This is considered by many to be the best song in Jigga's extensive catalog, and while I don't necessarily agree (you'll see why fairly soon), it's still pretty damn good.

However, it was replaced by 'Dead Presidents II' with the same Ski production and different lyrics. If you're wondering if there was an original 'Dead Presidents,' there was, and it was the first single released in promotion of Reasonable Doubt. For what it's worth, The Notorious B.I.G. Instead, we get an uptempo Clark Kent beat that sounds like it could have been of better use in Mario Kart. is a guest here, you would probably anticipate a gangsta yet quietly dignified instrumental that Jay and Biggie would slowly drop boasts over in Mafioso fashion, right? Well, that's not what we get here. When you first look at the tracklist and see that B.I.G. Jigga just does not make ish this like anymore, man. Ski makes pretty solid use of a Stylistics sample here, and Jay-Z cruises along the smooth production. Jay would never make a track like this in 2013, and it's a shame, because it's blatantly obvious that these are the types of cuts that he is most suited for. Blige is here, as well, and this was back when she was establishing herself as the best modern female R&B artist in the game not like today when she records songs with freaking Drake. You wanna know the funniest thing about Reasonable Doubt? Supposedly, Jay-Z originally intended for it to be his only album.ДЄfter a weird ass intro that interpolates Scarface, we're treated to an exceedingly laid back-and awesome-beat by Knobody, and Jay-Z instantly finds a niche on it. was still alive at the time, Jay recruited Biggie, his idol, to spit as a guest on one of the songs. Naturally, given the overall theme of the album and the fact that The Notorious B.I.G. What the hell is wrong with society?Д¬onsisting of production from the likes of Ski, DJ Premier and Clark Kent, Reasonable Doubt dropped in a perfect climate: a time when Mafioso rap was at its peak. While The Blueprint 3 went platinum in a month, it took Reasonable Doubt six years to achieve such a feat.

Unlike today when Jay could record himself going to the bathroom and have it go platinum, Reasonable Doubt didn't move one million units total until 2002. Jay-Z dropped his debut album in the summer of 1996, one week before Nas came out with It Was Written. I know that's hard to believe given the utter horsecrap he has been subjecting us to ever since his return from 'retirement' in 2006, but it's the truth, and Reasonable Doubt exemplifies the fact that he was, in fact, good at one point. MannionвЂ™s right to sell fine art prints of his copyrighted works, and will review the complaint and respond in due course.вЂќД®lsewhere in music, take a look at this short tour video of the inside of Air Drake.There was a time when Jay-Z was actually one of the dopest hip-hop artists of all-time. We are confident that the First Amendment protects Mr. Carter would similarly respect the rights of artists and creators who have helped him achieve the heights to which he has ascended. Carter and his body of work, and expects that Mr. Carter over the years, and is proud that these images have helped to define the artist that Jay-Z is today. An attorney for Mannion shared in a statement: вЂњMr. JAY-Z is now asking Mannion to immediately stop selling the photos of him and to hand over the profits Mannion has made from his likeness. Mannion supposedly took hundreds of photos of a young Hov in 1996 for Reasonable Doubt, and he was apparently paid a good amount of money by Roc-A-Fella for the images.В The famed rapper now notes that it is вЂњironic that a photographer would treat the image of a formerly-unknown Black teenager, now wildly successful, as a piece of property to be squeezed for every dollar it can produce. Hov has вЂњstrict control over whether and how his name, likeness, identity and persona are used,вЂќ however, and the photographer was never given permission to use the images in any way. The Roc Nation head also alleges that Mannion demanded tens of millions of dollar when he was asked to stop using the photos JAY claims that the photographer is making an вЂњarrogant assumption that because he took those photographs, he can do with them as he pleases.вЂќДЇurthermore, the artist asserts that there are photos of him on MannionвЂ™s website, where other photos and merchandise of JAY-Z are being sold. Hov is reportedly suing both Mannion and his company, Jonathan Mannion Photography, LLC, for using the artistвЂ™s name and likeness on his website as well as selling photos of the artist for thousands of dollars.

Jay-z reasonable doubt type beat