VulcanRaven
New member
rapmastermind;3163847 said:
Well the Source gave it 4 out the gate and re-rated it a 5 about 5 years later. Again I don't get some of you guys logic. You say "It wasn't the best album of the year" So in order to be a Classic it has to be the best album of the year now?. Then you say, "It didn't sell well". For a solo New York Act in 96, GOLD is very good. He also had a "GOLD" single from "Dead Presidents". NaS sold the most records for a new york solo act in 96 with "It Was Written" and that album is not considered a Classic nor was it the best album of the year. "Reasonable Doubt" is easily Top 5 of 96 and it is clearly one of the best debut rap albums of all time. Just because Jay ethered all you people that slept on it doesn't mean you can be mad it's a Classic now:
"I gave ya'll prophecy on my 1st joint, and ya'll all lamed out, you didn't appreciate it, till the 2nd one came out" - Jay
NaS could use the very same line as it took "ILLmatic" 2 years to even go GOLD., "Cuban Linx" also took some time to sell. Any New York Classic except "Ready To Die" did not sell that great during that era. I don't see how an album with:
Dead Presidents
BK Finest
Can I Live
Devils
Bring It On
Friend or Foe
Coming of Age
Feelin It
Can't Knock the Hustle
Politics as Usual
Regrets
22 two's
Cashmere Thoughts
Is not a CLASSIC album. The only song I left off was "Ain't No Nigga" and how is that not an ILL song? it was the only real mainstream track on the album. The whole album is fire from beginning to end. Jay Z never spit this much fire for the rest of the career. It is also his best PRODUCED album to. "BLUEprint" was dope mostly cause of the production but Jay did not come harder lyrically like he did on "RD". The fact is the album did very well for a new artist from New York. Biggie was the only solo rapper moving Huge units in NY during that time.
NaS did move some also but nobody else was selling like that. 2 Pac died that year, of course he had a huge year. The Fugees were worldwide. So comparing RD to what happen with them doesn't really fly to me. Outkast was the biggest southern Act at that time so of course they started to sell. I brought it in the summer of 96 (You know the copy without Can I Live II on it). Thought it was Classic then and still think it's a Classic today. I'm just glad the rest of the world caught up. You see most Jay Z fans came along during "Hard Knock Life" and didn't get live when this album dropped. I was there and the album did get props, "Ain't No Nigga" blew which help the album go GOLD. At the end of the day, it may not have been Classic when it dropped but it's 14 years later, It's not really debatable it's Classic status now especially comparing it to the rest of Jay's catalog.
TOP 10 of 96:
1. All Eyes on Me
2. The Score
3. Reasonable Dobut
4. ATLIens
5. Makaveli
6. It Was Written
7. Muddy Waters
8. Hell On Earth
9. Iron Man
10. Stakes is High
Honorable Mention: Legal Drug Money, The Coming, Soul as Ice, Beats Rhymes and Life, Riding Dirty, At the Speed of Life.
Thread shut down.Classic are not overrated.That shits like saying Illmatic is overrated because albums from 94 out sold it and Nas was not a major player until his sophomore.Basically if you were not Big,Snoop,Pac or LL as a solo artist you were not moving big units until late 1990s.Niggas got selective memories.Redman and Mobb Deep were never huge selling acts.Red did not get credit until he started fucking with Meth.Nas is the one who jacked tht mafioso style with IWW and finally blew off it.Selective memory like I said.Heads used call Nas a Tupac dick rider when he started wearing the rag on his head.
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