Dead Presidents is Jay-z’s Manifesto. It’s his cover letter to the world. It sets the tone for what he embodies and would soon become as an hip hop artist and business Man in my opinion. A classic piece of music.
I remember the day Reasonable Doubt dropped. I was 16 yrs old in my hometown of Brooklyn. I remember waiting on the line to get into BeatStreet records on Fulton St. It was humid as all hell. I copped that CD, went home, carefully unwrapped it, and paused between each track to process what I heard. That sh1t was straight up transformational.
I was born in 2000 but whenever I hear this beat...it feels like am on 96...This was the power of old school beats, you can feel the vibe on it..nowadays the trick beats are useless to Listen...... No matter how much people diss Jay-Z but for me he will always be in my Top 10 Song Writters !
This was THE best album ever. Paid in Full a close second but this album was perfect top to bottom.This album was was literally like a poetic script for an award winning movie.What makes it even better is that it's based on his true story.To ppl saying J fell off,listen carefully to his music. He still is lyrically phenomenal.His subject matter just changed...as it should. He's wealthy now,why rap only about what you strived to get out?Besides,he still has double entendres that go over ppls head
SKI's production here is the epitome of a riveting masterpiece both bewitching and inthralling the soundbeds cinematography is awe inspiring, while Jay tapped in to a lyrical location few have ever accomplished, the album is timeless in every since of the word
one of the greatest beats ive ever heard and j laced that thing with perfection... no matter what i feel bout jay now he won me in my youth with that song... s/o ta SKI for that powerful beat.
When Dead Presidents first released on MTV we had to rush to the music store and buy the single or album. Yes the days you'd line up to get an album. The first time I heard that track for some reason I started shedding tears, I was only 23. But something overcame me, a sense of wanting to succeed and leave all the haters behind and just focus. The amount of times we played Dead Presidents is substantial. I'm now 49 and I still play that track. Toronto Canada loved Jay Z during that era. Straight fire album.
I just turned 24 a month ago. And this song means the world to me. It’s been nights I cried listening to this song on repeat. Always been the underdog, this song made me what to ascend to a higher level, proving all of my doubters and enemies wrong.
You can't speak for other people though lmao you can say top 5 dead or alive but you can't put him in other peoples top 5. He's probably in my top 5 though.
@Jay Seth I hear you fam but I want you to separate the difference between your favorite MCs from the greatest MCs that way there's no bias opinion, for instance Nas, Rakim,AZ, Andre 3000, Beans and Scarface are my favorite but honestly I don't think lyrically they can't fool with Jay z and fam I'm cringing saying this factz.
+™ ™ I feel you on that one being that I started producing 3yrs ago. I finally understand what it takes to construct a beat, especially arranging it too.
I used to wonder why Wayne and Jay Z didn't write lyrics anymore, as I grow into my own artist I fully understand now. Once you master the art of writing you no longer need to write anything before hand. The writing process starts when they hear the beat and the beat tells them what needs to be said. They are in the studio while hearing it so they can put their thoughts straight on wax instead of being at home writing to a beat and putting it down on paper first which ultimately makes their words sound even more authentic. It's straight from the brain to the tongue to the microphone instead of from the brain to your hand onto paper then read back later once you are in the studio and regurgitated on the spot. You capture that emotion right when you feel it instead of reading it off your notebook and having to pretend to feel what you felt when you wrote it a couple days prior. They do write its just directly to the Mic instead of being written down on paper first.
Oh man how could you forget D Evils, 22 two's, Regrets and Bring it On, shit this album is the shit. Between Reasonable Doubt and Illmatic, I stay buying those CD's again. I still have the leopard pattern Reasonable Doubt lol.
One of my favorite Jay-Z songs of all time 🙌🏽💯. I swear this is one of the sickest beats ever made 🤧 nobody has a Wordplay like Jay man nobody can even compare to him 🙅🏽♀️
I just cryed here...conversational so real...l just cryed...the words. Obsession..overtly political.. So many dead Presidents, on a global scale. Real back drop...real movies....now one Billion...Go one Billionaire....all his experiences from the street. Now on paper...to real paper...money..
Dead presidents 1 would have been icing on this classic album. Should've put both songs at opposite side of the album. Part 1 is better and a lot of people. Will never know because it didn't make the album
When Son dropped Reasonable Doubt everyone in Marcy knew Jigga was coming for the game I remember when Son would be at the park just rhyming for everyone it was like his word play was impeccable..Word Up son is definitely top 5 and I'm not just saying that because he's from my hood but because it can't be denied
One of the best jay songs. Growing up in Africa in the 90s was all about death row and the west. Big and Jay brought it full circle. Reasonable doubt and especially this song just hit different.
I was too young. Man I was kid God I wish I could have been around that gettin records from ski. Just that time period I’m always in a daze thinkin about it. It was perfect. The best music was made during then.
I don't know how or why Jay Z would need to feel intimidated by Biggie. Jay Z had his own sound. It's crazy how guys will want to take each other out and they're both at the top level. There's room for everyone at the top. That reasonable doubt was Jay Z best album.
Not downplaying his gift, but it was really just a matter of him doing mental exercise consistently that got him to this "I don't write rhymes" stage. He put the work in first and that's how he's able to do it, it ain't magic.
💙He said he used to go out just to get knowledge writing words on a paper bags I'm thinking the generation that I'm in where we just have the access to put everything down in Google crazy🤔
Yo where's a full version of the D'Evils with that Snoop blend on it? Someone please tell me if they know. That live version was SICK but you only hear a little of it smh
Dude said it best...the beat almost has somewhat of a sad vibe yet with a touch of inspiration. I've thought that ever since I first heard the track.
Still goes hard as hell, his lyrics were on another level in this song.
Dead Presidents is Jay-z’s Manifesto. It’s his cover letter to the world. It sets the tone for what he embodies and would soon become as an hip hop artist and business Man in my opinion. A classic piece of music.
That's a dope way of putting it
I find it funny how jay used Nas’s sample for his manifesto
Favio Delgado Me too
Very well said 👏🏼 👏🏼
@@elsolo1 Nas made it a hot line, Jay made it a hot song.
I remember the day Reasonable Doubt dropped. I was 16 yrs old in my hometown of Brooklyn. I remember waiting on the line to get into BeatStreet records on Fulton St. It was humid as all hell. I copped that CD, went home, carefully unwrapped it, and paused between each track to process what I heard. That sh1t was straight up transformational.
Downtown Brooklyn
@@georgethompson8196 correct!
That's amazing. Would have been incredible hearing this at that time
I was born in 1998, but the way you described it made me feel like I was there with you.
U didnt buy resonable doubt on its release date. Joker
I was born in 2000 but whenever I hear this beat...it feels like am on 96...This was the power of old school beats, you can feel the vibe on it..nowadays the trick beats are useless to Listen......
No matter how much people diss Jay-Z but for me he will always be in my Top 10 Song Writters !
Reasonable Doubt is a classic.
A Masterpiece
Top 10 HipHop album of all time
This was THE best album ever. Paid in Full a close second but this album was perfect top to bottom.This album was was literally like a poetic script for an award winning movie.What makes it even better is that it's based on his true story.To ppl saying J fell off,listen carefully to his music. He still is lyrically phenomenal.His subject matter just changed...as it should. He's wealthy now,why rap only about what you strived to get out?Besides,he still has double entendres that go over ppls head
Coke is still my sponsor…. That line has a street meaning and a corporate meaning.
That’s what makes him the GOAT to me
SKI's production here is the epitome of a riveting masterpiece
both bewitching and inthralling the soundbeds cinematography
is awe inspiring, while Jay tapped in to a lyrical location few have
ever accomplished, the album is timeless in every since of the word
We don't shine we illuminate the whole show!
You feel me?
To the death of us me and my cofidance (codefendant's) we shine you feel the ambience y'all niggas just rhyme, WHAT. Factz.
Luminati yo 👌🔆🔦💡
Throw up the rock... oh
Factions from the other side would love to kill me, spill 3 quarts of my blood into the street, let alone the heat
Jay Z Reasonable Doubt = Masterpiece. Don't judge Jay without speaking on that album. A real gem.
Reasonable Doubt , blueprint and Black Album are masterpieces
This song is perfect. The beat hugs the lyrics so perfectly 🔥🔥🔥
one of the greatest beats ive ever heard and j laced that thing with perfection... no matter what i feel bout jay now he won me in my youth with that song... s/o ta SKI for that powerful beat.
When Dead Presidents first released on MTV we had to rush to the music store and buy the single or album. Yes the days you'd line up to get an album. The first time I heard that track for some reason I started shedding tears, I was only 23. But something overcame me, a sense of wanting to succeed and leave all the haters behind and just focus. The amount of times we played Dead Presidents is substantial. I'm now 49 and I still play that track. Toronto Canada loved Jay Z during that era. Straight fire album.
I just turned 24 a month ago. And this song means the world to me. It’s been nights I cried listening to this song on repeat. Always been the underdog, this song made me what to ascend to a higher level, proving all of my doubters and enemies wrong.
@@OMOREDE13 How have you been doing through life my friend? Is everything good? And by the way happy belated birthday.
Jay has grown as an artist but his style (the core of it) has remained consistent! A true legend!
SKI...one of the best & underrated producers ever.
Ski Beats is soooo underrated
Reasonable doubt is jays best work...
Jay-Z is forever engraved as a legend. I’m glad I got to experience his art in this lifetime.
Im glad I found this. Throughout high school I was literally listening to the Dead Presidents1 instrumental all day everyday, its just a classic beat.
Jay z is Defo in anybody's top 5 rappers dead or alive imo .. 🎧
You can't speak for other people though lmao you can say top 5 dead or alive but you can't put him in other peoples top 5. He's probably in my top 5 though.
@Jay Seth I hear you fam but I want you to separate the difference between your favorite MCs from the greatest MCs that way there's no bias opinion, for instance Nas, Rakim,AZ, Andre 3000, Beans and Scarface are my favorite but honestly I don't think lyrically they can't fool with Jay z and fam I'm cringing saying this factz.
Lee Hughes Hughes Top Dog. Bar none!
Jay Seth fucc outta here
William Canyon Your crazy Nas is all day nicer than Jay. He’s 3 in my top 5.
One of his best tracks
It's funny how complex it can be for one to make a successful beat but then in retrospect, see how simple it was to construct that beat
+™ ™
I feel you on that one being that I started producing 3yrs ago. I finally understand what it takes to construct a beat, especially arranging it too.
I used to wonder why Wayne and Jay Z didn't write lyrics anymore, as I grow into my own artist I fully understand now. Once you master the art of writing you no longer need to write anything before hand. The writing process starts when they hear the beat and the beat tells them what needs to be said. They are in the studio while hearing it so they can put their thoughts straight on wax instead of being at home writing to a beat and putting it down on paper first which ultimately makes their words sound even more authentic. It's straight from the brain to the tongue to the microphone instead of from the brain to your hand onto paper then read back later once you are in the studio and regurgitated on the spot. You capture that emotion right when you feel it instead of reading it off your notebook and having to pretend to feel what you felt when you wrote it a couple days prior. They do write its just directly to the Mic instead of being written down on paper first.
Wayne punches in. He doesnt do what Jay does
The greatest rap album of all time. It still bangs RIGHT NOW (in 2023).
I listen to the orginal dead presidents every night before I go to bed....dead presidents is still my anthem in 2021
That's jay z will always be my favorite rapper
Ice killa3hunna mine too
He was mine around Vol.1-Vol.3.
@@cordairotucker6005 gay z stans
Reasonable doubt is such a beautiful album. When I first came to NYC I could feel Jay Z's reasonable doubt,
I remember when I saw this DVD in the store I bought it at. I was very excited.
Not only is it not overrated, but its the greatest hip-hop album ever. EVER.
Emmanuel Stalling illmatic says hi.
JEFFMAN90 better than illmatic imo even tho I love nas too but I guess its all about taste.
RD > ill
Stop! It wasnt even better than It Was Written
Emmanuel Stalling reasonable doubt top ten but not number 1
I'VE BEEN A FAN FROM DAY 1#. HIS 🎵 MUSIC HAS A MESSAGE TO IT THAT MOTIVATES ME BIG TIME.👊👊👍👍
hov’s pen is crazy. he really knighted asf
You right but he did it without a pen. Freestyled everything
"feelin' it" get reasonable doubt. it's a great album.
Oh man how could you forget D Evils, 22 two's, Regrets and Bring it On, shit this album is the shit. Between Reasonable Doubt and Illmatic, I stay buying those CD's again. I still have the leopard pattern Reasonable Doubt lol.
One of my favorite Jay-Z songs of all time 🙌🏽💯. I swear this is one of the sickest beats ever made 🤧 nobody has a Wordplay like Jay man nobody can even compare to him 🙅🏽♀️
Nobody has word play like Jay-z you clearly haven't listened to big L or Big Pun
Jay Ant umm I definitely listen to big pun 😐 he is a legend and was lyrically nice but still his wordplay don’t compare to Jay 🤷🏽♀️
Ahhh. Mpc60,sp1200,s950' vinyl records, that's all a real hip hop producer need right there
Nowdays we only need a computer or a phone
The essence
CLASSIC song off a CLASSIC lp
Lonnie Liston Smith was a monster musician.
Is a monster musician he's still with us in Richmond Virginia 🙏🏽
Dead presidents has always been a New York banger. Played that song every time I went to New York.
I just cryed here...conversational so real...l just cryed...the words.
Obsession..overtly political..
So many dead Presidents, on a global scale. Real back drop...real movies....now one Billion...Go one Billionaire....all his experiences from the street. Now on paper...to real paper...money..
best rapper of all time
Gay z best female rapper
Your paper fall slow like confetti..... Mine is a steady rolling 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Goat longevity money flows n da booth live how u want it walking legend 4 real
such a focused, serious rapper man.
His best album
Nah
That 1st Dead Prez....smh. Man...I am 42...when I saw that...I never saw anything like that before. That’s was a crazy moment.
Son this nigga flow in pocket so effortlessly it’s crazy
Dead presidents 1 would have been icing on this classic album. Should've put both songs at opposite side of the album. Part 1 is better and a lot of people. Will never know because it didn't make the album
When Son dropped Reasonable Doubt everyone in Marcy knew Jigga was coming for the game I remember when Son would be at the park just rhyming for everyone it was like his word play was impeccable..Word Up son is definitely top 5 and I'm not just saying that because he's from my hood but because it can't be denied
This was on my suggestion at the perfect time.
I needed this game before I start the climb to the top
One of the best jay songs. Growing up in Africa in the 90s was all about death row and the west. Big and Jay brought it full circle. Reasonable doubt and especially this song just hit different.
I was too young. Man I was kid God I wish I could have been around that gettin records from ski. Just that time period I’m always in a daze thinkin about it. It was perfect. The best music was made during then.
Hov!! My guy! The best to ever do it
Greatest hip hop song ever. And the beat. Incredible. The lyrics, indescribable.
RD is my favorite album ever. Every beat, every song, every line is just sick.
A perfectionist. One of the few masters of hip hop.
Dead presidents is my all time Fav Rap record
Ski Beats. One of my favorites of all time
Nice. 👍
Reasonable Doubt is such a cracked album, I love it so much. Thank you HOV
@3WadeD3 Yes. The DVD breaks down the entire album. They interview the guest MC's on the album, as well as the producers for each track.
*INSTANT CLASSIC*
Am I the only one who likes the original version of Dead Presidents over Dead Presidents 2?
FINALLY someone agrees with me. I think Dead Presidents is better than the 2nd
yeah absolutely dude.
no you are the only one to question it.
Drazen Vlahovic that question wasnt for people with your level of stupidity.
I like both equally
Brooklyn finest was a classic as well
I'm not for presidents to represent me.
So classic that i'll remeber that even when i'll be in my grave !
U look so GD Tatoo Tears I remember u forever
Smdh u so beautiful
One of the hardest beats ever
My favorite Jay Z song... All of them
Man Jay needs to work wit Ski Beatz again on his next project, Ski is supa sick on production right now!!
Everyone should watch this episode: Jay-Z fans, Hip-Hop fans
thank you ski!
If I had to pick one eastcoast beat to pick, it would be either this instrumental or The Message
Fabolous NineNine no disrespect, shook ones is superior to both...
The message, if you mean Nas, not Grandmaster, is my favorite instrumental ever
I don't know how or why Jay Z would need to feel intimidated by Biggie. Jay Z had his own sound. It's crazy how guys will want to take each other out and they're both at the top level. There's room for everyone at the top. That reasonable doubt was Jay Z best album.
One of the best instrumental ever made 💯 SO
The first is one of my favorite songs EVER
Though JayZ brought a cinematic flow with heavy visuals to the Era..he changed the game when he became the first billionaire..artist/(CEO)..
You see Angie illing out to Dead Presidents? Black Albums Fade to Black at the garden .. Epic. Angie looked good
Ski beats underrated thank you for camp Lo
This is just some legendary stuff
My Virgo bro SKI
it was sad and inspirational...
When Jay-z does, people will recite dead presidents verses ..
GOAT and Best MC Alive.
The best Rap ever, Dead Presidents!
Jay is Peace
Ski. I know you. You are an insane MC & PRODUCER...
I use to do sound for Chubb... Insane. The tightest.
MANNNN THATS THE GREATEST TILL THIS DAY. REAL TALK, I NEVER KNEW WHO MADE THAT TRACK, NOW I KNOW. X-TRA SHOUT OUT TO SKI!
Grand master flash and 2pac were the first ones to be bare naked about the reality of the streets
instant classic
I’m surprised by how lil views this has, this generation don’t have gem droppers like before
@jseays24 The DVD is titled "Classic Albums: Jay Z - Reasonable Doubt" You can purchase it on Amazon.com
If you every feel like you want to give up on something... whatever it is... just listen to Reasonable Doubt, it might just help you out.
This is literally the next video after bumping Dead Presidents
The philosopher
Still one of my favorite hov song
Legend 4:44, 2019
Lookin for inspiration / samples 5:30 am 2020💪🏿
Not downplaying his gift, but it was really just a matter of him doing mental exercise consistently that got him to this "I don't write rhymes" stage. He put the work in first and that's how he's able to do it, it ain't magic.
What so amazing about that bar jay z
Did ....its avi
💙He said he used to go out just to get knowledge writing words on a paper bags I'm thinking the generation that I'm in where we just have the access to put everything down in Google crazy🤔
Pure Art
Yo where's a full version of the D'Evils with that Snoop blend on it? Someone please tell me if they know. That live version was SICK but you only hear a little of it smh
Ski is super underrated as a producer. Oan: Jay was on his West Indian Archie shit with the memorization 😂😂😂