Don’t let these nerds lie to you.
Yes, this album was slept on by the greater public when it was first released, but for a certain demographic in the Tri-State area, it was basically gospel upon release. It peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard 200 about a month after it dropped, spent 18 weeks on the chart and reached platinum status in 2002, so there was certainly a slow burn there. However, fans and rappers alike didn’t care about charts and sales like the do now; what they appreciated about the Brooklyn rapper and his Roc-A-Fella clique was their road to independence and their eventual chart and industry dominance.
We all know how the story goes: Jay-Z couldn’t get a record deal, so he and his friends pooled the drug money they were sitting on to start their own label, and the rest is history. Where do you think the line, “I came into this muthaf—ka 100 grand strong/ Nine to be exact/ From grindin’ G-packs,” means? Did you think that was made up when you first heard “U Don’t Know”? This album set the table for a rap dynasty the likes of which we haven’t seen since.
Released on this date in 1996, Reasonable Doubt is now 30 years old and remains one of, if not the best album in Jay’s legendary catalog. Some of his most notable songs and verses are on this project, and I can’t wait to see what he has in store for his Yankee Stadium dates next month in July.
In honor of its anniversary, we talk about and rank each track from the original pressing below.