Irv Gotti/Funk Flex interview from last yr; 1 topic: Illmatic vs. Reasonable Doubt

[ThreeSixMafia]

Yeah it would have come out, but with Jay doing that hippedty lickedty splittedy fast shyt he was doing back in the day. After Illmatic dropped (along with some other joints, RTD like you said, plus also Only Built, Infamous and Doe or Die) and Jay switched his entire shyt up. It's no coincidence that RD also has three Premier beats exactly.

And don't get me wrong, RD is a classic 5 mic album and still my favorite Jay album...but let's not act like other albums didn't pave the way for it.

I dont agree but that's not to down play illmatic because it's a great album regardless.

 

[FeloniousMonk]

Reasonable doubt would've came out either way. Rd sounds nothing like illmatic. If you said ready 2 die I could maybe agree with that.

Nicca spitting like this..


While Nas spitting like..

 

[seemorecizzy]

it was common to give your album out
i had the lke 6-8 joint off R2D in the summer of ‘94 - biggie album drop’d 3 months later

and again them same hip hop purist went out and brought 36 chambers

to keep it a buck,
reasonable doubt was considered just another dope cd that came out in the mid 90s

People listened to it (some didnt), enjoyed it, and kept it moving. It wasn't groundbreaking what so ever. Ain't no nikka was more about foxy den anything

it wasn't until jay-z dropped the line about it in Hard knock life and every album after, that people started to take notice to it on a serious level

I can say with 100 percent confidence, that no one left 1996 saying reasonable doubt is there favourite album of all time

he shoved it down ppls throats, the public championed illmatic and ready organically.

 

[kingofnyc]

cause everybody had it when it came out

i had/heard like 6-7 joints before it drop’d & was stunned when i saw i was only 10 tracks
but that didnt stop me from copping on day 1

imma hip hop head

 

[kingofnyc]

Nobody got into it the way Nas did. And Wu had a gimmick(dope one) and not all of em was on the same wave. Mad different rhymes styles and personalities while Nas was one emcee and more focused then basically anything before then. It didn't sell as much cause of the reasons I gave u. It was so hot in the streets of NYC most people in the know had the shyt before release. But being real. Wu brought the interest back to NYC, Nas killed the game and Biggie came thru and put it in a ziplock. He sealed the deal.

brilliantly worded

 

[spliz]

i had/heard like 6-7 joints before it drop’d & was stunned when i saw i was only 10 tracks
but that didnt stop me from copping on day 1

imma hip hop head

Alotta nikkas wasnt as real as u tho. Alotta nikkas talked all that hot shyt but when it came time to truly support. They was satisfied with having the bootleg. It also didnt help that Nas ain't wanna do shows like that. And would miss shows when it came to promoting the album.

 

[kingofnyc]

to keep it a buck,
reasonable doubt was considered just another dope cd that came out in the mid 90s

People listened to it (some didnt), enjoyed it, and kept it moving. It wasn't groundbreaking what so ever. Ain't no nikka was more about foxy den anything

it wasn't until jay-z dropped the line about it in Hard knock life and every album after, that people started to take notice to it on a serious level

I can say with 100 percent confidence, that no one left 1996 saying reasonable doubt is there favourite album of all time

he shoved it down ppls throats, the public championed illmatic and ready organically.

homie - i dont know about all that

you can go to google and type in (hip hop albums 1996) the order is...

1. the score
2. AEOM
3. RD

 

[Homeboy Runny-Ray]

not saying its better than illmatic, and I aint watch the video yet. but reasonable doubt was always a street classic on the east coast.
if you were a kid, or stayed in the house, or you were from some broke down bamma town, then you automatically out-the-loop. why even bother posting?

also, people love to slurp illmatic and claim jay was a nobody in 96, but reasonable doubt was more successful than illmatic, and that's without the hype.

 

[spliz]

not saying its better than illmatic, and I aint watch the video yet. but reasonable doubt was always a street classic on the east coast.
if you were a kid, or stayed in the house, or you were from some broke down bamma town, then you automatically out-the-loop. why even bother posting?

also, people love to slurp illmatic and claim jay was a nobody in 96, but reasonable doubt was more successful than illmatic, and that's without the hype.

All of this was broken down in the thread already if u read thru it.

 

[Homeboy Runny-Ray]

All of this was broken down in the thread already if u read thru it.

just finished reading it.

every east coast rapper got bootlegged all crazy tho.

 

[JustCKing]

I actually prefer Illmatic. I like Reasonable Doubt, but its more so individual tracks than the whole thing. With Illmatic, I get the impression of a late teen bordering on adulthood trying to make sense of the world, but at the same time knows a lot more than he should at that age. It has great writing, not saying RD doesn't, but Nas is on another plateau.

Then there's the production. At times, it's like each producer is giving you a slice of what NY sounda like while Nas plays the tour guide and provides you with the sensory details of what it looks, smells, and feels like.

 

[spliz]

just finished reading it.

every east coast rapper got bootlegged all crazy tho.

Nope. Not the way Nas was. There's a reason Flex said Nas' album really started the bootleg craze. nikkas found garages full of Illmatic bootlegs fam.

 

[spliz]

I actually prefer Illmatic. I like Reasonable Doubt, but its more so individual tracks than the whole thing. With Illmatic, I get the impression of a late teen bordering on adulthood trying to make sense of the world, but at the same time knows a lot more than he should at that age. It has great writing, not saying RD doesn't, but Nas is on another plateau.

Then there's the production. At times, it's like each producer is giving you a slice of what NY sounda like while Nas plays the tour guide and provides you with the sensory details of what it looks, smells, and feels like.

Good take.

 

[Homeboy Runny-Ray]

Nope. Not the way Nas was. There's a reason Flex said Nas' album really started the bootleg craze. nikkas found garages full of Illmatic bootlegs fam.

bootlegging was already a craze. I already had a lil collection of bootlegs before illmatic.
the bootlegging epidemic even got television coverage before illmatic.

the elephant in the room is that nas had no reach. he had no hits. he didn't even have any guest spots on a popular single or remix.
the streets & the hood purists are automatically gonna boot your chit. the rappers that did good in retail were the ones with reach outside of just that audience. Nas did nothing during illmatic for anybody outside of that crowd to care, aside from getting 5 mics, which most consumers could care less about.

 

[JustCKing]

For one. The game was type different in 94 vs 96. Also. Nas' Illmatic got bootlegged HEAVY. Jay had Biggie in his video and on his album. Had AZ in his shyt. And this is after the artists was poppin. Had a pop sounding ass single. And still didnt sell records like that. On top of that. We talkin about Hip Hop impact as far as lyrics, thematics and the way the shyt was put together. It's a reason Biggie didnt think he would win that lyricist of the year Source award over Nas.

Yeah, Jay had a much more commercial sounding single and it had the benefit of being on Nutty Professor soundtrack and he had a single with Mary.