This is the number one rule for your set
In order to survive, gotta learn to live with regrets
On the rise to the top, many drop; don’t forget
In order to survive, gotta learn to live with regrets
With Jay-Z’s 4:44 blowing up in a big way, I thought it might be time to hit up some of his old stuff. Decided to start where he started with this monster of a debut. Jay-Z enters on Can’t Knock the Hustle and he’s already fully committed and fully self-assured. He isn’t faking the swagger until he gets success; he’s got the swagger of a star already and he’s waiting on the listener to catch up to him, not the other way around. This is a genuine, full-stop masterpiece, really. How many tracks on this album anyway? Sixteen if you get the one with the two bonus tracks; of those, I’d say two tracks are less than stellar: Cashmere Thoughts & Bring It On. The other tracks are all downright brilliant, making this album unbelievably consistent for a debut. There’s a breadth of emotions explored here; Jay’s reputation is built around his self-aggrandizing lyrics, but there’s a lot more depth here than most of his critics are aware of. Dead Presidents II and Regrets are surprisingly mournful. On the other hand, D’Evils is a lyrical masterpiece that allows Jay to create a tone of absolute menace and looming violence while feeling conflicted about the violence he dishes out at the same time; it’s layers like this that make Jay one of the better hip-hop lyricists in my opinion. Friend or Foe is a tight two minute diss track that knocks the posers back a step. Ain’t No ***** has an unstoppable groove that seems like it could go for years without missing a beat and Foxy Brown gets a really great verse on that track. Jay is, for all his arrogance, very generous to his guests actually. Another stand out is Coming of Age, a track with Memphis Bleek, that examines something hip-hop rarely touches on – deep male friendships. Hip-hop talks a lot about having a posse and brothers, but rarely does it do something as deep as this song which dramatizes the first meeting of a pair of rappers, one more established and the other still on his way up; maybe this is Jay and Bleek riffing on their own experience or maybe not. Either way, it’s about the way two relationships, that of mentor-protegee and friend-friend, form almost instantly between two kindred spirits. All this and I’ve hardly talked about the music; it too is brilliant – the beats are strong and the instrumental sounds used in those beats are memorable and, often, quite clever and surprising. Jay-Z makes his arrival with all the brilliance already in place. At the time, maybe people wondered if Jay-Z would be a star. Reasonable Doubt leaves no doubt at all. 4 stars.
tl;dr – astounding debut features great lyrics, great music and a star-making turn from Jay-Z; a brilliant album that stands among the very best. 4 stars.