Just saw a comment over in GD that said RD > OB4CL... Which album do you prefer? Speak on it

Poll question: OB4CL... vs Reasonable Doubt

Poll result (72 votes) The Purple Tape (54 votes) Vote Hov's Debut (18 votes) Vote

In the interest of fair disclosure, I am a certified Jay-Z hater...mostly because he made Reasonable Doubt. Not that Reasonable Doubt is bad, but that it is very good so obviously he can make really good albums...but knows he can fart over a beat and sell millions so mostly does that and just gives us glimpses from time to time.

That being said, this was a tough choice, but Ice Cream is 1,000,000 times better than Ain't No so if anyone's having a difficult time deciding, there's your deciding factor.

I'm not one of those people who say, "Oh, no one liked Reasonable Doubt when it first dropped," but I will say it doesn't compare to OB4CL at all. At all. OB4CL is in the top 0.1% of every hip-hop album released ever. RD... is not.

seriously, who's voting RD???

Dick riders.

And let's be clear: if you were around in 95, Hov voters embarass you as much as they embarass me.

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I don't like the beat anymore because its just a loop. ALC didn't FLIP IT ENOUGH!

Flip it enough? Flip these. Flip off. Go flip some f*cking burgers.(c)Kno

Allied State of the National Electric Beat Treaty Organization (NEBTO)

Jay really has people hypnotized with this shit.

And I say that while really liking Reasonable Doubt and giving it the classic status.

But it is not on that top tier.

Cuban Linx is.

That's all there is to it.

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O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

I mean, look
I love RD.
it's still my favorite Jay-Z album
(largely because) it's as close to unfiltered, un-fussed with Jay-Z we'll ever get on record.

but Jay siced that album himself after he blew up with subsequent albums. it was a hit but it wasn't the monster OB4CL was in that period.

OB4CL I believe is the reason Wu Tang still "eats" until this day. its legend casts a shadow 20 years later. it's a tremendous album, and a lot of people loved it for so many different reasons. the tape was purple. Ghostface went from being that dude who hid his face behind a stocking to a guy you might want to hear an entire album of his songs. the purple tape. the "Mafioso" imagery that was copied ad nauseum for the 2-3 years following. one of the reasons heads who hated the late '90s and early/mid Aughties rap trends clung so tightly to that mid-'90s sweet spot

hell, Reasonable Doubt is a production line copy of this album (and Illmatic)

Not even close.

I honestly would take half of OB4CL over the whole of RD and I love RD but OB4CL is just on another level from 99.99% of rap albums I have heard

RD is JAY-Z's best album but not better than the contemporaries of his time.

Jay placed himself in the convo years later. He has a great understanding of how culture is influenced and history is shaped. He cheated his way into elite status. Lol

.

I listen to RD more... now..

but back then it still took me 2 yrs to listen to RD.

I know I know.

Man I was just an Ivy Leaguer then.. lol

No industry..

I feel like I was just a little too old to catch the Rawkus wave (My brother did though 3 yrs younger) and too young to really funk with the Wu Tang wave (cats 2-3 yrs older did though). The 1st time I saw Wu Tang perform though was actually my first concert period.. and it was in the High School gym. Intro (Yes R&B group Intro) opened


BUT

I was REALLY on my shiny suit shit back then though.. cant deny it.. lol.... Oversized Avirexs and beef & broccoli's.. Omnipoint Flip phones

For whatever reason I just funked with Method Man more out of the Clan (at that time). Shit he was doing on Tical just spoke to teenage me more.

EDIT: Since I am old I looked at stuff released that year.. I can say that The Infamous was probably definitely rocking a little too heavy out the tape deck that year/summer as well.

Ice Cream was Song of The Summer though without a doubt

Funny shit is in 1993 I placed Rae and Ghost slightly ahead of UGod and Masta Killah in the Wu hierarchy. 22 years later, they're solidly 1a and 1b, and co-creators of the greatest album in hip hop history. Life is funny.

But OB4CL is one of those super-classic, pillars of the genre albums.


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I don't like the beat anymore because its just a loop. ALC didn't FLIP IT ENOUGH!

Flip it enough? Flip these. Flip off. Go flip some f*cking burgers.(c)Kno

Allied State of the National Electric Beat Treaty Organization (NEBTO)

I mean, come on.

Just because one was a BETTER album doesn't make the other less of a classic in it's own right.

OB4CL is flawless and I like it more now than when i first heard it.

RD falls off here and there.

Played ATLiens, Cuban Linx and RD in a row today. The first two are 5/5, flawless albums that are probably in my personal and objective top 5 hip-hop albums.

Reasonable Doubt has 2-3 skippable songs (espec "Aint No") and was a noticeable fall off from the first two.

Jay is just a more entertaining MC in my book

....loved the MC's, wasn't really excited about the music....I know I'm in the minority, but since someone said folks voting for RD weren't speaking up....

Anybody that said RD was a widely regarded classic when it first came out is nuts. As mentioned above, Jay really broke with Vol. 2, which was surprising considering how Vol. 1 was received (Sunshine, like Nas' Street Dreams, probably wasn't a great choice. Though it should be said that neither Vol. 1 or IWR was as bad as some fans make them out to be. But that's another post). After that album, and especially after Blueprint, his back catalog got waaaaay more shine and appreciation.

As for the purple tape, I wasn't on #teamrae&ghost, as I was a big GZA fan. But that album fit them perfectly, top to bottom. I always considered that one his Livin' Proof, as it were, as up to that point I didn't really care one way or another about Rae on the mic (though even on a bad bay he's worlds better than Dap or Mal). That album was a banger from the jump, and still kind of the standard by which both Rae and Ghost's work is judged (though Ghost may still be trying to match Supreme Clientele for most people).

Bottom line, OB4CL is, was, and always will be better that RD

It's like one dude versus a whole fucking clan, literally. Except for dirt dog, every member of the 10 (including Cappa) came through. And Ghost was on just about every track. Wu at their prime, RZA at his producing prime, Nas coming on to wreck a track. The pioneering impact this had on the genre is undeniable. The shit was so banging no one even mentions those two throwaway tracks at the end.

I haven't thought through my definitive Top 10/Top 15 Albums list. But I know that Black on Both Sides and OB4CL are in the top 5 of any list.