Old heads, is it true Reasonable Doubt...

[R.E.N. Spells Ren]

That album is classic. Not every classic is 5 mics.

 

[OG Talk]

There was a period in the 80's and 90's when regional classics from New York were considered universal classics....This was because the print media and radio was mostly located in NYC....

UGK with Riding Dirty could sell as many copies in the South as Jeru Da Damaja did in all 50 states but still be considered regional...While Jeru or Big L were labeled "classic" period not just regional...36 Mafia had just as big of a movement and support nation wide but were "regional"


I'm glad the internet killed those days...

But even NY media wasn't calling RD classic back in '96... I've asked this before on this topic.. Can anyone show a link from an article or review that described RD as a classic album BEFORE Jay-Z said it was? Anything pre-2001?

And I get people say labeling an album classic shouldnt be rushed and takes time.. Fair enough.. But 5 years?

 

[Homeboy Runny-Ray]

just watching Rap City around that time, they played everyone, but on saturday mornings when they had their top ten best, aint no C Bo, Tela and Celly Cel in there. Jay was #1 for dead presidents, aint no nikka and held it down in the top 10 wid Mary. The top 10 determined what was hot and to say Jay was that status means you needed to step your cable game up

funny thing is, jay had joints that were bigger than rap city spins.

"aint no nikka" was getting play all over BET period. hitting the video soul countdown as well as daytime spins on mtv jams, requests on the box and crazy radio spins. that chit was a hit record in every sense.

and its like people don't remember foxy brown's "i'll be good" and jay-z's "who you wit" being all over the place the following year.

volume 2 my ass. that chit made jay a mega-star, but I question anybody's hip-hop acumen if they think jay was some joe schmoe in '96-97.

 

[R.E.N. Spells Ren]

The term "revisionist classic" is incredibly stupid. Do y'all realize that many classic books, paintings, poems, plays AND music weren't hits when they were first released? Many were actually panned when they were first released...some of these guys died thinking they were failures cause their masterpieces were lost on their contemporaries.

Reasonable Doubt is a classic album.

It wasn't an instant classic and I don't think most try to say it was. It's initial reception was well received but it wasn't hyped as being a classic. It was generally loved by those heard it, but many did not. For comparison sake (depending on your age), it was not like the releases of Illmatic or Get Rich Or Die Tryin' or Good Kid MADD City....nah, Reasonable Doubt flew more under the radar.

 

[Atsym Sknyfs]

I remember that summer I was in Allentown, PA with my man and I picked it up at a local record store. I bought it of the strength of Dead Presidents.. I was shocked and pleasantly surprised when the version on the album had new lyrics... Of the bat I was feeling feelin it, friend or foe, brooklyn finest, deap pres, d'evils and the summer hit aint no... After vol 2 and he sold 4 mil he was hurt people wasnt talking about RD like they were talking about illmatic.... especially since IWW and no Nas album sold sell 4 mil ... HE then FORCED RD on y'all during the blueprint era when he was beefing with Nas...

Is it a classic, yes .... Was it an instant classic, No ... It wasnt aything new and revolutionary so simmered to being a classic...

I remember I was djing at a club with my man and I did a little get money, hit em up, brooklyn finest mix. Nobody knew brooklyn finest and they wasnt feelign at first. then when big came on it was OK and then the faith- tupac line came on and people went wild asking what was playing.

 

[Homeboy Runny-Ray]

There was a period in the 80's and 90's when regional classics from New York were considered universal classics....This was because the print media and radio was mostly located in NYC....

UGK with Riding Dirty could sell as many copies in the South as Jeru Da Damaja did in all 50 states but still be considered regional...While Jeru or Big L were labeled "classic" period not just regional...36 Mafia had just as big of a movement and support nation wide but were "regional"


I'm glad the internet killed those days...

But even NY media wasn't calling RD classic back in '96... I've asked this before on this topic.. Can anyone show a link from an article or review that described RD as a classic album BEFORE Jay-Z said it was? Anything pre-2001?

And I get people say labeling an album classic shouldnt be rushed and takes time.. Fair enough.. But 5 years?

as much as I love to point-out east coast bias, this is going too far.

since when did anybody ever consider a jeru or big l album to be a universal classic? they were always seen as regional.

also, if youre talking about the media. theres no media that ever declared a jeru or big l album to be a classic. the media barely labeled anything a classic back then.

 

[West Coast Avenger]

Arguably the hottest album on the streets in 1996.

that is a got damn lie.......Reasonable Doubt is a great album........but it wasnt getting play like that outside of NY........yeah we would all see the videos on BET and MTV but dont talk out your ass on that......West Coast was still dominant and in '96 there were a hell of alot more albums that were hotter on the street......

 

[Change]

.........

 

[SteelCitySoldier]

I remember the first time I saw that shyt on Rap City, shyt had a nikka like That was seriously the first album where I thought to myself "damn nikkaz don't be listenin to good music". That shyt took forever to go platinum so no ot didn't have the streets poppin but if a nikka was listenin to that shyt they were an "underground" head then. That's why there is a strong amount of people that think Jay would have never blown up if Pac and Big didn't die. I still think he would have because Dame would have been his Suge and put that battery in his back to respond to Pac. Him goin at Pac would have instantly put him in the spotlight and dude was too nice not to blow. I seriously think he would have taken Biggie spot as KONY

 

[West Coast Avenger]

It was a very popular album.

The only revisionist history is people acting like it wasn't a popular album. Jay was widely known right off the bat. Ain't No was HUGE hit.

your right it was......but that wasnt because of Reasonable Doubt.......it was because it was featured on The Nutty Professor Sdtk.......which is a classic......

 

[Big Mel]

There was a period in the 80's and 90's when regional classics from New York were considered universal classics....This was because the print media and radio was mostly located in NYC....

UGK with Riding Dirty could sell as many copies in the South as Jeru Da Damaja did in all 50 states but still be considered regional...While Jeru or Big L were labeled "classic" period not just regional...36 Mafia had just as big of a movement and support nation wide but were "regional"


I'm glad the internet killed those days...

But even NY media wasn't calling RD classic back in '96... I've asked this before on this topic.. Can anyone show a link from an article or review that described RD as a classic album BEFORE Jay-Z said it was? Anything pre-2001?

And I get people say labeling an album classic shouldnt be rushed and takes time.. Fair enough.. But 5 years?

But if we're honest, which i get is hard for non new yorkers, Jeru'a album is better than UGK's.

also, The Source didn't call Liquid Swords a classic either. Doesn't mean it isn't. And looking at that best of list 1996 on page one i see reasonable doubt but no Redman, Ghost, Jeru or Mobb Deep.

 

[Homeboy Runny-Ray]

that is a got damn lie.......Reasonable Doubt is a great album........but it wasnt getting play like that outside of NY........yeah we would all see the videos on BET and MTV but dont talk out your ass on that......West Coast was still dominant and in '96 there were a hell of alot more albums that were hotter on the street......

not from new York.

so what if the west coast was still dominant? does that mean that supposedly nothing was popular if it wasn't west coast?

and truth be told, pac released the only dominant west coast albums in '96. you can throw westside connection up there as well.

 

[OG Talk]

And looking at that best of list 1996 on page one i see reasonable doubt but no Redman, Ghost, Jeru or Mobb Deep.

According to that list Crucial Conflict's album was better than Hell On Earth and Iron Man...

I dont think thats a full list..

 

[Big Mel]

that is a got damn lie.......Reasonable Doubt is a great album........but it wasnt getting play like that outside of NY........yeah we would all see the videos on BET and MTV but dont talk out your ass on that......West Coast was still dominant and in '96 there were a hell of alot more albums that were hotter on the street......

but i've always maintained that NYC really is the only thing that matters in the most crude, base sense of it all. i know that upsets people. at least you're from BK


and yeah, the west WAS NOT dominant at all in NYC in 1996. Albums that sold zillions barely made it to walkmen. And vice versa i'm sure.

 

[West Coast Avenger]

not from new York.

so what if the west coast was still dominant? does that mean that supposedly nothing was popular if it wasn't west coast?

and truth be told, pac released the only dominant west coast albums in '96. you can throw westside connection up there as well.

nikka did I say that??............there is a reason why Reasonable Doubt is Jay's lowest selling album......that is because there was too much heat in '96........it took 6 years for that album to reach platinum status.......it was definitely well received when it dropped......but not like some of you are making it out to be though.......