Looking back did Jay Z's hard knock life Volume 2 deserve 4.5 mics?
- Thread starter DaHNIC82
- Start date
And then he lost when Nas dropped Ether in 2001
letti cook
Superstar
only skip for me is Its Alright so yeah...4.5, 4 at the very least
MK25toLife
All Star
I feel like this album has gotten better with time.
threattonature
Veteran
You wrong though. Close but this was the first album after Jay had become a mainstream star. After Money Ain't A Thing and Can I Get A, Jay was already certified as a star and had a lot more eyes on him. That's why it became is first album to debut number 1.
As far as the album I still love it. Paper Chase is really the only skip for me. It's blowing my mind that so many ain't fukking with It's Alright. Jay bodied that last verse and Bleek was solid as fukk on there to and that beat goes hard. I'm totally cool with a 4.5, with it being a 4 at minimum. This album started the dumbing down but a dumbed down Jay was still better than damn near any other rapper out.
Jumped out like a star with the flavest car
Matching the gator shirt, softer than my next door neighbors
These young nikkas think I fell out the loop
'Cause the last time they seen me hopping out the Coupe
I hopped out in a suit
Matching the gator shirt, softer than my next door neighbors
These young nikkas think I fell out the loop
'Cause the last time they seen me hopping out the Coupe
I hopped out in a suit
Bugzbunny129
All Star
I like it more today than i used to. I aint mad saying its 4.5.id say 4.25 myself. Big hits, good album tracks. Loved ride or die and the other album tracks. Grade a raps. Its a great album one of his best imo.
I actually think its underrated if anything. As a kid it was too commercial for my tastes in 98. Today its stands out because game changed and it still has a dope MC feel to it despite the commercial vibes so i appreciate it now a lot.
Its one of my fav jay albums probably. RD, this, bp, tba, vol 1 are his best imo and this may be the best full package of all.
Prime lyrical/commercial jay.
I actually think its underrated if anything. As a kid it was too commercial for my tastes in 98. Today its stands out because game changed and it still has a dope MC feel to it despite the commercial vibes so i appreciate it now a lot.
Its one of my fav jay albums probably. RD, this, bp, tba, vol 1 are his best imo and this may be the best full package of all.
Prime lyrical/commercial jay.
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Newark88
Superstar
You crazy! It's Alright was a certified Tunnel banger!
Devil Plisken…CMS
Veteran
They all got it from BIG
I think it deserved the 4.5. It’s a personal 5/5.
I don’t normally like when rappers dumb down or simplify what they can bring, Jay made it fun and he was still rapping better than 90% of the artist out at the time. I wouldn’t even really call it dumbing down. He basically reduced the density of his flow.
It flowed very well. Even though some of the beats and concepts have aged a little bit, it’s still fun to crank up the volume and play that shyt front to back. The only song I dislike is “paper chase”.
Like someone mentioned above it played like “Life After Death” or “All Eyez on Me”, in the way it was able to package some many facets of the artist, while making the product fun and accessible to any and everybody. I had heard Jay-z songs and cassettes before, but THIS is the album that made me really pay attention to Roc-A-Fella and seek out other things from the label.
I don’t know the man but this is probably the most fun he’s ever had making a project, you can hear it in his voice
I don’t normally like when rappers dumb down or simplify what they can bring, Jay made it fun and he was still rapping better than 90% of the artist out at the time. I wouldn’t even really call it dumbing down. He basically reduced the density of his flow.
It flowed very well. Even though some of the beats and concepts have aged a little bit, it’s still fun to crank up the volume and play that shyt front to back. The only song I dislike is “paper chase”.
Like someone mentioned above it played like “Life After Death” or “All Eyez on Me”, in the way it was able to package some many facets of the artist, while making the product fun and accessible to any and everybody. I had heard Jay-z songs and cassettes before, but THIS is the album that made me really pay attention to Roc-A-Fella and seek out other things from the label.
I don’t know the man but this is probably the most fun he’s ever had making a project, you can hear it in his voice
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EastsideRio
You Can’t Stop The Rain ☔️
Jadakiss never did no such thing and Fabolous’ albums always lacked top tier production
Jadakiss's debut was loaded with the same format. It had super producers all over the album. It had all these attempts at radio. There were songs that pandered to every region. Fabolous's albums were pretty much the same. Fabolous's albums all had production from Timbaland, The Neptunes, Just Blaze, Kanye West, Jermaine Dupri, Irv Gotti, Swizz Beatz.
My fav Jay album but it was really a 4 mic album