2. "Jay-z's style was corny at the time " In response to Reply # 0
There's been a lot of revisionist history when it comes to Reasonable Doubt era Jay. Niggas weren't bumping the album like that when it dropped, and that whole big willie thing he was doing was widely perceived as lame.
3. "Is it really revisionist though?" In response to Reply # 2
The album aged well and stood the test of time. Whether or not it set the world on fire at the time is sort of immaterial to how it's viewed in retrospect.
66. "I think you have to be from NYC to understand your point." In response to Reply # 50 Thu Feb-12-15 05:51 PM by micMajestic
>before then, he was one of many popular NY rappers.
Or at least have been in NYC at the time Jay the song popped off. Club heads had to respect it, cause it wasn't a club song but it was so hot they had to play it. I guess the best comparison to this I can think of for the younger generation is Drake's "Successful". Backpackers had to respect "Hard Knock Life", because it was simply the illest concept song out. Jay didn't have everyone's ear, until that joint dropped.
70. "So what?" In response to Reply # 66 Thu Feb-12-15 11:17 PM by SoWhat
The point is 'Ain't No Nigga' was a jam. Then. If some NYC folks didn't dig it that has NO bearing on our feeling about it now as it had none then.
So what?
And then yeah, starting with 'Money Ain't a Thang' or 'Hard Knock Life' (which ever) Jay had a string of hot summer singles. Again - no one cared or cares about what ppl in NYC thought of that single or any of the rest. They were hits. Lol
8. "Like, half of Foxy's lyrics are a commercial for hot shit from that time" In response to Reply # 4
That's why I get baguettes, 5 carats and all that From Dolce Gabana to H Bendel I'm ringing bells So who the player, I still keep you in the illest gators Tailor made so we can lay up in the shade reminiscing On how I fuck the best and shit Especially when I'm sipping Baileys Don't give a fuck about how you move with them other mamis I push the Z, eating shrimp scampi with rocks larger than life Fuck them Reebok broads, you made it known who your wife was I got you fronting in Armani sweaters, before this rap shit When you was in leathers and bullshit berettas And E classes with Mo in the glasses Shows in Cali with all the flavor suede Bally's Now all your mens is up in your Benz's
9. "RE: Revisionist history is the OKP-type acting like they loved Biggie" In response to Reply # 6
I fucked with Biggie's early shit but when Life After Death first came out, I was like WTF is this shiny shit?! I was still spinning Hell On Earth, Ironman and Muddy Waters from the last quarter of 96. My ears weren't ready for LAD. Took me a while to appreciate it.
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"“I want people to buy album,” he states emphatically, “and just straight up say, ‘Yo, he’s the best. He’s the best ever. He’s the best that ever did it.’ That’s what I’m lookin’ for. I want my props. ’Cause they slept on me. I read and they give me my props as being that solo emcee that blew up from the East Coast: But they don’t give me my props like, ‘Yo, Big be straight dicin’ niggas on the mic! On the rhyme side, he’s nice!’ They don’t really look at me like that.”
legsdiamond Member since May 05th 2011 79555 posts
Thu Feb-12-15 10:41 AM
30. "FUUUCK YEAHHHHHH!!!!! " In response to Reply # 28 Thu Feb-12-15 10:42 AM by legsdiamond
I been looking for this shit for YEARS bruh...
gatdamn this shit was so funky. I wasn't even mad at the Puffy adlibs on this version.
I saw Biggie perform this (not the remix) at Jones Beach before he blew up... whole beach scattered during the fight skit. We lost it when they started jumping up and down.
I heard this before the the original and was pissed when it wasn't on the album.
24. "I used to love Big's first album. Played that all the time." In response to Reply # 6
Had Ready To Die like week one. Loved the album, disliked "Juicy" and HATED the remix to "One More Chance." By the time his 2nd album came out I wasn't fucking with Big any more. He started making that cornball materialistic shit.
26. "Hot 97 played all kinds of corny shit" In response to Reply # 11
because they used to play a LOT of records in the mid-90s. It's not like today where the rotation was so small, that anything that got spins was a smash hit. Lords of the Underground, King Just and N9NE for crazy airplay too.
31. ""Dead Presidents" went gold. Reasonable Doubt went gold" In response to Reply # 26
Nine and King Just had one song each and neither of their singles ("Whutchu Want" and "Warrior's Drum") or albums went gold. Those songs just got played on the radio.
In 1996 Hot 97 had "Dead Presidents", "Ain't No Nigga", "Can't Knock The Hustle" and "Brooklyn's Finest" in their regular rotation playlist. Plus, Jay was also featured on R&B songs (Horace Brown's "Things We Do For Love (Remix)" and Shai's "I Don't Want To Be Alone (Remix)") that got regular rotation.
You're trying to act like he was Smoothe Da Hustler or Blahzay Blahzay. I mean, Roc-A-Fella Records got their deal with Def Jam because Reasonable Doubt was so popular.
56. "Yet it took Illmatic almost two years to go gold" In response to Reply # 39
During that period:
Black Moon didn't go gold. Smif-N-Wessun didn't go gold. Kool G Rap has never gone gold in his entire career. Jeru The Damaja didn't go gold. Gang Starr didn't go gold. Lords of the Underground never went gold. Nine never went gold. King Just never went gold. M.O.P never went gold. O.C. never went gold. Fat Joe never went gold. Pete Rock & CL Smooth never went gold. AZ's album didn't go gold (single did though). Big L didn't go gold. DAS EFX didn't go gold. Grand Puba didn't go gold. Mic Geronimo didn't go gold. De La Soul didn't go gold.
And many others.
Are you going to act like people weren't bumping their albums?
23. "My homie copped RD when it first came out... we used to bump it alot" In response to Reply # 2 Thu Feb-12-15 10:21 AM by 8-bit
Funny enough, I liked most of the album EXCEPT for "Ain't No Nigga." I hated that fucking song. It was what we called a "girl song" back in the day. Only broads used to like shit like that. The rest of the album was solid. Jay actually got cornier after this album, with more and more girl tracks on each album.
legsdiamond Member since May 05th 2011 79555 posts
Wed Feb-11-15 07:25 PM
5. "My first time hearing this song was at a live showcase at BET studio" In response to Reply # 0 Wed Feb-11-15 07:30 PM by legsdiamond
OC came out in a party shirt spinning in circles..
Black Moon perfomed and Buckshot was jumping on the speakers..
Jay came out and stood right next to his DJ and spit this shit so hard and effortlessly. No dancing or rah rah shit, just spit the lyrics and played off the DJ cutting the beat.
it was the B side to Dead Presidents. It took a while for people to flip the record over because everyone was on that Nas sample. but once they found it every DJ in Richmond played it more than Dead Presidents.
Oh yeah, and Jay was only corny in that Hawaiian Sophie shirt. He ripped that Original flava Can I Get Open track.
Foxy was holding aces and had a mean ass walk on her. I KNOW she was getting ran down back then.
I love cool Big and Jay were back then. Big was already platinum and would always shout out Jay back then. Their egos were never to a point were they couldn't coexist and support one another even being from the same burrough.
I remember Big being in here but forgot about Jaz. Go figure.
Jada Pinkett was skinny as hell in an unsexy way back then. She looks better with meat on them bones.
25. "It was the Chick Track on the album" In response to Reply # 21 Thu Feb-12-15 10:24 AM by 8-bit
Some cornball shit that chicks at the party/club could sing along too. Sad enough, pretty much everything became chick tracks over time. No dude I know cared one bit about Dolce & Gobanna or Burberry or fancy champagne or any of that other stupid shit.
61. "What album? The Nutty Professor Soundtrack? " In response to Reply # 21
Because it was a single for the soundtrack, which dropped "Touch Me Tease Me" as a single and that Monica feat Treach joint "Ain't Nobody" (that didnt get much airplay but the video was on tv a lot). And that Montel joint "I like" was a single.
What other song on the album could have been a single.
-DJ R-Tistic- Member since Nov 06th 2008 51986 posts
Thu Feb-12-15 10:09 PM
68. "Maaaan nah, Jay's entire trajectory would be different at this point." In response to Reply # 64
So many East Coast rappers had songs similar to Reasonable Doubt, Dead Presidents, and the rest of that album...even if Jay's were dope, for him to be a new artist commercially, he HAD TO have something like "Ain't no nigga" to break through.
Now the commercial singles on Vol. 1 didn't really do much to push him to the next level, but he was able to hold ground through them.
"“I want people to buy album,” he states emphatically, “and just straight up say, ‘Yo, he’s the best. He’s the best ever. He’s the best that ever did it.’ That’s what I’m lookin’ for. I want my props. ’Cause they slept on me. I read and they give me my props as being that solo emcee that blew up from the East Coast: But they don’t give me my props like, ‘Yo, Big be straight dicin’ niggas on the mic! On the rhyme side, he’s nice!’ They don’t really look at me like that.”
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