Reasonable Doubt Album Analysis

Over the years, Jay-Z has marked his territory in the rap game, time and time again, as one of the best to ever do it. From the beginning of his music career, with the release of his debut album, Reasonable Doubt, Jay-Z had not only New Yorkers bumping to his music, but it made its way to being on a national scale. His album raised a lot of eyebrows and surely caught a lot of attention, some from the right people and some from the bad. It makes me wonder if maybe that’s the reason why his first album was so dope; because he put everything he had in it, knowing that critics were waiting to review his music. If we were to compare his more recent album, Holy Grail, to Reasonable Doubt, there are many differences to consider. It’s a given, times have changed and the lyrical flow is just not the same, the content however, is similar but just the simple vibe of his music has slightly changed. I have heard people say time and time again, that Jay-Z doesn’t rap the same anymore, or he doesn’t go hard anymore. To some extent that might very well be true, but if that was the case, I would think it’s because he feels he already gave enough of himself back then and now it’s time to slow down. Jay has already made a name for himself, so at this point in his career; he doesn’t have to try maintaining that.

I will be doing an album review on Jay-Z’s first album; Reasonable Doubt, and sharing my interpretations of his lyrics. I have never actually sat down and listened to his album, so it was a bit challenging, being that most of his words are coded. Nonetheless, the album as a whole didn’t strike me personally as something I would just bump to all day, but I can most definitely appreciate his lyrics.

1. Can’t Knock the Hustle: The video by itself was very interesting to me. It opened up with a scene very similar to a scene in the movie, Scarface. It all made sense when I read the lyrics to the song. Jay expressed he has “the godfather flow”, hence the reasoning for the similar scene setup from that movie.  Jay rapped a lot about him being the “illest” in the game, which is why for him, “money aint a thing”. He implies through his lyrics that the reason he’s making it, is because he’s working hard now, as opposed to other rappers just “chilling”. He basically said he’s going hard now so that he can lie back later, enjoying  the lavish lifestyle that he created by himself.  A line I found interesting was in the closing, where he said, and I quote, “All us blacks got is sports and entertainment “, which for the most art, on a wider scale, that is true. He said that to say, don’t knock his hustle, because through music and drugs, that’s how he eat.

2. Aint No Nigga: Both this song and video was quite entertaining to listen to, but most of all, watch, because it featured a 16 year old Foxy Brown. Half the things that she rapped about aren’t supposed to be exposed to a 16 year old, much less for her to rap about it. The song was kind of a playoff of “Aint no woman “, by the Four Tops. This music video also started off with an intro similar to a scene in Scarface, where he asks his girl in bed, how much money she needs to go shopping that day. The entire song implied that as long as a woman is the “main chick” in his life, she shouldn’t be worried about any other female, because she’s the one getting the respect at the end of the day. She gets the shopping sprees, “the keys to the Lexus”, etc.  Jay expressed that although he tries to be monogamous, he fails, but he makes up for his cheating by buying her things. Through Foxy’s lyrics, that seems to be just fine, when she said “he sleeps around but he gives me a lot”, implying that his actions are excusable as long as he continues to buy her things.

3. Politics As usual: The first verse went straight into Jay saying he leaves his mark wherever he gos and that’s one thing no one is able to stop. He implies that to have gotten as far as he have, he made plenty of sacrifices and his entire life was based on them. He follows up by mentioning having jewels like “Isis. For those who don’t know who Isis is, she is an ancient Egyptian goddess. With his comparison to Isis, he is making a point to say he have the diamonds, the jewelry, the money, etc.  And for those that seem to question his capabilities, thinking he’s “slipping”, will mess around and get killed.  For Jay, he made it clear that this rap thing is do or die for him, it’s not a game.

“Aint no stopping, the champagne from dropping, the law from watching- I hate ‘em, politics as usual.”

For those who have watched his interviews, we all know that Jay wasn’t the biggest fan of politics (still isn’t). So with him mentioning politics, he’s making an implication that we need less government, since all of them are for themselves and have their own agenda. An agenda that he’s not entertaining, because he’ still going to do his thing, regardless.

4. Brooklyn’s Finest feat Notorious B.I.G: Right of the back, I loved the beat. The beat reminded me of what authentic hip hop beats sounded like, and that was much to appreciate alone. In the intro a male voice says, “You motherfuckers think you big time? Fuckin’ with Jay-Z, you gon’ die big time. Here comes the pain.” That line alone set the mood for the entire song, basically saying, whoever thinks they are going to come in the game and feel as if they are bigger than him, is going to get put in their place. He mentions how the “cops sweat us” and “can the feds get us”, implying that they are big enough to even have the feds watching out for them. In a way it came off as them saying that they are powerful than the police. It appears someone socially below him is trying to mess with him, and he’s sending out a threat to them.  If and when he decides to confront whoever it is he’s talking about, there won’t be any fist fighting, but more like a shootout. I think it was interesting to hear him say “sprinkle coke on the floor” so when the cops come looking, the crime will appear to have been drug related.

5. Dead Presidents II feat Nas:  Nas opens up with “I’m out for presidents to represent me”, which in my opinion is bit controversial, being that Jay isn’t fond of the government as is.  To just make a point, I think it’s very funny that now Jay and President Obama are supposed to have some type of relationship now. It is almost as if the song manifested itself.

Anyways, Jay continues by saying that he doesn’t have to touch “lettuce to stack cheddars”, which my understanding of that is him saying that he doesn’t even have to touch the drugs that he’s selling, because he will be the one stacking the money from it anyways. They don’t have to do what normal rappers do, because they are top notch.   “You feel the ambiance, yall niggas just rhyme”.

“We illuminate the show, factions from the other side would live to kill me”/”spill three quarts of blood into the street”.

The above lyrics shed light on the illuminati movement that Jay is supposedly apart of,  and it only made sense hearing him rap about the “illuminating” of the show, in other words, his life. By him mentioning the shedding of 3 quarts of blood, only aided in my belief of him being involved in this movement, due to members of the illuminati, having to sell their lives for the fame and money.

6. D’Evils: In the first verse, the song elaborated much on the streets, and how tough they are. He speaks on how much  the strive to get money can separate friends, or others close to you, but it being for the best, because the  bigger your pocket grows, is the more envious your “friends” become.  He continues by saying regular people have to work a 9-5 to survive, but surviving is not all he’s trying to do. He wants to live life pushing the boundaries, and enjoy doing it.  Jay spoke about how money changes all of us, including him, it’s inevitable.  Money is power and lethal. In the third verse, it was no surprise to hear him say that his soul is possessed by D’evils, and they are in the form of money, diamonds, leather, etc.

7. Can I Live? : The general message that I got from this song is that he hustled out of desperation and through that, he has become addicted to his craft; rapping and making money. To make it, he has nothing to give but his life, so he offers it, to make it. That line also made me wonder how that correlates with his illuminati membership. As stated before, in order to join the society, you basically sell your soul to the devil in return for vanity. Jay continues by saying that he is not the same person who he used to be, implying that he has transformed into someone else: “No more Big Willie, my game has grown prefer you call me William.”

That last line caught my attention for several reasons, but the first one being that you basically reinvent yourself when you give your life to the illuminati. And with his mentioning of him not being that same person he once was, it’s very easy to assume that he is referring to the illuminati reinventing him and having him come back as a whole new person. That would explain his lyrics in previous songs, saying he has nothing to lose, so he gave his life.

8. Feelin’ It:  The song started off with Jay-Z rapping about refilling his glass of Moet (an expensive champagne), and him riding up in his Lexus. He goes on to say that he keeps it realer than most, and how he always keep his “bone-crusher” (gun) close  at all times. That entire phrase only means one thing to me; he knows his money will attract people who wants to take what he has, so he keep s his gun close for whoever wants to try.  He mentions everyone wanting to stay at the top, watching everyone else around them, because if one person falls, they’ll end up being a crutch for the other man. He focuses on staying at the top and enjoying the lavish lifestyle that he created for himself.

9. 22 Two’s:  The intro to the song starts out with an MC telling Jay to freestyle. From that I got that the entire track was free styled. He began by emphasizing that too many rappers are kissing ass on the West Coast.  He talks about other rappers trying to be like him, but when they try it never works because he’s an original. He follows no one else’s rule, people follow his.

He also went on to discussing women wanting the respect of a lady, but out here basically being hoes. If that’s what they are, that’s what he’ll call them.  Jay also mentions that the good women are stuck giving men chances after chances, when they aren’t even worth it.

Another verse that got me was when he talked about copping to reach his quota and pushing rocks. My interpretation of this was that he sold enough crack to meet whatever quota was set out for him. He continues how everyone is worried about how much money he’s spending, when they need to be worried about getting money because they are obviously broke. He doesn’t listen to anything they have to say because obviously there is nothing they can tell him about getting money, that he doesn’t already know.

10. Friend or Foe:  Starting out, Jay references Primo and Cold Crush. Primo is the producer of the track and Cold Crush is an old school rap group from the Bronx. He goes on by saying whether you’re my friend or enemy; he wants you to state your business, because people like coming around to mess with your “dough”. He basically says, that if there is competition, he might just get rid of you, because he runs the show and no one else

11. Coming of Age: Enter the world of Jay-Z, where you get the girls and the money. In that line alone, the entire theme for the song was set. He talks about this “shorty on the block” that’s always clocking his “rocks”(either talking about his drug or his jewelry), wondering if he likes his style because it’s obvious he wants to mock him.

Throughout the song, I almost get the impression that the boy on block that Jay raps about, was once he who he was before he made it. He rapped about his transition from just being a regular guy to now being the Don. “It’s just the cycle”, Jay says.

A line that he used that I thought was very clever, was “We out here trying to make hard white into cold green”- referencing to him turning cocaine into money.

I think the title of his song, “Coming of Age” made sense because he made several references that made me assume that what he meant was that his days of selling or dealing drugs might be retiring, so he needs to put somebody else on.

12. Cashmere Thoughts: “I talk jewels and split diamonds”, was one of the opening lines and it’s a clear indication that he is referring to money.

He goes on to mention “spitting venom up in the minds of young women” implying that his words are poisonous and corrupting the minds of women.

This song was very centered on that description of his lavish lifestyle; it’s focus on drugs money and sex. Hence, “lethal drugs, 128-carat gold pen when it hits the sheets”

He talks about women trying to run game on him, that he already sees through. Bottom line is that no woman or man is going to get the privilege of distracting him from his money. He continues by saying he splits flow “like fine wine down your earlobe”, meaning, he’s smooth but he still deadly, so don’t cross him. All in all, he makes the reference suggesting that he is very valuable to the rap game by saying, “I’m solid gold, I rap like I mink stole”.

13. Bring It On: The intro mentioned “these mothafuckas fucking talking that comeback shit like they cooking crack”, meaning that everyone is trying o talk ways to get revenge on Jay-Z, for him not letting them in on his drug business.  Jay doesn’t care about all the talks, because he won’t waste his time trying to confront it. He is focused on his money, and whoever has a problem with it, will not be entertained by him.

“The Roc-A-Fella clique” is always good, and that’s his concern. He talks about messing with girls from Sugar hill, which is a neighborhood in Harlem, and knowing that his every move is being watched by the DEA.

In most, the song focuses on him and his crew getting money, regardless of not being academically accomplished or taunted by the feds. They know the good life, the lavish lifestyle, and for this reason, their “fetish for cheddar” is all they know. And for anyone trying to touch their money, they’ll end up dead, hence the lyrics, “spread lettuce, heroes got deadish”. (If you’re trying to play a hero, you’ll end up losing your life for it.