Reasonable Doubt was the album that sold me on Jay-Z. When I first heard it, I realized that he deserved to be put in that class of elite emcees. Anyone who denies the album its praise is fooling themselves. Both "Dead Presidents" versions, "Can't Knock the Hustle," "Politics As Usual," "D'Evils," "Feelin' It," "Can I Live," "22 Two's," "Brooklyn's Finest." Even "Ain't No" was a decent song but Foxy threw it off to be honest. There are too many great tracks on this album not to call it a classic.
The problem is that when it came out, RD really did nothing to make Jay-Z pop like other artists. It just fit in with stuff like Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, The Infamous, and It Was Written. It was a great mafioso rap album, but it was a style everybody was using at the time. Nas really did end up making Jay a better rapper. Plus, there are some Reasonable Doubt tracks that could have been shaved off.
Illmatic sounds more cohesive, the lyricism is undoubtedly more advanced, and the production still holds up to this day. This album captured the absolute essence of what it was like to live in New York City at the time. Nas took hip hop in a completely different direction with Illmatic and made others follow suit. Jay-Z ended up being one of those people. I will say that Reasonable Doubt is a flashier, smoother version of Illmatic, and "Dead Presidents" is one of the greatest rap songs I have ever heard off the production alone.