Reasonable Doubt

Reasonable Doubt
Studio album by Jay-Z
Released	June 25 1996
Recorded	D&D Studios, 1995–1996
Genre	East Coast hip hop Mafioso rap
Length	59:24
Label	Roc-A-Fella Records (US) Northwestside Records (UK) Priority Records (distribution)
Producer	Big Jaz, Clark Kent, Dahoud Darien, Damon Dash, DJ Irv, DJ Premier, Knobody, Peter Panic, Sean Cane, Ski
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Entertainment Weekly (A-) August 2, 1996; p. 58 Rap Reviews Rolling Stone Album Guide 2004 The Source August, 1996; p. 95 XXL Magazine
Jay-Z chronology
Reasonable Doubt (1996) In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 (1997)
Singles from Reasonable Doubt
"Dead Presidents" Released: February 20 1996 "Ain't No Nigga" Released: 1996 "Can't Knock the Hustle" Released: August 27 1996 "Feelin' It" Released: April 15 1997

Reasonable Doubt is the debut album by East Coast rapper Jay-Z. It was released on June 25, 1996 by Roc-A-Fella Records in the United States and Northwestside Records in the United Kingdom. It features production provided by but not limited to DJ Premier, Ski and Clark Kent, as well as guest vocals by Memphis Bleek, Sauce Money and The Notorious B.I.G. amongst others. It reached #23 on the Billboard 200 making it Jay-Z's least commercially successful effort, but it is critically considered a classic album. Regardless, it reached platinum status in the United States on February 7, 2002,^[1] and has sold 1.4 million copies as of 2006.^[2] Four singles were released for Reasonable Doubt, the most popular of which are "Ain't No Nigga" featuring Foxy Brown and "Can't Knock the Hustle" featuring Mary J. Blige. Both of these singles were top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, but the former reached #50 on The Billboard Hot 100 chart, while the latter only reached #73 on the same chart.

Despite lacking immediate commercial success, Jay-Z's debut album received strong critical reviews and is heralded as Jay-Z's "crowning achievement" and an "undisputed classic."^[3][4][5][6] It received "5 Mics" rating from The Source and five stars from All Music Guide,^[7] the highest ratings from each publication. The Source also ranks it amongst the top 100 albums of all time.^[8] In a similar vain, Blender ranks it as one of the 500 best albums of all time^[9] and Rolling Stone ranks it as the 248th best album on their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.^[10] It is now acknowledged as one of the most influential Mafioso rap albums of the mid-1990s.

Conception

Background

Jay-Z grew up in Brooklyn's Marcy Houses, a violent housing project where Jay-Z's father abandoned him at age 11. He experienced much trauma through his childhood causing him to start writing raps.^[11] Soon, fellow Brooklynite Jaz-O caught attention of Jay-Z and gave him an appearance on his 1989 song "Hawaiian Sophie." Jay-Z appeared on two more Jaz-O songs in the next year, but then Jaz-O got dropped from his label EMI causing Jay-Z to support himself as a drug dealer.^[11] He appeared on two songs from Original Flavor's second album in 1993. He then caught Big Daddy Kane's attention and began touring with him;^[11] they later collaborated on Kane's 1994 posse cut "Show & Prove." Since his association with Kane did not get him a record deal, Jay returned to hustling and personally sold songs out of his car with future business associate Damon Dash.^[12] These records allowed him to ink a record deal with Payday Records, who released his first solo single, "In My Lifetime" and its b-side "I Can't Get Wid Dat." Jay-Z soon cut ties with Payday Records afterwards and formed Roc-A-Fella Records with fellow hustlers Damon Dash and Kareem "Biggs" Burke. Jay explains reasons for this business move:

Photo of Roc-A-Fella label heads: Kareem "Biggs" Burke (left), Jay-Z (center) and Damon Dash

They [Payday] eventually signed me to a deal, but were acting shady the whole time, like they didn't know how to work a record or something," says Jay. "The things that they were setting up for me I could have done myself. They had me traveling places to do instores, and my product wasn't even available in the store. We shot one video, but when the time came for me to do the video for the second single, I had to be cut out. They gave me the money and I started my own company. There was a little arguing back and forth, but our conflict finally got resolved. The bottom line was they wasn't doing their job, so I had to get out of there.

—Jay Z, ^[12]

Jay-Z rented a small and cheap office for Roc-A-Fella Records on John Street in one of the "dreariest parts of the busiest city in the world."^[12] Jay-Z defended this business decision claiming it to be an economical "starting point" prior to moving to Uptown, Manhattan.^[12] In 1995 and early 1996, Jay also appeared on records by Big L and Mic Geronimo to further promote himself and his label. On virtually all of these songs, Jay-Z had a fast and off-key flow that was smoothed out on Reasonable Doubt. Despite all of these appearances, Jay was still considered an "underground"^[5] rapper and "new jack"^[13] at the time of its release.

Recording sessions

Reasonable Doubt was recorded in Manhattan's D&D Studios and mixed at Platinum Island, but its beats were formed elsewhere. For example, Knobody made the beat for "Can't Knock the Hustle" at his mother's home in 1994 and Ski made the beats for "Feelin' It" and "Politics As Usual," while recording with Camp Lo.^[14] The recording sessions for Reasonable Doubt were generally dominated by competition; both Ski and Clark Kent created similar beats for "Politics As Usual," but Ski submitted his to Jay-Z first causing his to appear on the album.^[14] Also, "Brooklyn's Finest" was a competitive battle between Jay-Z and The Notorious B.I.G. in which Jay tried proving that he is of Biggie's caliber, while Biggie tried brushing his rhymes off as insignificant.^[14] Although the two rappers had already met on the set for the "Dead Presidents II" music video, they both discovered that neither write down their rhymes while recording together.^[14] The recording of "Brooklyn's Finest" was also unique as it spanned two months and moved from D&D Studios to Giant Studios where the Clark Kent-sung chorus was recorded.^[14] The studio sessions in general also affected Jay-Z mentally: as Jay told Rolling Stone, "The studio was like a psychiatrist's couch for me."^[10]

Music

Lyrical content

Reasonable Doubt is generally classified as Mafioso rap because of Jay-Z's prevalent references to crime within his songs. Aside from the lyrical showcase on "22 Two's," the discussion of relationship infidelities on "Ain't No Nigga" and braggadocios rhymes on "Brooklyn' Finest," the album's subject matter exclusively deals with Jay's past criminal lifestyle. Multiple aspects of this lifestyle are explored: "Can't Knock the Hustle" details Jay's hustling talent, while "Cashmere Thoughts" and "Dead Presidents II" explain his financial goals and other tracks like "D'evils" and "Regrets" detail how hustling negatively affects the mind. All Music Guide's Steve Huey summarizes the album's subject matter saying:

Before Jay-Z fashioned himself into hip-hop's most notorious capitalist, he was a street hustler from the projects who rapped about what he knew -- and was very, very good at it [...] A hungry young MC with a substantial underground buzz drops an instant classic of a debut, detailing his experiences on the streets with disarming honesty, and writing some of the most acrobatic rhymes heard in quite some time [...] He's cocky bordering on arrogant, but playful and witty, and exudes an effortless, unaffected cool throughout. And even if he's rapping about rising to the top instead of being there, his material obsessions are already apparent [...] the album's defining cut might not be one of the better-known singles -- "Can't Knock the Hustle," "Dead Presidents II," "Feelin' It," or the Foxy Brown duet, "Ain't No Nigga." It just might be the brief "22 Two's," which not only demonstrates Jay-Z's extraordinary talent as a pure freestyle rapper, but also preaches a subtle message through its club hostess: Bad behavior gets in the way of making money. Perhaps that's why Jay-Z waxes reflective, not enthusiastic, about the darker side of the streets; songs like "D'Evils" and "Regrets" are some of the most personal and philosophical he's ever recorded.

—Steve Huey, ^[7]

Similarly, David Drake of Stylus Magazine considers the lyrics on Reasonable Doubt to be characterized by "gritty realism."^[15] Nonetheless, Jay-Z utilizes black comedy on his first album such as when he tells an anecdote in "D'evils":

The closest of friends when we first started

But grew apart as the money grew, and soon grew black-hearted

Thinkin' back when we first learned to use rubbers

He never learned so in turn I'm kidnappin' his baby's mother

My hand around her collar, feeding her cheese

She said the taste of dollars was shitty so I fed her fifties

About his whereabouts I wasn't convinced

So I kept feedin' her money 'til her shit started to make sense/cents

Production

Reasonable Doubt is produced by East Coast hip hop legends including DJ Premier, Clark Kent and Ski. The production is reliant on soul, funk and jazz samples of artists including Isaac Hayes, the Ohio Players and Ahmad Jamal. The refrains of a few songs contain samples of other hip hop songs by artists including Nas, Fat Joe and Snoop Dogg. All Music Guide's Steve Birchmeier describes this production style: "Reasonable Doubt also boasts an amazing roster of producers. Granted, most Jay-Z albums do, but this lineup -- Ski, Clark Kent, and DJ Premier -- is different. They represent the pre-gangsta era, a foregone era when samples fueled the beats and turntablism supplied the hooks. This classic production style, which is essentially refined hip-hop in its canonical sense, sets Reasonable Doubt apart from Jay-Z's later work."^[16]

"Can't Knock the Hustle" contains a "silky smooth"^[6] atmospheric beat layered with hard-hitting programmed drums and a xylophone loop. "Politics as Usual" has more of an R&B sound with its softer drums and prominent sample of "Hurry Up This Way Again" by The Stylistics.^[6] "Brooklyn's Finest" contrasts heavily with the first two tracks; it features a prominent upbeat honky tonk piano loop and smooth drums sampled from "Ecstasy" by the Ohio Players. "Dead Presidents" contains a down tempo beat composed of three samples: the drums from "Oh My God (Remix)" by A Tribe Called Quest, the melody and piano loop from "A Garden of Peace" by Lonnie Liston Smith and a vocal sample from "The World Is Yours" by Nas. According to IGN.com's Spence D., "Ski brings back the stripped down piano fill style lending the track a late night jazz vibe" on "Feelin' It."^[6] "D'evils" features a downtrodden piano loop sampled from Allen Toussaint's "Go Back Home" as well as vocal samples from LL Cool J's "I Shot Ya (Remix)" and Snoop Dogg's "Murder Was the Case." "22 Two's" features a "mournful jazz inclined groove" that prominently features string instruments.^[6] "Can I Live" prominently samples Isaac Hayes' cover of "The Look of Love" creating a slow beat with a mix of percussion, brass and string instruments. "Ain't No Nigga" contains a quick funky beat that samples the melody and drums from "Seven Minutes of Funk" by The Whole Darn Family. "Friend or Foe" follows with a slower funky beat that contains a heavy use of brass and a programmed drum loop. "Coming of Age" contains a Clark Kent-produced beat "built around a low-end piano fill, thumping quiet storm bass, and swirling synth."^[6] "Cashmere Thoughts" samples the guitar loop from Bohannon's "Save Their Souls" and adds in claps and other sound effects. "Bring It On" contains a down tempo slow beat that features a string instrument loop and programmed drums. The beat on "Regrets" is driven by a jazzy sample from "It's So Easy Loving You" by Earl Klugh and Hubert Laws, as well its heavy tambourine use and acoustic guitar loop.

Singles

Four singles--"Dead Presidents," "Ain't No Nigga," "Can't Knock the Hustle" and "Feelin' It"--were released in promotion of Reasonable Doubt. "Dead Presidents" features lyrics about illegally acquiring money and a somber Ski-produced beat that samples Lonnie Liston Smith's "A Garden of Peace." Its chorus, sampled from Nas' "The World Is Yours,"^[17] illustrates the song's lyrical thesis and was cited throughout the Nas vs. Jay-Z feud. "Dead Presidents" is the only single from Reasonable Doubt that did not chart, but it was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America.^[1] It is important to note that "Dead Presidents II" appears on Reasonable Doubt, while the original appears on a single and on a music video directed by Abdul Malik Abbott. "Dead Presidents II" has the same beat and chorus as the original, but its lyrics are different.

The second single from Reasonable Doubt is "Ain't No Nigga," a song that features guest rapping by female rapper Foxy Brown. Lyrically, the song details a love relationship between Jay-Z and the materialistic Foxy Brown. The song's chorus follows its subject matter as it interpolates "Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got)" by The Four Tops. The song's funky Big Jaz-produced beat sounds much like EPMD's "It's My Thing" because both tracks sample "Seven Minutes of Funk" by The Whole Darn Family. "Ain't No Nigga" was the most commercially successful single on Reasonable Doubt reaching #50 on The Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart.^[18] A music video directed by Abdul Malik Abbot was created for "Ain't No Nigga."

The third single and first track on Reasonable Doubt is "Can't Knock the Hustle," a song that features soulful singing by Mary J. Blige. Lyrically, the song features Jay-Z bragging about the lifestyle he created by becoming a successful hustler. Produced by Knobody, the song's beat samples "Much Too Much" by Marcus Miller and "Fool's Paradise" by Meli'sa Morgan. It reached #73 on The Billboard Hot 100 making it the second most successful single on Jay's debut album,^[18] but it also reached #30 on the UK Singles Chart making it the most successful single in the United Kingdom.^[19] A high budget music video directed by Hype Williams was made for "Can't Knock the Hustle."

The fourth and final single from Reasonable Doubt is the jazzy "Feelin' It." Guest singer Mecca sings the songs chorus, while Jay-Z provides three verses about his lifestyle as a hustler. The song's piano-led beat is produced by Ski, who samples "Pastures" by jazz musician Ahmad Jamal. "Feelin' It" is the third most commercially successful single as it reached #79 on The Billboard Hot 100.^[18] A low budget music video directed by Alan Ferguson was created for "Feelin' It."

Reception

Upon release was not a commercial success; it peaked at #23 on the Billboard 200 chart, a rank lower than all of Jay-Z's future studio albums.^[20] It took approximately six years to garner platinum certification in 2002.^[1] Nonetheless, it received positive reviews. All Music Guide awarded it five stars,^[7] while Entertainment Weekly ranked it B+^[21] and The Source gave it four mics, but later changed it to the coveted five mic rating. Jay-Z comments on this reconsideration on his song "44 Four's": "debut's a classic, first album four mics / should've got a five, but niggas lacked foresight." In addition to their reconsideration, The Source ranked Jay-Z's debut album as one of the 100 best rap albums of all time in 1998.^[8] It also ranks on top albums lists composed by Rolling Stone (2003's "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time"),^[10] Blender (2003's "500 CDs You Must Own Before You Die"),^[9] VIBE (2004's "51 Albums Representing a Generation, a Sound and a Movement")^[9] and Hip Hop Connection (2006's "The 100 Greatest Rap Albums 1995-2005").^[9]

The acclaim that Reasonable Doubt receives can be attributed to both its lyrics and its beats. Lyrically, the albums is praised for its honest and visual depictions of a hustler's life. Journalist Dream Hampton explains Jay-Z's lyrics saying: "MC's had definitely touched, you know, on hustling. But Jay, talks about what it can do to a person's inner peace, and what it can do to their mind."^[11] All Music Guide's Steve Huey explains that the lyrical appeal on Jay-Z's debut album lies within Jay's "effortless, unaffected cool" flow, "disarming honesty," and his knack for "writing some of the most acrobatic rhymes heard in quite some time."^[7] Huey additional writes that this lyrical depth "helps Reasonable Doubt rank as one of the finest albums of New York's hip-hop renaissance of the '90s".^[7] Fellow All Music Guide writer Jason Birchmeier claims that Jay-Z's lyrics are "candidly professional, but it's the producers more so than Jay-Z himself that make this album so untouchable."^[16] Birchmeier remarks that the album "boasts an amazing roster of producers," and Steve Juon agrees describing Ski, Clark Kent and DJ Premier as "the best beatmakers in rap."^[13] Juon also recognizes the album's lyrical strength and describes the album's reception saying:

[T]his is not only the definitive album from H to the Izzo's catalogue, it's one of the ten most important rap records of the entire 1990's. It's possible to live without having heard it - but after you do, you'll wonder how you ever managed without it. Even nearly six years later, this album stands up to the best production and strongest lyricism coming out of any rap around the globe. If an album could be said to have made corny MC's into Jay-Z haters, this is the one.

—Steve Juon, ^[13]

Significance

Subsequent Jay-Z albums

Despite having a lower chart position than any other Jay-Z album,^[20] it is generally considered Jay-Z's best album.^[3] It differs from its future albums in its lack of commercial songs like "(Always Be My) Sunshine" and "Money, Cash, Hoes." Also, future Jay-Z albums were mainly produced by Sean Combs' Hitmen production team, as well as Timbaland and Swizz Beatz. Shaheem Reid of VH1.com explains, "Reasonable Doubt might not have the radio hits or club bangers of many of his other albums, but it may be Jay at his most lyrical — and certainly at his most honest, according to him."^[5] With that being said, Jay-Z continued many themes from Reasonable Doubt on future albums; his second album In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 featured a song named "Friend or Foe '98" that continues the story from "Friend or Foe" and features similar DJ Premier production. Also, Jay's third album Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life contains a track named "Coming of Age (Da Sequel)." It features Memphis Bleek as does the original "Coming of Age," but it is produced by Swizz Beatz and its story changes drastically. Nonetheless, Jay feels that recreating Reasonable Doubt is challenging because he was living a different lifestyle with a completely different state of mind as he wrote the album.^[5][17][22] Ian Cohen of Stylus Magazine states its significance in context of Jay's other major albums, The Blueprint and The Black Album: "Reasonable Doubt was the come-up, The Blueprint was the comeback, and The Black Album may not have found him at his strongest lyrically, but it gained gravitas from meta-awareness and introspection."^[23]

Mafioso rap/Hip hop music

Less than two years before the release of Reasonable Doubt, three popular Mafioso rap albums were released: Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, AZ's Doe or Die and Nas' It Was Written. Jay-Z then burst on to the scene with his debut album that further popularized a genre in which drinking Cristal, driving Lexus automobiles and living out the plots of films like Scarface was commonplace.^[24] Stylus Magazine writer Evan McGarvey claims that hustler rap group The Clipse try emulating Jay's Reasonable Doubt sound on their 2006 song "We Got It for Cheap."^[25]

Jay's influence did not just extend to the Mafioso rap movement, but to hip hop music in general. On the title track from The Game's 2005 album The Documentary, he references Reasonable Doubt as a classic album. Jean Grae also references Reasonable Doubt on her 2004 song "Not Like Me" by claiming that she would argue whether Reasonable Doubt or Nas' Illmatic is a better album. Vocals from Reasonable Doubt have also been sampled on multiple occasions: Chubb Rock's "Survive," Termanology's "Watch How It Go Down" and Apathy's "9 to 5" contains samples from "D'evils" and De La Soul's "Shopping Bags (She Got From You)" contains samples from "Brooklyn's Finest."

It is often "considered one of hip-hop's landmark albums" according to Pitchfork Media's Ryan Schreiber.^[22] It is compared to The Notorious B.I.G.'s Ready to Die and Nas' Illmatic as a classic album.^[26][7]

10 Year Anniversary Concert

In 2006, Jay-Z performed all of the songs from Reasonable Doubt at Radio City Music Hall to celebrate its ten year anniversary. The concert's band included The Roots' drummer ?uestlove, the Illadelphonics, a 50-piece orchestra dubbed The Hustla's Symphony and Just Blaze, the performance's disc jockey.^[5] It featured vocals from all original Reasonable Doubt performers aside from Mary J. Blige, The Notorious B.I.G. and Jaz-O. Mary J. Blige was replaced by Beyoncé Knowles for "Can't Knock the Hustle," while Jay-Z rapped The Notorious B.I.G.'s verses on "Brooklyn's Finest" and Jaz-O's verse was left off of "Bring It On" altogether. While Blige was busy preparing for Breakthrough Tour and The Notorious B.I.G. had died nine years prior to the concert, Jaz-O did not perform because of his feud with Jay-Z.^[5] In addition, Jay-Z added a verse to "22 Two's" in which he says variations of the word "for/four" 44 times over the beat of "Can I Kick It?" by A Tribe Called Quest. Other alterations of the original album include Jay-Z changing a lyrical mention of Cristal to Dom P. and Jay-Z's band "spruc[ing] up tracks like 'Regrets' to add more energy."^[5] Many celebrities including music Alicia Keys, Young Jeezy, Jadakiss, Chris Tucker, Lebron James and Carmelo Anthony attended the concert. 3000 tickets were put on sale for the concert, all of which were sold within two minutes according to Roc-A-Fella Records' website.^[27]

Track listing

Chart positions

Album

Singles

References