Questlove defends Vol 1, Jay-Z responds

DANJ!

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at least in my area and what I was seeing on tv at the national level. . They were playing him on college radio just as much if not more than Jay Z and rap city gave him his own episode to premier the "money don't make the world stop" video. Then like a week later, he was on Ricki Lake lol. It was shelved and never dropped. Let's not forget, Jay Z didn't have Def Jam behind him on the first album. That was Freeze.Records. Pudgee had Perspective with Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis behind him. Especially coming off of that Solo "heaven" remix. They were trying to make him into a star. Plus you had Heltah Skeltah buzzing that whole summer coming off of the "leflaur...." and "blah" singles going into "operation lockdown"(they also got their own episode). Operation Lockdown was so popular, they shot 2 videos with one of them in a day care that most people have forgot about lol. Jay Z was definitely buzzing and making a name for himself, but if you weren't a true hip hop head and knew him form Jaz, Kane, Mic Geronimo albums, many weren't checking for him like that.

I mean, I guess... everybody had their own episode on Rap City tho- if you had an album coming out, that was the place to be a guest. Jay had an episode when 'Dead Presidents' was the only thing remotely jumping off. I wouldn't say Jay was so low on the totem pole that Pudgee was outbuzzing him tho'. He was more like, in the mix with the artists somewhere in the middle. 'Ain't No nikka' was a hit. And then when the album dropped, it got sort of a growing reputation. It was like a slow burn, and little by little those songs were blowing up like "Can't Knock the Hustle" and "Brooklyn's Finest". He also got a lot of guest spots around that time, which usually indicated that an artist was notable. He definitely made some moves in '96- he wasn't a big star yet but he wasn't scraping around on the bottom either.
 

Tommy Gibbs

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I’m not counting those as classic tracks that fit my criteria. They’re dope album cuts. that doesn’t make them classic or songs that transcend eras, stand out immediately in the minds of general (ie not stans) 90s rap fans, they didn’t become staples of Nas’ live sets etc.
and neither did
22 2's
Brooklyn's Finest
politics as usual
friend or foe

How often does Jay Z perform those songs, but they are classic songs. . The general 90s rap fan don't aren't checking for B sides or non singles. That's a horrible example. And I'm not a groupie of anyone. I'm grown.
 

Mike Wins

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I’m not counting those as classic tracks that fit my criteria. They’re dope album cuts. that doesn’t make them classic or songs that transcend eras, stand out immediately in the minds of general (ie not stans) 90s rap fans, they didn’t become staples of Nas’ live sets etc.

Take It In Blood and Shootouts at least as well known and widely regarded as classic album cuts among 90s listeners as A Million And One Questions, Imaginary Player and Streets Is Watching. If you gonna argue nobody outside Nas stans knows those songs, you can make the same argument for the Jay tracks. Especially A Million And One Questions, nobody outside big Jay fans can quote lines from that. Also think it's a stretch to call any track from Volume 1 a live staple outside of Where I'm From, argument can be made the only track you listed that actually meet the criteria is Where I'm From.

Far as the original premise, Stillmatic had Stillmatic Intro, Got Yourself A Gun, You're The Man, One Mic as tracks that are or were live staples with You're The Man and One Mic at a minimum considered "classics" plus Ether and 2nd Childhood as generally accepted "album classics."

God's Son got Get Down, Made You Look and I Can all been live staples and hits plus any number of album deep cuts considered classic or notable. Not a big fan of I Can but it was undeniably a big hit and appreciate it as a tribute to Slick Rick Hey Young World. Last Real nikka Alive was a true classic track and notable as basically the final nail in the coffin of the Nas-Jay beef.

I Am had Hate Me Now and Nas Is Like which were iconic songs in his catalog, everyone heavy into rap in summer of '99 knew You Won't See Me Tonight and it was getting radio play even though it wasn't an official single, NYSOM2 was a classic Nas-Premier collaboration, Small World is recognized as a classic Nas storytelling track and album cut maybe not in mainstream but well known among 90s rap fans.
 
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Newark88

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When Reasonable Doubt dropped, that whole summer of 96 the focus was on Nas and Outkast 2nd albums, Foxy's upcoming album, shyt even Pudgee's album King of New York had more buzz than Reasonable Doubt. When I heard RD, I knew that mf was special. That whole summer I kept telling one of my female cousins, about Jay Z. She said, "why are you always talking about Jay Z?", I tried to tell them about dude. I could only hear his music on college radio. Also that summer, he did that remix with Shai(I still have the 12") and then RD dropped. The source gave it 4 mics and a shytty review. I'm thinking that no way we heard the same album because that mf was fire!!!!. It was the issue with Nas on the cover. IWW also got 4 mics in the same issue. RD is a damn near a flawless album, but great hip hop is not what sells. It's crazy that Jay's 2 best albums are only 1 and 2 million in sales? I personally don't listen to him anymore like that. After BP2, I kinda left him alone.. Not saying he hasn't put out dope projects since then, but it's just not my cup of tea..
Pudgee as in Pudgee the Fat b*stard?? :what: C'mon bruh stop :mjlol:
 

Piff Perkins

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and neither did
22 2's
Brooklyn's Finest
politics as usual
friend or foe

How often does Jay Z perform those songs, but they are classic songs. . The general 90s rap fan don't aren't checking for B sides or non singles. That's a horrible example. And I'm not a groupie of anyone. I'm grown.
I don’t think any of the Jay songs you listed are classic, by my standard. If I had to list RD classic songs it would be Can’t Knock The Hustle and Dead Presidents. That’s it.
 

The_Third_Man

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quest love/the roots out of all people loving these wack ass songs :patrice:

I guess it's cool to say this now.
 
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