>but from a production, rapping, or songcraft standpoint
>Reasonable Doubt is more on a Ready To Die level than Jewelz
>which is like a 3.5 out of 5 star album to me at best.
>

I prefer production on Jewelz. 3.5 is way too low. That album is a solid 4/4.5 in my book. Reasonable Doubt was never on the level of those other mid-90s classic in my opinion, although Ready To Die is a bit overrated in my opinion as well.

>I mean the production lineup on paper for Jewelz looks
>ridiculous but it doesn't feel like he got any of their top
>shelf material & the sound actually gets borderline monotonous
>after awhile.
>

I'm not sure what you're hearing. The album is a blueprint in my mind of how to craft albums. it opens with a Primo banger…into another Primo banger…slows down a bit…classic smooth joint in The Chosen One…picks up the pace with Dangerous…uncut raw shit…single/radio friendly hip-hop joint…smooth story love joint…another hard Primo banger…storytelling joint…up-tempo feel good vibe song…haunting story joint…pure raw hip-hop joint…and then closes with an absolute masterful production.

>Lots of sparse beats but OC doesn't quite have the charisma of
>say a Nas or Eminem to make those tracks work just off rapping
>alone.
>

I again completely disagree. beats fit his style perfectly on this album.

>There's no 'Time's Up' level iconic cut on here, which I guess
>is to be expected since that's a classic single not just by
>O.C. but for mid-90's rap in general however I wish I loved
>this as an overall album more than I do.
>

I can agree with that. but like you said, Time's Up is on the classics of all classics list of hip-hop songs so I can't fault him there.

>It's a pretty good album but certainly not great to me, coulda
>used some editing or more variation in tone.
>

>When Freddie Foxxx shows up on here it's a Godsend because it
>sorta breaks up the singleness of style that this album seems
>to at times suffer from.

*shrugs* the album is damn near flawless to me.

I always couple Jewelz and First Family 4 Life together. I burned those two album out when they dropped and I can play them both all the way through.