Jay Z's 'Reasonable Doubt' Journey Told Through The Lens: Pt. 1 & 2

[Deltron]

Jay Z's 'Reasonable Doubt' Journey Told Through The Lens: Pt. 1

Back in 1993, a young filmmaker and director by way of Harlem found himself in the midst of history waiting to happen. After having worked on films like "Do The Right Thing" and "Mo Better Blues," along with editing music videos for Salt N Pepa and others, Abdul Malik Abbott’s directorial eye soon landed him on the set of Original Flavor’s music video for "All That." It was on this shoot where Abbott got introduced to a few individuals who would go on to roc the rap world.

"I met Jay Z because Dame Dash was managing him, so he was on the "All That" video set, Abbott told REVOLT. "Jay was this really quiet dude, like he was just there. He was barely in the video."

Despite hardly being noticed behind the cameras, Abbott explained the young Brooklyn rhymer still managed to stand out. "The reason why he stuck out is because we were shooting at this bar and the bar was closed. He wanted to buy a bottle of champagne and the owner was like, "You know this dude keeps asking me buy a bottle of champagne, but we're closed and can’t legally sell it to him,"" he recalled. Despite being unable to buy the champagne, Jay got to speak with Abbott that day and one year later, invited him to direct "I Can’t Get Wit That," the Clark Kent-produced B-side to Jay’s "In My Lifetime."

"The first video we did was "I Can’t Get Wit That," we shot it in Marcy [Houses]. It was very low budget," he said, but not before adding, "That was like the first introduction of Roc-A-Fella Records." This would not only mark the beginning of Roc-A-Fella, but also Abbott's relationship with the team. The bond culminated in a number of music videos and projects, most notably the seminal visuals for Jay's magnum opus, Reasonable Doubt.

As RD turns 20 this weekend (June 25), REVOLT honors the classic with a special sit-down featuring the legendary Abdul Malik Abbott, who is responsible for filming a bulk of the videos from the momental debut, including "Dead Presidents." This three part series, titled "Jay Z’s ’Reasonable Doubt’ Journey Told Through The Lens," will detail Roc-A-Fella's early days by way of Abbott’s camera lens. Part one looks back on the set of Roc-A-Fella's first-ever music videos, while the next two installments (arriving June 23 and June 25) focuses on the historical "Dead Presidents" shoot and the culmination of Reasonable Doubt. Stay tuned to REVOLT, and check out part one

 

[Deltron]

Jay Z's 'Reasonable Doubt' Journey Told Through The Lens: Pt. 2

With "I Can’t Get Wit That" and "In My Lifetime" behind them, having been circulated throughout several music network video blocks, Jay Z and Roc-A-Fella’s relationship with Abdul Malik Abbott proved to be a winning combination.

By 1995, after having playing to the flashy aesthetic of the label on "In My Lifetime," which was shot in St. Thomas, Abbott took things back to street for "Dead Presidents," unarguably one of Jay Z’s most iconic music videos.

"The premise behind it was always Jay Z’s a hustler, you don’t know what he’s hustling, but he’s a hustler," Abbott told REVOLT of the concept behind the visual. "Basically, the premise of the video was sort of a spin off of the movie "Heat" with Robert DeNiro. There was scene [in the film] where the cops are watching the bad guys and the bad guys are watching the cops, so we had a little spin on that, wherein [Jay] has a deal going on and sort of like just shuns the deal, but goes back and photographs the cops hustling and hassling the dude that was trying to make [him] a deal."

While the 1995 film "Heat" was a source of inspiration for the video, the final scene in "Dead Presidents" established a rich lore that continues to amaze 20 years later. "By the time we got to [shooting] the infamous table scene, [Jay] would not shoot that scene until Biggie showed up," Abbott revealed.

As you might recall, at the tail end of the music video, Jay Z is seated at a roundtable with the likes of The Notorious B.I.G., Lil Cease, AZ, Smooth the Hustler, Dame Dash, Kareem "Biggs" Burke, and more. Classic, rare — and everything along those lines are some of the many ways the scene continues to be described years later. "We had AZ, Smooth the Hustler, Lil Cease, there was a lot of people there, but Biggie wasn’t there so we had to wait for [him] to show." Eventually, Big Poppa made his way to the set, leading to the coterie of famous peers to shoot the iconic scene featured a game of Monopoly, real money ("$30,000 cash on the table") and big buckets of Cristal. Feel the ambience?

 

[Ol’Otis]

 

[the cac mamba]