Reasonable Doubt is not a classic.

[A$AP_A$TON]

I agree.

#NotAClassic

 

[lethal5]

I wanna know which songs on RD people think are sub-par?

 

[judahxulu]

I wanna know which songs on RD people think are sub-par?

i wanna know how "not a classic" = sub par by default...

 

[Melanin_Enriched]

I wanna know which songs on RD people think are sub-par?

All of them.

 

[TrueGodHS]

I think Reasonable Doubt is a classic hands down. Musically, it's Jay's deepest album IMO. Cashmere Thoughts, Regrets, Politics as Usual, D'Evils, etc.... I remember listening to it when it first came out and I remembered how disappointed I was in Jay when he dropped Vol. 1 and that lame ass "I Know What Girls Like" shit. I will say that everybody has selective ideals on what a classic is, and if a nigga says it's not a classic, the album just might not register with them the same way it did for a lot of us niggas. In terms of sales, it's not a classic, but in terms of impact that's permeated the culture in the last 2 decades, I would say it is a classic. Once again, someone could disagree and that's them. But not too many albums from the 80s and 90s hold up as well as Reasonable Doubt has. Timeless music IMO = classic.

 

[DR. JEK]

If RD ain't a classic then jay must not have a classic in his whole catalog becuz it's hard to make a better case for a classic then RD even tho me personally I think blueprint is better

You sound like a guy feeling obligated to give it a courtesy classic mention. You on some " I guess its a classic even tho I think Blueprint is better" shit....but before that you made it sound like RD is the best album in his catalog the way you began your paragraph unless of course you was being sarcastic. Which is it? And this is what I dont understand from you and posters in this thread like you. Why feel the need to say you like Blueprint better? Are you telling us that there are higher degree classics than others and you feel BP is a higher degree than RD? If not why cant Blueprint be the classic to you and Reasonable dought just be a very good album but fall short of the word classic? There is no shame in treating it as a 4 to 4 1/2 mic joint, we dont have to call everything a classic especially when that same artist has made better shit that you CLEARLY like better. Its almost like niggas feel sorry for Jay cus he didnt drop a nuclear bomb off the bat with his first album like Nas, Mobb Deep, Biggie, and Snoop so revisionist have to act like RD was something that it wasnt to validate Jigga.

But yall gotta understand that its ok that hes a late bloomer. Still got just as much good music and classic songs over the years as those other drop a classic first album rap guys if not more by now, Y'all dont gotta act like this.

 

[25centsandwich]

Never thought I'd see this thread...but RD is by far Jays best album...ain't even close to me.

BP and black album are more accessible from a production/songwriting perspective...plus the fair share of hits...that's why ppl think there better...

but the cohesion/concept/background of rd is what those albums lack...jay was sublime on rd...I remember when jay first came out w/ rd...and I was like whoooooa!! ...when black album came out I was like meeeehhh!

 

[GetoBoy]

you sound like a guy feeling obligated to give it a courtesy classic mention. You on some " I guess its a classic even tho I think Blueprint is better" shit....but before that you made it sound like RD is the best album in his catalog the way you began your paragraph unless of course you was being sarcastic. Which is it? And this is what I dont understand from you and posters in this thread like you. Why feel the need to say you like Blueprint better? Are you telling us that there are higher degree classics than others and you feel BP is a higher degree than RD? If not why cant Blueprint be the classic to you and Reasonable dought just be a very good album but fall short of the word classic? There is no shame in treating it as a 4 to 4 1/2 mic joint, we dont have to call everything a classic especially when that same artist has made better shit that you CLEARLY like better. Its almost like niggas feel sorry for Jay cus he didnt drop a nuclear bomb off the bat with his first album like Nas, Mobb Deep, Biggie, and Snoop so revisionist have to act like RD was something that it wasnt to validate Jigga.

But yall gotta understand that its ok that hes a late bloomer. Still got just as much good music and classic songs over the years as those other drop a classic first album rap guys if not more by now, Y'all dont gotta act like this.

You sound like one of those niggas that since it wasn't a "nuclear bomb" when it dropped means it's not a classic if that's how you define a classic we need to go in that classics vault and remove about 80% of the albums in there..... I think of it as a classic because to me it fits every criteria I or most ppl would have when giving an album the classic stamp musically, culturally, impact, and popularity wise as well as the timelessness of the music you can still play RD and it still sound fresh 17 years later now if that's not a classic then idk what is.... But hey you can please some of the ppl some of the time but you can't please all of the ppl all of the time so I get it.

 

[DR. JEK]

Haha please describe what it did for the culture or the impact it had. Why You said yourself you liked blueprint better if RD was so great?

 

[nujerz84]

When Jay-Z said "Resonable Doubt.. Classic shoulda been triple" on Mama Loves Me is when everyone started calling it classic.

 

[GetoBoy]

Haha please describe what it did for the culture or the impact it had. Why You said yourself you liked blueprint better if RD was so great?

In my eyes they're both classics and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in that mind state... And are we really gonna act like any rapper who had a debut album pass 99-00 wouldn't bring up RD as one of the albums that had an impact on them..... Niggas kill me with that if it didn't blow or impact the mid 90's or earlier then it doesn't count bs like rap just stopped there please tell me the last 5 albums you would call a classic that have been released and I bet none of them would be on the level of RD unless you say sum shit like "look how much so and so sold its first week"

 

[DR. JEK]

Shit aint about my last five albums, dont derail the thread just cuz i have a different perspective than you revisionist of history cats acting like people wasnt too busy listening to ready to die, It was written, Ice Cube who was on fire at the time, Wu Tang came off a banger to a make a great Double CD, Outkast when they was in they prime, Mobb Deep coming off Infamous droppin a very good Hell on Earth album which was a damn good follow up. Its hard for a guy like me in which I told yall what I liked and disliked already about reasonable dought on pages 2, 3, and 4 of this thread to get excited with you guys because in light of the artist I just named, it was hard for people outside die hard underground NY rap heads to even notice this rook. Ya boy didnt even really blow till Big and Pac got merked out the game and maybe from a destiny standpoint thats not fair for me to bring up or say but fuck that...like it or not thats just the sad yet coincidental reality of things. Its not to say he hasnt surpass them guys in lots of ways (especially the business end) but it is what it is perception wise. He had raw talent in the wordplay department, beats was lacking tho on RD and nobody could really foresee him being the Mike Jordan of rap at the time. Im just tellin the truth! What niggas gettin mad at me for?

 

[DR. JEK]

I swear to God im not tryna troll,....his first shit was ok but definately not this end all, be all of his catalog like niggas make it out to be. RD to keep it real could actually be his 3rd or 4th best album arguably depending on personal taste in sound and style but ill leave that alone till niggas start even realizing Blueprint is better.

 

[GetoBoy]

Bruh you the one sounding like you in yo feelings me personally outside of Jesus himself coming down and telling me "it's not a classic my child" ima roll with the mind state that it is im just tryna figure out why sum ppl feel it isn't.....I mean let's just say for the sake of argument some of y'all right and it did take awhile for me whether it took a day, a week, or forever if majority of ppl especially new age artist look to that album as a classic and something that inspired them to make music because of how great it is how can anybody try and take that away with the "but it wasn't the out the gate change the game album in the 90's when so and so and so and so was out so it's not classic" excuse because it may not have been doing it then but it's been doing it since and if like you say ppl been calling classic since BP that's 12 years of ppl saying it and if it wasn't no truth to it ain't enough media in the world gonna make it stay true for that my years and counting but I'm back off it cuz like I said you can't please everybody especially when it comes to the IC and anything jay related.

 

[ohhhla]

I'm making a spin-off thread including illmatic.

 

[nj2089]

Classic to ME

 

[Peezy_Jenkins]

An album being classic has nothing to do with you liking or disliking it. The whole album can be banging from top to bottom it still doesn't mean it's classic.

.

so u sayin we should follow wat other niggas say when determining a classic? sorry bro, i got my own mind and can think for myself, ion need others to tell me whether an album is classic or not

 

[TheApocalypse]

This is just like the NBA. As time passes people forget about the impact of certain players. The next generation will say Iverson was a nobody, just like these youngsters don't know Karl Malone was nice with the bank shot before Tim Duncan. Reasonable Doubt is timeless, and even more so when you consider the time period in which it was released. If you don't remember the 90s you'll have a hard time understanding that. This was an era when people made national debuts on soundtracks, then released that same song on their first album. This was an era when people bought singles because only on the single could you hear that B-Side remix, the Club Remix, and the explicit version before the album dropped. RD isn't supposed to sound like The Black Album, but to say it isn't classic shows that you either don't know or don't respect the era.

 

[GetoBoy]

I'm making a spin-off thread including illmatic.

Now you know ain't nobody gonna say nothing bad about their beloved bible illmatic

 

[Peezy_Jenkins]

but to say it isn't classic shows that you either don't know or don't respect the era.

or that everyone doesnt like the exact same music the exact same way