Old heads, is it true Reasonable Doubt...

[dora_da_destroyer]

Same exact story I got.I'm from the west coast and I can honestly say I didn't know one nikka who had RD in their possession.He was just that dude from the Foxy Brown "Ain't No nikka" track.

Another west coast co-sign. I remember telling my bro I was gonna buy reasonable doubt off the strength of dead pres, he hit me with the "don't waste your money on that album"

Jay was known, but I think vol 1 made him a "well known" mainstream rapper, and vol 2 made him a star...reasonable doubt he was basically like AZ, known in hip hop, was dope, but he wasn't the number one dude everyone was checking for - and depending on your region, it's not a knock on anyone who didn't really remember/know of dude in '96, there were simply too many big dogs and local shyt, especially in the bay. And RD didn't have the immediate cultural impact the illmatic did even tho they both weren't super commercially successful

 

[diggy]

It really wasn't known about, it was a great album tho to those that had it. My boy bought it and gave me a copy. Most people were checking for Brooklyn's finest because of BIG but I knew of Jay from the summer of 95 from in my life time being on every tape so I was familiar with his work. I actually hated the track at the time. Too many songs were shyttin on it like I got 5 on it, Raekwon Joints, smooth tha hustla(broken language) etc. No one really remembered that hawaiian sophie shyt unless someone made you aware even tho it used to be on rap city. Its popularity grew as his success grew. And like others said Foxy was carryin that nikka.

 

[Danie84]

RD was like the tree that fell in the woods, that nobody heard in 96

 

[the rhyme king]

what about lyrically jay to me wasn't do anything nobody else that people before him weren't doing imo

so that is another reason that he did'nt stand out

so what about lyrically that was so special about jay that made him better then say nas redman etc.

 

[Never Broke Again]

I mean, I was only 3 in 1996 but

same nikkas will be in a thread like this
http://www.thecoli.com/threads/a-qu...ve-as-much-of-an-impact-as-people-say.151642/

Sayin Illmatic was poppin like that with excuses out the ass about it not selling, then flip it around and shyt on Jay saying his was nothin when going by popularity, Even though his sales/hits etc, all that is right on par with Nas

 

[froggle]

So basically just like yeezus

Mentioned as great but wasn't really popping numbers wise because it was ahead of its time?


I get it.....I get it

I didn't say Jay was on their level, I said not too far from their level.He was a Robin...sidekick status

No he wasn't, as I say, you probably didn;t have cable back then and obviously there was no internet. Jay was hot, but he was not the best out at the time. He was dame lillard status. You checked for him, his music was hot, but other big boys was running the spot at the time. The whole instant classic album thing is more a modern phenomenom. nikkas quick to say Good Kid Maad City is a classic album off one listen Back then so much hot music was being dropped, hence why there are so many other classics that half of you won't even know or listen to, simply because you go off what the white media says is a must listen.

If I asked most of these so called "rap fans" if they listened to De La Souls - Stakes is High or know who Jeru....jerwho

 

[Digga38]

Stop it breh, Jay didnt blow up until Vol. 2 came out

Nobody ever said it was classic back when it first came out.

fact

 

[MooseMouthMthafuga]

No he wasn't, as I say, you probably didn;t have cable back then and obviously there was no internet. Jay was hot, but he was not the best out at the time. He was dame lillard status. You checked for him, his music was hot, but other big boys was running the spot at the time. The whole instant classic album thing is more a modern phenomenom. nikkas quick to say Good Kid Maad City is a classic album off one listen Back then so much hot music was being dropped, hence why there are so many other classics that half of you won't even know or listen to, simply because you go off what the white media says is a must listen.

If I asked most of these so called "rap fans" if they listened to De La Souls - Stakes is High or know who Jeru....jerwho

Jay's just not that unique.He wasn't doing anything that Big, Nas/AZ/The Firm wasn't doing at the time.All that east coast centric/ Italian Mafioso/drug dealing/ materialistic rap was over saturated at the time.

 

[Homeboy Runny-Ray]

I like how nobody is being obnoxious in here.

I was slightly obnoxious to @STAN JONES because I don't like him.....and im not even sure. I might be getting him mixed up with someone who has a similar screen name. if so, I apologize. lol.

You hit the nail on the head. Everyone ignores all the other classics from that time that are not commercially successful. It's as simple as this. If you didn't know about Jay or Reasonable Doubt before 98, you were not a real rap fan and just a product of what the music labels were pushing to you at the time.

I knew about C Bo, Tela, and Celly Cel........Jay just wasn't cracking like that.He wasn't too far from being on them dudes level back in '96

no disrespect to those guys, especially the homie celly cel but they weren't on jay's level in terms of name value, AT ALL.

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

I mean, I was only 3 in 1996 but

same nikkas will be in a thread like this
http://www.thecoli.com/threads/a-qu...ve-as-much-of-an-impact-as-people-say.151642/

Sayin Illmatic was poppin like that with excuses out the ass about it not selling, then flip it around and shyt on Jay saying his was nothin when going by popularity, Even though his sales/hits etc, all that is right on par with Nas

Illmatic had a lot of buzz in hip hop and was heralded as a lyrical masterpiece, yet nas simply didn't sell and wasn't a household name. RD didn't have that hype/response when it dropped in addition to not selling like that nor did jay have a household name (ain't not nikka actually got him the most notice)

Think of it like section.80 which had critical acclaim yet the masses didn't really know Kendrick and didn't buy the album compared to nipsey hussle who is dope, but also relatively unknown, doesnt sell, and doesn't get the critical acclaim. (sorry I couldn't think of a better analogy).

 

[Big Mel]

Arguably the hottest album on the streets in 1996.

 

[Enchanted]

I bought it in the summer of '96 just off of the strength of seeing the Dead Presidents video on Rap City.. I figured if AZ and Biggie cosigned him (by being in the video), and he was smart enough to sample Nas he must be decent... I bought it on the same day as I bought IWW (cassette days)....I opened IWW first and it was so dope I swear I didn't even break the plastic off of RD till like 3 weeks later...It was good but I only listened to it sparingly...You gotta remember this was '96 so we had Outkast, Redman, Tupac and Ghostface all dropping classic albums later that fall... RD got lost in the shuffle and was pretty much forgotten in my circle..


Then I heard him say on BP1 "Reasonable Doubt classic, should have went triple"



Since that point on I've witnessed the revisionist history on the impact of this album be overstated...

But back in '96 it was only really a regional hit....NY dudes tell me it was the hottest most quoted album of the summer up there...I was in Atlanta at the time and it came and went without most n1ggas paying it any mind....The biggest discussion surrounding it was Biggie saying the line about Faith having Tupacs twins...Jay was Big Sean status and Biggie played the Kendrick role on his album..


The reason I feel he went on a marketing push to inflate the importance of the album was because he was beefing with Nas at the time and he needed an Illmatic...The critics and fans hadn't given it to him so he attempted to create it himself.. I won't even say he attempted, because it actually worked..It was the first time I witnessed marketing rewrite history..

 

[mbewane]

For what it's worth () I was in France back then...and Jay was nowhere near Pac, Biggie, Wu, Nas, Busta, Mobb Deep (a lot of people in France were on that grimey NY sh*t)...

 

[STAN JONES]

I like how nobody is being obnoxious in here.

I was slightly obnoxious to @STAN JONES because I don't like him.....and im not even sure. I might be getting him mixed up with someone who has a similar screen name. if so, I apologize. lol.







no disrespect to those guys, especially the homie celly cel but they weren't on jay's level in terms of name value, AT ALL.

You definitely have me mixed up with somebody else

I rarely ever post in the booth

 

[hex]

Wasn't poppin in 96? I keep seein nikkas sayin that no one was checkin for Hov and nikkas thought it was trash until Jay himself started sayin that it was classic later on. I was born in 95 so it doesn't sound right to me that the GOAT was considered wack

So is that true or is the booth just bullshyttin?

Nobody considered it wack. If you were a rap fan in '96 you most likely knew who Jay-Z was. I'm not saying you ran out and copped the album, but you'd probably know who he is, and maybe a couple songs.

The problem was there was too much shyt coming out back in the day, and Jay kinda fell through the cracks. So it's not as simple as "was it wack or a classic?". Nobody thought in such binary terms back then. That's some internet shyt. Most people were just due to the sheer amount of music coming out at the time.

Fred.