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.
Today would have been the 37th birthday of one of the greatest emcees of all time, The Notorious B.I.G. This guy was one of the greatest fire spitters that the game of Hip-Hop has ever seen. There aren’t many lyricists even today that can rhyme like Biggie did. He released two albums, and to this day both of them are highly regarded and considered classics.
MIND INVERSION 