Very good debut album. It came out in 1996. I must admit when i first saw his Dead Presidents video from this album, i didn't like the song but it grew on me. The songs i like on this album are Can't Knock The Hustle, Brooklyn's Finest with The Notorious Big, Can I Live, Ain't No Ni**a with Foxy Brown, Coming Of Age with Memphis Bleek, Bring It On, Regrets. I stopped liking Jay-Z after his 2nd album because he became too mainstream. Why do so many rappers feel they have to become a rap star instead of just keeping it underground & making good music? I hate it when rappers become mainstream after they start out underground. Rocafella records was built from nothin. I remember when people didn't know who Jay-Z was. Now all of a sudden people are on his d**k because he's a star. I think he's overrated.

Very good debut album. It came out in 1996. I must admit when i first saw his Dead Presidents video from this album, i didn't like the song but it grew on me. The songs i like on this album are Can't Knock The Hustle, Brooklyn's Finest with The Notorious Big, Can I Live, Ain't No Ni**a with Foxy Brown, Coming Of Age with Memphis Bleek, Bring It On, Regrets. I stopped liking Jay-Z after his 2nd album because he became too mainstream. Why do so many rappers feel they have to become a rap star instead of just keeping it underground & making good music? I hate it when rappers become mainstream after they start out underground. Rocafella records was built from nothin. I remember when people didn't know who Jay-Z was. Now all of a sudden people are on his d**k because he's a star. I think he's overrated.
You're right. This was a good debut albulm. I don't care for Jay-Z anymore myself. Brooklyn's Finest was the joint, Ain't No Nig-ga was poppin' also. I remember back in 1991, I saw K Solo, Redman, Big Daddy Kane and EPMD in concert. An unknown Jay-Z opened the show for them. Me, my brothers and nephew agreed at the time that he was going to hot one day because of his off the chain lyrics.

I've never been to a rap concert. You saw K-Solo, Redman, EPMD, Big Daddy Kane? I know that concert was raw. Jay-Z's The Blueprint & Blueprint 2 albums are so horrible LOL. He's gotten way too mainstream over the years. I like the beat to Dirt Off Your Shoulders though.

I've never been to a rap concert. You saw K-Solo, Redman, EPMD, Big Daddy Kane? I know that concert was raw. Jay-Z's The Blueprint & Blueprint 2 albums are so horrible LOL. He's gotten way too mainstream over the years. I like the beat to Dirt Off Your Shoulders though.
I only went to 2 rap concerts in my lifetime. The other being DasEffex, Cypress Hill, and Naught by Nature. And yeah, that concert was raw.