[Review] JAY-Z - "4:44"

Last week out of nowhere JAY-Z dropped his thirteenth studio album pretty much out of nowhere; no promotion, no hype, just 37 minutes of fantastic music. In fact this might be one of the Hov album that will go down as one of his best, a future classic alongside "Reasonable Doubt", "Blueprint" and "The Black Album". I loved "American Gangster" so I'm a bit on the fence on which album is better but this is more focused and the lyrics is just on another level, totally original from the JAY-Z we know. With one of the best emcees in the game meeting one of the best producers of the industry, NO ID and Hov has created an album that brings back the values of what a really great Hip Hop album could and should be. "4:44" is entirely focused both from a lyrical and a sonic perspective and the two mesh exceptionally well. It reminds me of classic albums from the late '80s where an album was treated as a body of work that was being worked equally hard on by both the artist and the producer to sound like a body of work that could stand on its own. From the first track "Killing JAY-Z" to the final song "Legacy" Jay-Z is telling the story of where he is at today, and it's brutally honest at the same time as it's packed with slick lines that I already noticed went straight over fuckers heads. And what's great is that the music in itself does so much in telling that very same story. 

Jay-Z has built a career on being a tough business man who's great at talking slick to girls, loving to spend lavishly on designer brands and champagne and he can outrap almost anyone, and not only does he know it - he lets it be known. But what made Jay succesfull isn't only the ill flow, his fabolous lifestyle and fierce battle bars but also the little hints of honesty that allowed us to come close to Jigga and learn about him, faults and all. He was never as transparent as say Nas or DMX, far from it, but for almost every album he had a joint or two where he invited listeners into his world to let us partake in the world of the real Jay-Z. These records were often the stand-outs on each LP and I dare say that if it wasn't for these type of tracks he wouldn't have made it to the top. I'm talking songs like "You Must Love Me" (such a heartfelt verse, describing how he shot his own brother and just ran), "Blueprint (Momma Loves Me)", "Moment Of Clarity" and "Where Have You Been" (making up with the father that abandoned him), "D'Evils", "Regrets", "Lucky Me" and so on. I feel that since his 2006 comeback he has kind of shied away from these type of topics which in my opinion has hurt these proects somewhat. It's like they've been missing something.

With "4:44" I'm glad to say that JAY-Z is back in full efect and it's easy to see why he often comes up in discussions about the G.O.A.T. Hov is a grown man now, he is in Forbes magazine, he could care less about petty beef, and here he basically decided to do his most personal album yet, It's like a 36 minute therapy session, and the way thing starts is pure brilliance. With "Kill Jay-Z" he is admitting his faults and killing his ego to get to the bottom of Shawn Carter really is. There's quotable for days here as it's basically an older, more experienced man speaking to his younger self, explaining where he did go wrong. "The Story Of O.J." is another standout from the set which is directed to black people in the US, and once again also can be seen as a wiser Jay-Z speaking to a younger, more immature version of himself. He talks about managing our finances in a proper way, investing money and not flexing. The line "Y'all on the 'Gram holding money to your ear/ there's a disconnect, we don't call that money over here" is a classic Jay double entendre that could've been straight from "Reasonable Doubt". A lot of fools don't get how slick that line is, only hearing the "holding money to your ear on Instagram" flexing" line when its the lines that come after that really solidifies it at lyrical and worthy of recognition.

All through this NO ID certainly rises to the challenge and it's such a beautiful thing to just hear two artists vibing in the studio coming up with a really coherrent sound. TThey have worked before, but often with at least a gang of producers around - the one song I can think off that was just Jay and NO is "Death of Autotune", and matter of fact that wouldn't be too out o place here. Sonically that is. It's a great mixture of sampled gospel, soul and jazz classics and live instrumentation coupled with some real hard drums but the beats never got to busy to take the top spot from Jay-Z. He touches on so many honest topics here, from his mother's homosexuality and finall coming out the closet on the more laid-back but beautiful "Smile". There's the title track (see video above) which features a truly heartfelt apology from Hov to his wife for cheating repeatedly on here (as macho as Hip Hop is, could this be the first record of a man saying he is truly sorry for that). No ID again does a beautiful job of combining a repeated vocal sample that stretches out and finds the team in the melting pot between R&B and boom bap.

And that's halftime, but there's really no point in breaking down every song as this is as true an album as they come and I dare to say that 10 years from now this will be looked upon as one of Jay-Z's classics. And the same goes for NO ID as this was undoubtedly a team effort. It's a blessing that Jay-Z realized he doesn't need a million and one producers to make a hot album; just get one really talented guy that understands your vision and we're almost there. Lyrically this is a new chapter in Jay-Z's book and one that is very welcome, he's grown up and got some rich man problems but that doens't mean that he's gone soft on us. There's plenty of shit here for the average man to relate to and for the rest there's a lot of advice to be taken heed to. I really liked "American Gangster" but as that was a concept album perhaps it's more honest to say that is Jigga's best joint since "The Black Album" some 15 years ago. No matter how you feel about this man be sure to check it out ASAP and let's hope that more artists follow suit in letting one or two producers handle their whole album front to back.

[Comp] JAY-Z, DMX & JA RULE - "Introducing Murder Inc. '95-'99"

The debate about commercial Hip Hop vs mainstream Hip Hop was as hot a topic back in the second half of the '90s that it is today, and I sure took a stance against many artists that I later had to backtrack on and admit I had been sleeping on some serious talent. It was nothing as watered down as the mainstream bullshit we hear today though - trust me I will never backtrack on calling out wack juice artists like Chief Keef, Rick Ross, Lil' Durk, Stitches, the entire Trap movement, and so on and so on, but back in the days a popular emcee like Jay-Z and later Eminem had underground heads divided while failing to realize (or denying) their immense talent.

With that out of the way any serious Hip Hop fan not too wet behind the ears knows that Irv Gotti's original plan for his Murder Inc. group was a trio album featuring Jay-Z, DMX and Ja Rule. Now the latter is an artist I still don't have much respect for, as I really feel he never did anything worthwhile but listening to some of his verses from back in like '95 he did have some semi-hot shit on the table nontheless. There were some bad blood between DMX and Jay-Z and between Ja Rule and DMX and though songs were recorded they remains unreleased til' this day. We only got "Murdergram" on the "Streets Are Watching" soundtrack, "It's Murda" on Ja's '99 LP "Venni Vetti Vecci" and a couple of older, perhaps a little more rare (to the not initiated underground head) records like their meeting with Mic Geronimo on the excellent "Time to Build". This is well known to be the first record all three of these guys first appeared and was produced by Irv Gotti like the rest of the records (whereas some were co-produced by Ty Fyffe). Well, it used to be well known but it turns out that there was what is perhaps an earlier record, or at least recorded around the same time, called "If It's On, It's On". The '95 underground sound is evident as it's a vintage posse cut starring Jay-Z, Ja Rule (who damn near steals the show), DMX (who also KILLS it), Jaz-O, Black Child (turning in a memorable performance) and someone called Nemesis. The latter two and Ja were part of an early mid-'90s group called Cash Money Click and the song made it's only apperance on a dodgy bootleg called "Freaknik' 96" as a C.M.C. track featuring JZ (with no mention of Jaz-O or DMX). Up until a couple of days ago I never in my life had heard this piece of Hip Hop history.

I know some people give me the cold internet eye (haha) whenever I put something on about Jay-Z but fuck it he was one of the most talented emcees to ever pick up a mic at one point and though bullshit records like "Blueprint 3" and "Magna Carta Holy Grail" should have been left unreleased, I will never discredit his early work. Therefore I have put together a 320 kbps compilation of all the Jay-Z/DMX/Ja Rule collabos from '95 to '99, some of them only featuring DMX and Jay-Z, some featuring all three of them and then some, and some featuring only Jay-Z and Ja Rule. Download if you want, if not at least check out the YouTube clip on the rare "If It's On..." joint up top and leave it at that and feel free to flood my guestbook on why I am a dickrider for digging Hova. 


01. "If Its On, Its On" (Ja Rule, DMX, JayZ, Jaz-O, Black Child, Nemesis) [1995]
02. "Time To Build" (Mic Geronimo, Jay-Z, DMX & Ja Rule) [1995]
03. "Murdergram" (Jay-Z, DMX & Ja Rule) [1998]
04. "Money, Cash, Hoes" (Jay-Z & DMX) [1998]
05. "Why We Die" (Busta Rhymes, DMX & Jay-Z) [1999]
06. "Blackout" (DMX, Jay-Z, The LOX) [1998]
07. "The Grand Finale" (DMX, Ja Rule, Nas & Method Man) [1998]
08. "Gangsta Shit" (DJ Clue presents Ja Rule & Jay-Z) [1998]
09. "More Money, Cash & Hoes" (Jay-Z, DMX, Beanie Sigel & Bleek) [1999]
10. "Mudergram" (Jay-Z, DMX & Ja Rule)

INTRODUCING MURDER INC. (The '95-'99 Recordings)"

DJ Mark The 45 King on producing "Hard Knock Life"

I remember back in 1998 I was all about underground hip-hop, no exception, and Jigga Man was kind of a no no. However hearing "Hard Knock Life" playing everywhere that year I could impossibly deny that it was a mad flavorful record that was impossible not to nod your head to. It was commercial but it was pure hip hop music. To this day it is one of my favorite Jay-Z records (I later came around and own all Jigga's LP:s up and until "American Gangster"), and Marcy's finest and the legendary DJ Mark The 45 King was for sure a match made in heaven. I love how the Flavor Unit veteran keeps a low profile only to once in a while pop up and deliver some of the best selling hip-hop records of its time (we all know the equally brilliant "Stan" by Eminem). Why the hell more major artists isn't contacting The 45 King is simply beyond me, but I guess they rather fuck with Lex Luger or Wundagirl. The clip is a segment that originally aired on Swedish Television and unfortunately lacks subtitles - but as the video is based around interview segments with Jay-Z, DJ Mark The 45 King and Kid Capri the majority of its length is in English, so press play and enjoy  y'all!

[Music Film] JAY-Z - "Streets is Watching" (1998)

As I mentioned before Jay-Z posts on The Lost Tapes ocassionally get shut down quite nasty in the comments sections, which I can understand as I personally hate everything the Jiggaman stand for these days (with that being said, still to this day he at least have a few banging cuts on each album). However, Jigga's official debut and sophomore in 1996 and 1997, respectively, "Reasonable Doubt" and "In My Lifetime... Vol. 1" are straight up incredible albums. Although the 1998 documentary / extended music video for Roc-A-Fella Films "Streets is Watching" ties together a loose narrative connecting a large amount of videos, mostly previously previously unreleased; a large amount of the best songs from Jay-Z's best album a long with his two finest early videos - "I Can Get With Dat" and "In My Lfetime"; two excellent '95 tracks.

This was originally released in '98, proabbly slightly earlier than "Vol. 2... "Hard Knock Life" and features pretty much all the original Jay-Z videos from his two first abums, many of them never having reached the public before. Whether you're on of the guys who trapped in the mindstate that Jay-Z is not a truly gifted lyricist, before he dumbed down his flow, this is purely excellent hip-hop and makes for an interesting viewing, so if you haven't catched it before... Don't sleep!

[Mixtape] JAY-Z - "Before Reasonable Doubt"

I sometimes get a few upset readers in the comments section everytime I post something by or about Jay-Z, but the fact is that I hold "Reasonable Doubt" and about half of "In My Lifetime, Vol. 1" in the highest regard as some of the most well crafted writing in hip-hop music of all time. Therefore I am always eager to hear other non album tracks, guest features and demos from this early peak of Jigg (who still to this day knows how to knock out a banger if you ask me). I myself put together a 16 track compilation of Hov's mid-'90s non-album joints called "The Pre-Trial" featuring his work with Original Flavor, DJ Clark Kent, Ski, Jaz-O, among other hard tunes a while back (unfortunately the link has been taken down, but I'm doing a re-up on it in the coming days, just need to get back a couple more songs that I've lost).

However, Mass Appeal very recently shared a new mixtape compilation of ten songs predating the release of "Reasonable Doubt", that I, at least for the bulk of it, never have heard before. This is an extreme treat for hip-hop heads and lyric gourmets, as this release contains a gold mine of classic, yet previously unheard, Jay-Z lyrics that calls out for extensive use of the rewind button all delivered over bass booming '90s New York bap. As you know Jay would later dumb down his content considerably, but in the early days his songs were made up of an extensive amount of lyrics with multiple meanings calling out for listeners to decipher. While a few of the songs on this tape, titled "Demo Tape - Before Reasonable Doubt" features songs in his pre-'95 hype style heard on jams like Big L's "Da Graveyard" (a style that never appealed to me tooo much), the majority of joints finds a Jay-Z whose lyrical delivery is somewhere in between the hyper and the calm mafioso persona finally heard on "R.D.". It's hard listing stand outs because this is most definitely something you can listen to from front to back many, many times if you're a fan of early Jigga Man but I was especially hyped for "Get Off My Dick",  the Clark Kent produced "Understand Me" (very dope track where Jigga takes a trip down memory lane, recounting his growing up in the streets of Marcy, interspersed with a sampled 2Pac hook), and "Broken English & Drug Sellin'" - all songs that almost sound like they could have been considered for inclusion on the classic debut in 1996. The only song that I feel to likely have been recorded after the fact is the closing song. Called "Behind The Ropes" listening to the DJ shouts it's obvious this is in fact a Sauce Money record featuring Jay. Sauce's first 12" single on Roc wasn't released until 1997 and though this is definitely earlier than "Against the Grain", it was probably recorded between "R.D." and that. It's a sick cut at any rate.

Calling this a demo tape however, does sound a bit silly considering this is definitely nothing that was compiled as a demo nor does it consist of material recorded in a few sessions as a unit. Rather this is a compilation of rare material predating the release of the album, but recorded after songs like the Jaz-O collaborations. Big Jaz is suspiciously absent from all material (perhaps he did produce some of the music though as there's no production credits, though both Ski and Clark Kent's fingerprints undoubtedly are on some of these), though early Jay-Z / Roc-A-Fella affiliate Sauce Money kicks it with Hov on no less than five songs. I always felt these two had a great chemistry and would have loved to see Sauce been the next big artist being pushed by Roc-A-Fella but it is what it is. 

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[EP] PHONIKS - "Summer Nights"

Portland, Maine producer Phoniks had me totally hooked when I had his funky blend of jazz, soul and hardcore beats on his remix EP "Autumn in New York" earlier this year. Since then he has released the equally impressive original project "Dephacation" with Virginia duo Awon & Dephlon, and this guy is definitely not sleeping cuz he's back with yet another crazy fat remix EP. Underlining classics by Jay-Z, Nas, AZ, Big L, 2Pac, Biggie, and Black Moon with what has already become his trademark sounds the smooth sounds of "Summer Nights" is definitely one you want to have in your earphones this summer.

[Mixtape] THE 45 KING - "The Best of 45 King"

This is an amazing mix by the great legendary DJ and producer Mark The 45 King called "The Best of The 45 King" that I stumbled across some time back that I thought a lot of y'all should love as much as I do. It's only 20 minutes long but it features a wonderful blend of classic 45 King moments, rare tracks, breakbeats and snippets of the original samples. There's no question in my mind that 45 King is one of the greatest, yet most underrated producers, to ever do it and this lil' mixtape is a perfect way to spend 20 minutes listening to great music. What is interesting is that there's at least two or three Jay-Z collaborations that I never heard before. Press play, enjoy and TURN IT UP!!

[Throwback] K-DEF vs. JAY-Z - "Real Live Gangster"

I know several times when I have posted stuff about Jigga Man on here, I've gotten some angry comments about me including his music here on The Lost Tapes, despite it being his older material which I'm still a big fan of. His more recent output, and the way he carries himself, is totally despicable in many ways but his talent as an emcee can't be denied, especially when listening to projects like "Reasonable Doubt" , "The Black Album" and "Vol. 1: In My Lietime".  Since his semi-retirement he hasn't come out with much worthwhile but I did find that his 2008 concept-album "American Gangster", inspired by the Ridley Scott film of the same name, was a very dope project. Just like he did with "The Black Album", Jay-Z and Def Jam/Roc-A-Fella decided to release the entire album as an accapella version as well, inviting producers everywhere to make their own version of the LP. While it hardly invited as many heavyhitting remix albums as its 2004 counterpart, such as Danger Mouse's "The Grey Album", Kev Brown and 9th Wonder's respective takes, and so forth, it did give us an entire remix album by Lost Tapes favorite K-Def (yeah I know there's been extensive writing on my part of 'Def recently due to my "Best of 2013" series, but this one is brought up by request from an avid reader of The Lost Tapes). So here we go, the "Real Live Gangster" album, as produced and remixed by K-Def, featuring the vocals of Jay-Z, Beanie Sigel, Nas, and so on.

The original album, was in my opinion, brilliantly produced, and flew like a true allbum should, with a third of the album featuring perhaps the finest production work yet by Sean C & LV, a long with really ill beats by No ID, Toomp, Jermaine Dupri (if you don't believe me click here) and Just Blaze. Since the story is set in the 1970's, the surrounding music that was created for the album did reimagining the sound of the times, which worked wonders. This is something that K-DEF also makes a point of with his own interpretation while also bringing his own unique sounding flavor to the table. The result is for the most part absolutely tremendous - I say mostly, because a few songs like "No Hook" pales in comparision with the original. However, several of my favorite songs on the original retail album which gets such a complete update here that they can't even be resembled anymore, is even better than their original counterparts. This include the glorious single "Roc Boys (And The Winner Is...)" which K-Def envisions around a slick guitar riff-driven piece, with underlying rhodes, synth and sound effects, and a steady rhythm section, and a powerful bass- and drums combo. The result is a track that is not half as celebratory as the OG, but is equally headnod-inducing and sound hell of a lot more gangster. "Sweet" is another simiiliary driven track that packs a hard punch, with a simple but addictive motif carrying the song forward with reoccuring horns underlining the keyboard effect.

I remember when I first got "American Gangster", one of the tracks I couldn't stop listening to was "Party Life". Funny enough, when I got "Real Live Gangster", I couldn't get K-Def's melody (which runs throughout the entire track, but alternated on rhodes, vibes, and synth) out of my head. Truly dope, though I would have to go with the original version if I were too chose one of them! A track that however is just a million times better on this verson is "I Know", one of the tracks that didn't do anything for me on Jay-Z's album, is "Sweet", where it was produced by The Neptunes and to me broke away from the formula established by the other producers on the LP. The track is about heroine and speaks from the drugs perspective, so it's essential that it should have a warm and rather slow moving background track. Something K-Def easily creates with a more minimalist sound than used for most of the other songs; aside from a few sound effects, the focus is on the rhythm and a sweet accoustic piano line.

By these few examples I might have given a little bit of a picture of what K-Def does with the material, and going in to such detail for each track would be pointless. It's very consistent throughout, the influence of '70s funk, soul and jazz/fusion is even more prominent than on Jigga's original album, and K-Def's love for multi-layering tracks with his bag of tricks is in full effect as well. Another thing is that there is clearly a gangster musical theme running throughout. It's also of course very impressive that K-Def creates his beats around the vocals so that Jay-Z doesn't sound to miss a beat, something that speaks both to the talents of 'Def as a producer and Jigga as an emcee. Of course, that is what a remixer does or should do but we all know that a lot of great producer have put out remixes where the emcee ocassionally or even often drops out of time. This was a real treat for underground hip-hop fans around the world when it was released as a free digital download, and having just revisited it again after a few years I can say that it still holds up. The only problem with the recording is that it is presented in only 96 kbps, which of course is a very low bitrate, but still absolutely listenable. I was curious about this and tried to find a HQ rip for quite some time, until I got from official sources that K-DEF purposely released it in a low bitrate due to fear of bootleggers putting it out there. This is due to the fact that shortly after the download was made official, the music on the disc was released as an instrumental album by 'Def called "Gangster Instrumentals". Ironically, the 96 kbps bitrate Mp3 files were in fact pressed up on a bogus bootleg a few months later! Oh well, if you haven't heard this in a long time or are late to the party... Download, press play and TURN IT UP!

01. "Intro" (Ft. Idris Elba)

02. "Pray"

03. "American Dreamin'"

04. "Hello Brooklyn" (Ft. Lil' Wayne)

05. "No Hook"

06. "Roc Boys (And The Winner Is...)"

07. "Sweet"

08. "I Know"

09. "Party Life"

10. "Ignorant Shit" (Ft. Beanie Sigel)

11. "Say Hello"

12. "Success" (Ft. Nas)

13. "Fallin'" (Ft. Bilal)

14. "Blue Magic"

15. "American Gangster"

JAY-Z / K-DEF - "REAL LIVE GANGSTER"

[EP] SKYZOO - "An Ode to Reasonable Doubt"

It's no secret that the music of Jay-Z has been a huge inspiration on fellow Brooklyn son Skyzoo. As yesterday marked Jiggaman's birthday Skyzoo links up with producer/composer Antman Wonder in the creation of "An Ode To Reasonable Doubt". In similiar fashion to what eLzhi did to "Illmatic", Skyzoo and Wonder uses the original tracks as blueprints for a live orchestral rendition of the music, with the original vocals functioning as a take off point for Sky. A pretty damn sick listen without a reasonable doubt... especially if you can't get enough of the unbelivable masterpiece that is "Reasonable Doubt". The nine track EP is available as a free download or stream via LoyaltyDigitalCorp - enjoy!

J-Live - "Heaven Freestyle"

J-Live always brig the heat, whether its through his many solo albums, his live shows, and his many cameos and of course his very skilled prouctions. I've been a fan of J-Live since he debuted with "The Best Part" and "All of the Above" and has continued to be so throughout the years. Following his somewhat overlooked "S.P.I.T." LP, he's been a lot of HQ "cover songs" of hip-hop classics. I'm talking his personal takes on masterpieces by Diamond D, Brand Nu, The Roots, and Gang Starr. For his first entry in his classic freestyle series this season comes with a more recent track; here J takes on Jay-Z's recent "Heaven", produced by Timbaland and J-Rocc. A diferent sound for the former teacher turned lyrical rapper but I strongly recommend a listen. This will appear on 'Live's forthcoming mixtape "This is Chess not Checkers" so stay tuned for more info + download.

[EP] DEF DEE - "The Throwback Remixes"

Following Def Dee's cooking introduction to the world with last month's "33 And A Third", the Seattle producer keeps rocking with a brand new EP. 7 tracks deep, Dee shows off his remixing skills by touching up classics by Jay-Z, AZ, Da Bush Babees, Kane, InI, Brand Nubian and Nas. Free download via MMG, check it out!

[Album] 9th Wonder / Jay-Z - "Black American Gangster"

It started with the incredible "Threat", an original production by 9th Wonder that was placed on a multi-platinum selling Jay-Z album in 2003. That same album, "The Black Album", was remixed in its entirety by 9th a couple of years later to great effect and now it's time again. The former Little Brother member takes on Jigga's "American Gangster" album in full; giving it the 9th Wonder Remix treatment. 

"I wanted Black American Gangster to sound like a 70′s soundtrack, or to sound like a bunch of 70s groups came through and rocked with Jay…Therefore…I put “featuring” on a lot of the jams…..hope yall enjoy." - 9th Wonder

 

 9th WONDER vs. JAY-Z - "BLACK AMERICAN GANGSTER"

Paul Nice & Slice-Of-Spice

Underrated New York producer Paul Nice, who has laced tracks for Masta Ace, Lord Finesse/Percee P, AG and Biz Markie to name a few, is going hard with his newly started independent record label Slice-Of-Spice. The small independent label specializes in limited pressings of rare tracks and exclusives, often on 7" vinyl and Paul Nice has dropped/is about to drop a bunch of 'em. All the vinyl heads better make sure to cop these while you still can, there's alot of effort and thought put into these releases, not only from a strictly musical perspective but the colored vinyl all comes with full, severely dope artwork. I previously reported on the limited 7" release of the Paul Nice produced "BK (We Don't Play)", an unreleased joint from 2001 with a new Nice remix on the B-side (click on the link to check out both songs). Forthcoming projects on the label include rare tracks with Lord Finesse and Biz Markie; stay tuned for mroe info!

The year was '99 and Paul Nice hooked up with two of the illest emcees in New York, Masta Ace and the late, great GURU, and recorded the track "Conflict" for the Mona Hip Hop label. Nice also created an equally crazy remix of the track that, besides a few dodgy mix CDs, has never seen the light of the day. Slice-Of-Spice has ensured the rights to the masters and is releasing the remix on limited vinyl single with the instrumental on the flipside. The red vinyl is numbered with a gold stamp and comes in the crazy sleeve you see above, created by well known graffiti artist EWOKOne. You can order your copy from your usual suspects like Fat Beats but if you want the real deal on numbered red vinyl check out these various packages via Slice-Of-Spice. Listen/download the joint below:

MASTA ACE & GURU - "CONFLICT" [REMIX] 

Another Slice-Of-Spice exclusive is Paul Nice's remix of the classic Jay-Z 2004 cut "Public Service Announcement", a jaw-dropping moment off his "The Black Album". As Jiggaman released the accapellas for what would be his final album both newcomers and established beatmakers gave a remix album of it a shot; including Paul Nice. This take on "PSA" was intended for Paul Nice vs. Jay-Z - "The Unofficial Black Album" but failed to appear and is now being released on limited 7" vinyl with the instrumental on side B. Like with the "Conflict" single, you can pick this up @ places like Fat Beats but if you want that special 1000 copies limited marble colored vinyl check out the packages offered by Slice-Of-Spice. Download and listen to the song for yourself below.

JAY-Z - "P.S.A." [PAUL NICE REMIX / TAKE 3]

XXL: The Making of Jay-Z's "The Blueprint"

Besides a few bangers like "The Joy" and "Primetime", "Watch The Throne" left a sour taste in my mouth. It's hard to imagine that the unimaginative music found on that disc was created by the same duo that ten years previous created much of Jay's "Blueprint". No matter how much weak music Jigga would decide to pour out from this point on don't really matter though, like LL I will always look upon him as a legend for all the classics he already delivered in his career. One of those classics happen to be 2001's "The Blueprint", an album sometimes catching critic for receiving an "unfair" 5 mics rating in The Source which still had some credability at that point. Personally I don't think there's anything unfair about the rating it received, there's a gang of LPs I would put above it but ultimately it was one of the sickest, most tone setting bodies of work to define the last decade in rap music. Unlike many previous Jay-Z projects, this really felt like a real coherrent album with a musical theme that was pretty much evident throughout without becoming forced. 

It was also thee album that put Just Blaze and KanYe West on the map as super producers with their renaissance of sampled soul records and high-pitched vocal samples with tracks like "The Takeover" (still one of the illest diss records ever made if you ask me), "Girls, Girls, Girls", "U Don't Know" and "Heart Of The City". One of the things that set it apart from some earlier Jigga LPs was that even the singles followed the formula of the rest of the songs and were actually good music that also had some hit potential. The only thing I don't really get about "The Blueprint" is why producer Bink didn't get the recognition for his work as 'Ye and Just? For me it was the combined tracks of this trio that created the sound of it with their 3-4 beats each. Oh well, throw on your discs, press play and read this ill XXL article on the making of the album with interviews with the artist, producers, engineers, executives, etc. If you slept on my previous uploads of these classic XXL articles, check them out because this is the last one I got at the time being. Enjoy!

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XXL's Making of Reasonable Doubt (Scans)

As promised, I have uploaded all the scans of the classic XXL Article on The Making Of Reasonable Doubt, which was given it's own issue back in late 2006 to celebrate the LPs 10 year anniversary. Since it's just now been 15 years since the world first heard Sean Carters debut, these scans will be perfect to go through while revisiting this fantastic album. This post is of course an accompaniement to my previous "Reasonable Doubt" article/16 track early Jay-Z collaborations compilation.

To not make the blog take an eternity to load for those of y'all with slower connections, I uploaded them in a .rar file @ MediaFire. If you haven't read this before it's absolutely amazing reading and even if you read it before, the 12 page spread is fine to revisit several times so enjoy!

XXL: The Making Of Jay-Z's "Reasonable Doubt"

Jay-Z & The mid-'90s "Pre-Trial"

This past Sunday marked the 15 year anniversary of the release of Sean Carter's fantastic debut LP, "Reasonable Doubt". In the eyes of most serious hip-hop lovers, myself included, it stans as a true hip-hop classic that has certainly stood the test of time and proved Jay-Z as one of the most brilliant lyricists to ever grab a microphone. Every verse on the album is a worthy quotable, and it's overall so well written that even after all these years you could still keeping discovering hidden meanings in Jay's lyrics as almost every single line has at least a double meaning (imagine that!).

The LP of course dropped in 1996; a time when mafioso themed albums had almost became the norm for East Coast hip-hop. But "Reasonable Doubt" stood out from most of the releases of its time; not only had Jigga an impeccable wordplay and a ridiciolous delivery, he honestly invited the listener into his world, sharing with us his emotions, his pains and explaining his motives behind choosing a life of crime rather than taking a 9-5 job. Lines like "Lock my body, can't trap my mind/ Easily explain why we adapt to crime", "I rather die enormous than live dormant, that's how we on it" or "Whoever said illegal was the easy way out, couldn't understand the mechanics and the workings of of the underworld. Granted!/ 9 to 5 is how you survive, I ain't trying to survive; I'm tryna live it to the limit and love it alot" are perfect examples of this (as is the entire songs "Can I Live", "Regrets" and my favorite "D'Evils") and made alot of people relate to Jay-Z and the LP, hustlers or not.

The trio of producers that created the timeless canvas that Jay painted the story of his life over is an equally big part to the albums success. DJ Premier, Ski and Clark Kent created unforgettable music that was the perfect soundtrack to Carter's lyrical flexings. That "Reasonable Doubt" was produced by just these three guys (with one extra beat each supplied by Big Jaz, Irv Gotti and Knobody) and all the sessions took place at the infamous D&D Studios in early '96 gave the album a cohessive sound that is often gone in todays hip-hop.

Unfortunately the self-released project didn't do the big numbers the Roc-A-Fella trio had hoped for. As it's never been a secret that Sean Carter's main interest in joining the hip-hop game was his love for the $ it had came time for change. Instead of recording sessions at the dirtchamber known as D&D Studios with producers like the aforementioned; Dame Dash, Biggs and Jigga looked at Puff Daddy and his Bad Boy fam and their recipé for success. As a result, subsequent Jay-Z albums, which also helped him make the richest rapper of all time, featured a mixture of commercial and hardcore songs with beatmakers including The Hitmen, Trackmasters, Swizz Beats and Timbaland. One thing I always give him credit for though is that he never totally sold out, he always had several incredible tracks on each and every one of his following albums

The follow-up to the debut was '97s "In My Lifetime, Vol. 1" which had a couple of weak songs but are overall an often underrated and forgotten album that's great both lyrically and as far as production goes (both DJ Premier and Ski was involved again, although to a lesser degree). Despite the few wack Puff Daddy records, it's actually the closest LP to "Reasonable Doubt" in my opinion. With subsequent works Carter heavily dumbed down his lyrics more and more. Not to say that he's still not one of the great lyricists of hip-hop, but after hearing his first two albums, it's evident that he's so much better than the way he chooses to portray himself in order to sell more records. One thing's for sure however; "Reasonable Doubt", will go down in history as one of the most lyrical hip-hop classics of all time and should be part of any serious hip-hop heads record collection.

I recently started stringing together a compilation of early Jay-Z material, consisting of cameo stuff, B-sides and such ranging from 1991 and 1996. With this 15 year anniversary coming up I figured this was the best time to let it loose to all my readers. I titled it "The Pre-Trial" based on the trial against Jigga where he had to prove himself innocent of the crime he was accused of without a reasonable doubt; this was the original theme of the LP and is the reason of its title. While you're listening to it, I strongly suggest you read this great and well-written article by my man Chris Moss, 'Beyond A Reasonable Doubt' @ the ill Al Lindstrom site. And in closing, in case you missed out on XXL's great article on the making of the album that was published a few years ago, I will upload the scans later tonight. Enjoy!

01. "In My Lifetime"
02. "The Originators" (w. Jaz-O)
03. "Can I Get Open" (w. Original Flavor)
04. "Can't Get With Dat"
05. "No Love Lost" (w. Lord Tariq & Shaq)
06. "Da Graveyard" (w. Big L, Lord Finesse, Party Arty, Grand Daddy IU & Mic Nut)
07. "Show N Prove" (w. Big Daddy Kane, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Sauce Money, Shyheim & Scoob)
08. "Time To Build" (w. Mic Geronimo, DMX & Ja Rule)
09. "I'll Be" (w. Foxy Brown)
10. "Big Momma Thang"
11. "Dead Or Alive Pt. 1" (w. Sauce Money)
12. "It's That Simple" (w. Jaz-O)
13. "Don't Wanna Be Alone [Marley Marl Remix]" (w. Shai)
14. "Many Styles" (w. Original Flavor)
15. "Foundation" (w. Jaz-O & Sauce Money)
16. "Dead Presidents Pt. 1"

JAY-Z - "THE PRE-TRIAL"