Never Understood Why This Album Got So Much Hate On NT... (Vol. HKL > AG)

harlem on the rise

harlem on the rise

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I always wonder how ONE if the Greatest MCs could drop an album and sell 5 Million+ and yet the album is STILL sleptfront'd on??


1. Hand It Down (Produced By DJ Premier) - Memph Bleek did his thing... One of the VERY few times I can say he BODIED atrack... He had some potential... & Just think, this was the FIRST time Jay Z pulled the retirement gimmick to sell records (album dropped the SAME day asAquimini)... Just magine had Roc A Fella been left with Bleek as the franchise artist
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... Dame Dash would've went bankrupt about 8 years earlier...

2. Hard Knock Life (Produced By The 45King) - Obviously we all know what this joint did for this album and Jay Zcareer...

3. If I Should Die (Produced By Swizz Beatz) - Pretty decent track... Whatever happened to the Ranjahz?? Wern't theyon Roc A Fella @ one point?? Or maybe they were just closely affiliated... Either way they disapeared, and after this track, I can't really say I'msurprised...


4. Ride Or Die (Produced By Stevie J Of The Hitmen) - I liked this song a lot @ one point (provided this album droppedwhen I began the 8th grade)... Didn't really age too well, it has that late 90s feel to it... Sounds like it would've been better suited for a Ma$erecord... This IS the ONLY track produced by the Hitmen on this album which is kind of surprising cause the album has more of a overall pop feel than Vol 1.*shurgs*

5. N What... N Who... (Produced By Timbaland) - Obviously EVERYone has heard this joint... The double time flow, &Jay Z and Jaz O claiming they originiated it (Maybe Jaz)

6. Money Cash +#+% (Produced By Swizz Beatz) - Yeah. This song is cool


7. A Week Ago (Produced By J-Runnah)�- IMO this is one of Jay's hidden jewels, you won't hear this songmentioned much when we talk about the BEST Jay records, but it deffinetly deserves the consideration... He tells a cationary tales about hustlin (just in caseyou thought it was cool before)... Is there ANY truth to this being about Dehaven??
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8. Coming Of Age II (The Sequal) (Produced By Swizz Beatz) - Featuring Memphis Bleek... This joint is just DOPE.There's not really much else I can say about it, the beat is CRAZY, the story is pretty interesting... & Its the sequal to another pretty good song,thats about all you can ask for.

9. Can I Get A (Produced By Irv Gotti)�- You've heard this song MILLIONS of times... I NEVER liked it... But it wasafterall a Billboard hit so you can;t really argue with success...


10. Paper Chase (Produced By Timaland) - Featuring a then coherent Foxy Brown... This joint is dope, Timbaland justKILLED it on this joint. This song STILL sounds AMAZING in the whip... Deffinetly was my FAV song on the album on first listen (which was release date in 98
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�)


11. Reservoir Dogs (Produced By Eric Sermon) - Featuring The Lox, Beanie Sigel & Sauce Money. Whats a 90's albumwithout a crew song?? ANYtime you get a verse from Sheek Louch that doesnt SUCK BALLS, the song almost HAS to be good...

12. Its Like That (Produced By Kid Capri) - Another one of the BETTER Jay Z songs you rarely see people mention when itcomes to some of his better records... I like thos joint today as much as I did when I first listened to this album.

13. Its Alright (Produced By Damon Dash & Mahogony) - Featuring Memphis Bleek... Maybe Jay Z wasn't lying whenhe said he was gonna retire... He gave Bleek ALOT of burn on this album... This song is just DOPE. I don't care what anyone says... I STILL bump thisjoint... This was the street single, cause this dropped the summer before the album did (hence the Streets Is Watching scenes)

14. Money Aint A Thing (Produced By Jermaine Dupri) - ANOTHER song I don't care for too much today... But the summerof 98 this joint was nice... This falls into the group of 90s rap songs that aged TERRIBLY...

I've always been a BIG fan of this album (provided it dropped when I was in 8th grade), but to this day it sounds pretty good (when considering the time itcame out)... I often see this joint get A LOT of hate... The majority of it is unwarranted. The ONLY So-So tracks on this album were the ones aimed @ thecommercial audience, and all of them were hits so you can't really argue with that aformula @ the end of the day...

4.25/5

IMO I'd take this over AG 6 days out the week... Not taking ANYthing away from that album, but its held to such a high standard mainlybecause of how truly AWFUL KC was, so for him returning to his essence it just gets OVERRATED... Especially when I see kids tryin to pass it off as a classic
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...
 
Man, you kill me appreciating Jay one day and hating hard the next
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This however is how I first heard Jay. Hard Knock Life (the song) dropped when I was 10, been my fav artist since then.
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This argument can go either way though. This album is much more commercial compared to AG
 
This wasn't that bad at all. To an extent I'd say Vol. 3 doesn't deserve as much hate as it gets either.

There's some classic joints on this.

I gotta bigger problem with Dynasty cuz I personally really like that album.

More rappers need to hit up DJ The 45 King
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Originally Posted by Master Zik

This wasn't that bad at all. To an extent I'd say Vol. 3 doesn't deserve as much hate as it gets either.

There's some classic joints on this.

I gotta bigger problem with Dynasty cuz I personally really like that album.

More rappers need to hit up DJ The 45 King
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I was about to say he shoulda blew up after that
 
this was my first Jay cd that I knew all the songs word for word so it holds a special place for me.

The Intro is probably Bleek's greatest verse

IF I Should Die, Ride or Die, MCH, Jigga What, Hard Knock Life, RESERVOIR DOGS!!! like how can you fake on these joints?
 
only NT hates on this album, in da actual world this album is recognized as da jay-z album that put him in a real comfortable spot....vol. 3 is meh though.
 
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I cant believe i WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree with you.

HKL is a Classics hands down imo.........IMO.

Jay was always had a decent buzz, but this is where it got CRAZY....This took him to that Next level.

Plus i went to a concert from that tour, so it holds fond memories...great post OP.
 
The problem is that we all compare Jay's albums with his own albums.

It's the same reason people front on Blueprint 3.


How many rappers EVER make an album as good as Volume 2?

How many rappers EVER make an album as good as Blueprint 3?


Very few.


But everybody fronts because Volume 2 is "Jay's 9th best album" and Blueprint 3 is "Jay's 7th best album."
 
Album was
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problem for me is there are way too many features on the album...Classic no less but out of Jay's best albums, this one sits jus behind themfor that very reason imo
 
Originally Posted by 22 Rather Unique 22

The problem is that we all compare Jay's albums with his own albums.

It's the same reason people front on Blueprint 3.

But everybody fronts because Volume 2 is "Jay's 9th best album" and Blueprint 3 is "Jay's 7th best album."
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You're suppose to compare a rapper's album with their previous album. It's how you tell they're getting better or progressing. Thefirst thing I do when I hear the new ________ album is keep in mind what _______ came with on their last effort. After I form my final opinion on the albumthen I can go around comparing it to other artist's albums.

Also I'd like to meet these ppl who rank BP3 above Vol. 2 unless my assumption about them being brain dead is true.
 
Originally Posted by 22 Rather Unique 22

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damn. Now we got dudes sayin' that Volume 2 > BP3.

BP3 hate is at an all-time high.
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says the guy who thinks fat would eat budden
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