Sixteen long (or short, depending on how you look at it) years ago, one of Hip-Hop’s finest opuses was released. Reasonable Doubt is an album that would transition Jay-Z from an underground aficionado to a rap superstar, and it also changed the Hip-Hop game forever. Jay-z had been a hungry emcee as early as ’89, and he was sick of the way that his label (Payday) had been promoting him; he decided to take things into his own hands, and he started Roc-A-Fella Records. Together with Priority Records, Roc-A-Fella Records released Reasonable Doubt.
From the moment that Pain In Da Ass opens the album on “Can’t Knock the Hustle”, the gangster mentality takes hold, and Jay-Z displays a lyrical ability that pierces the listener’s brain like a nine millimeter. I don’t think anybody, including Hov himself, knew how much of an impact this album would have on emcees for decades to come.
A lot of people might totally hate on me, but I’ve never really been a huge Common fan, with the exception of Like Water For Chocolate. I honestly think that this album might be one of the best Hip-Hop albums of the last decade. The production put forth by Jay Dee and the Soulquarians is nothing short of perfect, and Common manages to compliment every single beat on this album the way it should be. Jay Dee did a great majority of the production and he absolutely killed the beats on this record. In my opinion this album is and always will be a classic. Most emcees wish that they could drop an album this good. 
MIND INVERSION 