jay Z anchored Baseline Studios—the legendary now-defunct recording headquarters that generated synergy between Roc-A-Fella stars like Cam’ron, Just Blaze, Beanie Sigel and Kanye West in the early 2000s—Hov set up shop Uptown. Rewind to 1996, when the Brooklyn hustler-turned-MC sought to go legit with his maiden album Reasonable Doubt. He recruited a tight team of beatmakers to help craft his classic debut, including soul architect Ski, who’d work from his own home studio in a small Harlem apartment.
The producer was concurrently grooming a teenage duo named Camp Lo that worked on the jazzy rookie LP Uptown Saturday Night out of that same cramped space. So of course the rappers (Sonny Cheeba and Geechi Suede) often crossed paths with Jay. All of the wordsmiths involved benefited from a palpable creative energy—a floss-rap cross-pollination that’s tangible in Reasonable Doubt’s melodic single “Feelin’ It,” which originated as a Camp Lo track.
With Reasonable Doubt reaching its 21st birthday today, MASS APPEAL sat down with Geechi Suede to discuss the making of “Feelin’ It” and reminisce on witnessing Jay Z create his first masterpiece from the peripheral, all while recording Camp Lo’s 20-year old classic LP of its own.
When you think about the making of Reasonable Doubt and how the album has aged, what comes to mind?
It was definitely a bonafide classic. And a surreal feeling to have been there from him and Ski’s demo-ing days. When we were all getting started, Ski had a real small studio apartment on 101st and 1st Ave in Harlem. We would be in the kitchen sitting down writing our songs while Jay Z would be a few feet away in the living room demoing up his stuff. He would always be like, “I’ma get this in one take, I’ma get this in one take.” And he would get the shyt in one take. And we talking about the time where if he did mess up he had to do it all over again because the technology wasn’t…
Ski Beatz
You were still using reels, right?
Yeah. So we were working with the same producer—[Jay] would hear beats that Ski did for us and be like, “Damn!” And we would hear beats that Ski did for him and be like, “Ohh shyt!” It would always go back and forth like that. One of the misconceptions that I saw a lot in the media was that he was taking beats from us—that wasn’t happening at all. Everybody was fam.
How did the original version of “Feelin’ It” come to life?
We were putting together Uptown Saturday Night around the same time he was recording Reasonable Doubt. “Coolie High” was starting to do well. I went back down South to Danville, Virginia. I grew up there and my childhood sweetheart Angela—she called herself Mecca—she could sing. Growing up my childhood dream was to become an established MC and she wanted to be a singer. I got a record deal and things were going really well so I convinced her father to let her come up and work on the project with me and Ski. I think they were at the tail end of Reasonable Doubt while we were right in the middle of Uptown Saturday Night.
The Version Of Jay Z's "Feelin It" That You've (Probably) Never Heard
Camp Lo's Geechi Suede recounts the making of a classic
Long before Jay Z anchored Baseline Studios—the legendary now-defunct recording headquarters that generated synergy between Roc-A-Fella stars like Cam’ron, Just Blaze, Beanie Sigel and Kanye West in the early 2000s—Hov set up shop Uptown. Rewind to 1996, when the Brooklyn hustler-turned-MC sought to go legit with his maiden album Reasonable Doubt. He recruited a tight team of beatmakers to help craft his classic debut, including soul architect Ski, who’d work from his own home studio in a small Harlem apartment.
The producer was concurrently grooming a teenage duo named Camp Lo that worked on the jazzy rookie LP Uptown Saturday Night out of that same cramped space. So of course the rappers (Sonny Cheeba and Geechi Suede) often crossed paths with Jay. All of the wordsmiths involved benefited from a palpable creative energy—a floss-rap cross-pollination that’s tangible in Reasonable Doubt’s melodic single “Feelin’ It,” which originated as a Camp Lo track.
With Reasonable Doubt reaching its 21st birthday today, MASS APPEAL sat down with Geechi Suede to discuss the making of “Feelin’ It” and reminisce on witnessing Jay Z create his first masterpiece from the peripheral, all while recording Camp Lo’s 20-year old classic LP of its own.
When you think about the making of Reasonable Doubt and how the album has aged, what comes to mind?
It was definitely a bonafide classic. And a surreal feeling to have been there from him and Ski’s demo-ing days. When we were all getting started, Ski had a real small studio apartment on 101st and 1st Ave in Harlem. We would be in the kitchen sitting down writing our songs while Jay Z would be a few feet away in the living room demoing up his stuff. He would always be like, “I’ma get this in one take, I’ma get this in one take.” And he would get the shyt in one take. And we talking about the time where if he did mess up he had to do it all over again because the technology wasn’t…
Ski Beatz
You were still using reels, right?
Yeah. So we were working with the same producer—[Jay] would hear beats that Ski did for us and be like, “Damn!” And we would hear beats that Ski did for him and be like, “Ohh shyt!” It would always go back and forth like that. One of the misconceptions that I saw a lot in the media was that he was taking beats from us—that wasn’t happening at all. Everybody was fam.
How did the original version of “Feelin’ It” come to life?
We were putting together Uptown Saturday Night around the same time he was recording Reasonable Doubt. “Coolie High” was starting to do well. I went back down South to Danville, Virginia. I grew up there and my childhood sweetheart Angela—she called herself Mecca—she could sing. Growing up my childhood dream was to become an established MC and she wanted to be a singer. I got a record deal and things were going really well so I convinced her father to let her come up and work on the project with me and Ski. I think they were at the tail end of Reasonable Doubt while we were right in the middle of Uptown Saturday Night.
The Version Of Jay Z's "Feelin It" That You've (Probably) Never Heard
