From the August 1996 issue of the Source, a review of Jay Z’s first full length, written by Charlie Braxton. Not on the album, but on mp3 here, the original 12” version of Dead President with different lyrics.
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Wow. 4 mics.
Terribly misrated.
3.5 Mics? Fuck you talking about? 5 mic classic. Top 10 hip hop albums of all time, and anybody who says different is just HATING.
Of all Time??? Dont think so
Haha. really bad review. I hope writers are better now. But I remember reading this review and thinking this album deserves much more than that.
Good album, but overrated.
I hate it when reviewers change there conclusions after something become popular.
Illmatic is a superior album in every possible way.
5 mics, no question. they were on crack when they gave em 4.
Hugely overrated album… when it dropped, a lot of people at the time thought it was kinda wack with sell-out R&B hooks, and so-so beats, even though the lyrics were pretty good
Unfortunately hiphop never regained it’s golden era standards, Jay-Z became huge off a hit-single sampling a kids movie (SMH), and kids nowadays think he’s the greatest of all time and this was a 5 star album (SMH)
I can agree with that to a certain extent. but whether you like it or not, this is a classic in the mafioso rap era. “Remember back when we first learned to use rubbers, he never learned, so in turn, Im kidnappin his baby’s mother” -D’Evils. See where his mind was ?
Dont get it twisted Reasonable Doubt was is and Will always be a classic Jay knew what the hell he was doin on this shit
Ya’ll are dumbasses
Reasonable Doubt is easily the greatest rap album of all time
overrated? fuck all you hoes
This is the best of Jay Z and best rap album of the 90’s and yes, better than Illmatic
What everyone has to understand is that YES, Reasonable Doubt is a classic album, but back then, it was only a 4 mic album compared to Illmatic. By today’s standards, Reasonable Doubt would definitely get 5 mics. Jay had some stiff competition during that time. So it’s not really a bad review.
Hip-Hop…
[…]Classic reviews : Reasonable Doubt in The Source (1996) « Press Rewind If I Haven't…[…]…
[…] so much wit and class from the young man telling stories of “criminal melodrama,” as Charlie Braxton called it in an August 1996 issue of the Source. His style at this time was a little old school storyteller clever rhymes, with 90′s hood […]
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[…] But those are the charts, and as Biggs pointed out, whether the label wasn’t supporting Jay because he wasn’t poppin’ or he wasn’t poppin because the label wasn’t supporting him, surely the hip-hop community instantly recognized the album’s greatness, right? Well, kind of. The Source, at the time the Bible of hip-hop reviews, gave it a four our of five mics and wrote that: […]
[…] with the net worth of its maker. The famous hip-hop magazine The Source initially gave the album a respectable four mics—calling it “a very solid LP”—but not the coveted five mic rating that was bestowed upon […]
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[…] “Overall, Reasonable Doubt is a very solid LP. And while many around the country may want to indict Jay-Z for his gender politics and violent content, I seriously doubt if any of them would have a chance of convicting the brother for dropping a wack album”-The Source […]
[…] “Overall, Reasonable Doubt is a very solid LP. And while many around the country may want to indict Jay-Z for his gender politics and violent content, I seriously doubt if any of them would have a chance of convicting the brother for dropping a wack album”-The Source […]