FREEFORM 1990's ALTERNATIVE ALBUM POLL - THE RECKONING (TOP TEN COUNTING DOWN NOW)

22 Jay-Z - Reasonable Doubt (1996)
83 points
5 votes
0 first-place votes
Greatest contributor: samosa gibreel

http://www.daviddallas.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/medium_jay_z_-_reasonable_doubt-front.jpg

There are about 100 ILX threads with "Jay-Z" in the title so kept my ILXsearching real simple like

Strangely enough though, people still don't seem to understand the concept of reasonable doubt.

― deanomgwtf!!!p%3Fmsgid%3D4581997 (deangulberry), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 23:35 (5 years ago)

By the way - I'd say some animal research is done out of pure bloodthirstyness... Harry Harlow showed this beyond any reasonable doubt. He was insane.

― C-Man (C-Man), Monday, 12 January 2004 19:46 (6 years ago)

"The prosecution will show that Kate did, beyond any reasonable doubt, drug and intice this innocaent young man into a bathtub while she pleasured herself in front of him."

― Gold Teeth II (kenan), Monday, 4 October 2004 16:47 (5 years ago)

this all seems reasonable, doubt it will really change 77 at all anyway

― crackers is biters (M@tt He1ges0n), Tuesday, 3 February 2009 01:13 (1 year ago)

wait also 10 pts for iron man for cappa's winter warz verse. oh and the best mc of the past 15 years i guess. but winter warz!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUAwdXRbyWM

my bad lj, i think i am cool w/ knowing kmd won't make it doe.

also :DDDDDDDDDDDDD reasonable doubt!

!!! hellls yowws yes, "Brooklyn's finest" is basically mankind's crowning achievement

so splended. ok gonna put it on right now

Re: Reasonable Doubt.

I didn't get it for ages. Compared to most similar albums of the age it seems vulgar at first. There is no dirt to it. Even the biggest, most epic records of the era have their battles fought in the streets. Jay swoops in as the Godfather, already positioning himself at the top, without any track record or anything to show for it. Cuban Linx is Scarface, from the start. Life After Death is very much post-Ready To Die, and starts with Biggie potentially giving up all he's earned just to avenge his fallen comrade. Reasonable Doubt doesn't really have that. He is untouchable and he is better than you. I think Jay learnt his mistakes very quickly here, even over did it with his 'ok i get it, i'm not better than big' modesty.

That said, once you get used to it as a one off from his career, as the start of this insane untouchable bravado rap, making records with Mary and Big and Premo from the off, you have to admire the boy's confidence. That and its fun as hell, 22 twos and brooklyns finest can't help but make me smile.

yay! 2 more of my votes, I'm up to 5/10! only think 1 more of mine will make it tho. rip soul food/southernplayalistic/rhythmalism/2001 ;_;

2001! I always think of it as a 2k record, damn the name. I think it still has a chance though?

:D nicely put a hoy hoy! xposts

no comment Rev - but that's a pretty good hit-rate as far as these ballots go

Next album (last for the day) is gonna cause some sweet-ass controversy. And hopefully get a certain ILM poster explainin' and defendin' like never before

I say this because what few ILM posts there are on the band are pretty much blanket negative, except for this dude's.

21 Remy Zero - Remy Zero (1996)
85 points
1 vote
1 first-place vote
Greatest contributor: Drugs A. Money

http://bp0.blogger.com/_IWtJPVg2znw/Rg-ArLKThxI/AAAAAAAAACE/TQ7Fv3-h-2c/s400/B000003TBU.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

most underrated album: Remy Zero - s/t.

― Drugs A. Money, Monday, 28 April 2008 23:23 (2 years ago)

I think Remy Zero is the polar opposite of punk.

― Clarke B., Tuesday, 12 February 2002 01:00 (8 years ago)

seriously guys...Remy Zero's first album dropped a year before OK Computer, and is so much better (and was kind of a defining influence on the best-album-of-the-90s standby)

forget the Coldplay-before-Coldplay hype, that came later...first album is Southern post-rock and thrilling shoegazer with all sorts of shifting sonic textures...

― ha! (Drugs A. Money), Monday, 15 February 2010 20:33 (2 months ago)

reasonable doubt is like rap music for aristocrats at a party. ladies in white satin dresses drinking martinis, exorbitant fish tanks.

Jay's flow on "Friend or Foe" is so conversational that the first time I heard it, I didn't even realize he was rapping until halfway through it. Also it is his scariest song, because Jay-Z was never scary because he was tough, he was scary because he was smart, and on "Friend or Foe" he hasn't out-toughed his nemesis, he's outsmarted them, which rings much truer to form than any gunplay he's ever rapped about.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3356/4572851528_108fc11e2c.jpg

xpost

looool

was not listening to 'reasonable doubt' when that picture was taken, sadly

pimpin'

looooooool

admittedly pimpin

who is that?
xposts

lo' and humbie iirc

lol is that samosa in the back of that pic?

yezir

this has rather distracted from Rev's post, which is a good'un

but samosa's face in that pic is about as undistilled jay-z as it gets

aw, shucks

um I probably mean 'distilled'. or 'undiluted'.

for once words have failed lj, and all because of samosa's visage

even MCs get writer's block

Anyone got OPINIONZ on Remy Zero (or rather, the first album, because apparently they went to absolute shit afterwards)? Or are we indulging in a bit of hip-hop before the top 20 descends with wall-to-wall guitar indie?

let's all just pull out our tuxedos and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs8Zb2dXsFU

actually, now i think about it, has anyone else successfully done the tuxedo gangster thing before or after? i can't think of anything.

reasonable doubt is one of those album that i don't necessarily think about or put on very regularly, but whenever i'm listening to it i just become overwhelmed with joy and pleasure and it's like ok why exactly haven't i gottan a microchip-sized speaker implanted into my brain programmed to play this twenty four hours a day for the rest of my life yet?

I liked the reasonable doubt blurb. Why are we all up?

we are wearing tuxedos and listening to feelin it iirc

because i'm drunk and getting ready for working nights tomorrow. also rap music is awes.

also spurs became a big club again, which is important to the irish.

actually, now i think about it, has anyone else successfully done the tuxedo gangster thing before or after? i can't think of anything.

― tart w/ a heart (a hoy hoy), Wednesday, May 5, 2010 5:55 PM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Rick Ross has totally coopted this vibe for his last couple albums but obv. doesn't do it as well.

oh yeah, forgot the BAWSE. i think he pulls it off, not in an absolute classic way but in a kinda dope lol at least it isn't nas's escobar years.

ABOUT UNREST! They are Reuniting for a short tour! I am going to see them with The Ropers opening at Maxwells in Hoboken I AM SO EXCITED!

Can someone post an update/rundown of the list so far please?

^

____ Stereolab - Peng! (1992)
____ XTC - Apple Venus, Vol. 1 (1999)
100. De La Soul - Buhloone Mind State (1993)
___ Fugazi - End Hits (1998)
98. Crowded House - Woodface (1991)
97. Sonic Youth - Washing Machine (1995)
96. Björk - Debut (1993)
95. Mark Eitzel - Songs of Love (1991)
94. Elliott Smith - Either/Or (1997)
___ The Pharcyde - Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde (1992)
92. The Afghan Whigs - Black Love (1996)
91. Tori Amos - From the Choirgirl Hotel (1998)
90. UGK - Ridin' Dirty (1996)
89. Grifters - Crappin' You Negative (1994)
88. The Dismemberment Plan - Emergency & I (1999)
87. The Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen (1993)
___ Neil Young - Harvest Moon (1992)
85. Biosphere - Substrata (1997)
___ Missy Elliott - Da Real World (1999)
___ Mogwai - Young Team (1997)
82. 2pac - All Eyez on Me (1996)
81. Metallica - Metallica (1991)
___ Built To Spill - Keep it Like a Secret (1999)
79. A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders (1993)
___ The Divine Comedy - Promenade (1994)
77. The Auteurs - New Wave (1993)
___ Burger/Ink - Las Vegas (1996)
___ Electronic - Electronic (1991)
74. Sleep - Dopesmoker (199?)
___ Slowdive - Souvlaki (1993)
72. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F#A#∞ (1998)
71. R.E.M. - New Adventures in Hi-Fi (1996)
___ Earl Brutus - Tonight You Are The Special One (1998)
69. Sun City Girls - Torch of the Mystics (1990)
___ Sun City Girls - 330,003 Crossdressers From the Rig Veda (1996)
67. Pete Namlook - Air (1994)
66. Palace Music - Lost Blues and Other Songs (1997)
65. Sonny Sharrock - Ask the Ages (1991)
___ Lush - Spooky (1992)
63. Ol' Dirty Bastard - Return to the 36 Chambers (1995)
62. Aphex Twin - I Care Because You Do (1995)
___ They Might Be Giants - Flood (1990)
60. Mr. Bungle - California (1999)
___ Madonna - Erotica (1992)
58. Gas - Königsforst (1999)
57. Mouse on Mars - Autoditacker (1997)
56. Sonic Youth - A Thousand Leaves (1998)
___ Pizzicato Five - Happy End of the World (1997)
___ Magic Hour - No Excess Is Absurd (1994)
___ Nomeansno - Live and Cuddly (1991)
___ Kristin Hersh - Hips and Makers (1994)
___ Ground Zero - Revolutionary Pekinese Opera Ver.1.28 (1996)
50. Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels on a Gravel Road (1998)
49. Faith No More - Angel Dust (1992)
48. R.E.M. - Out of Time (1991)
47. Pavement - Brighten the Corners (1997)
46. Blur - 13 (1999)
45. Nachtstrom - 17 Songs After Midnight (1999)
44. Arvo Pärt - Te Deum (1993)
43. Outkast - ATLiens (1996)
42. Pavement - Wowee Zowee (1995)
___ Julian Cope - Peggy Suicide (1991)
40. Straitjacket Fits - Melt (1991)
___ Pole - 1 (1998)
38. Various Artists - Guitar Paradise of East Africa (1990)
37. Slint - Spiderland (1991)
36. Mansun - Six (1998)
___ Suede - Dog Man Star (1994)
34. Dr. Octagon - Dr. Octagonecologyst (1996)
___ Hole - Live Through This (1994)
32. Wilco - Summerteeth (1999)
31. Super Furry Animals - Guerrilla (1999)
30. Mobb Deep - The Infamous (1995)
29. Jane's Addiction - Ritual De Lo Habitual (1990)
28. Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante (1995)
___ Superconductor - Hit Songs For Girls (1993)
26. Various Artists - The Music in My Head (1998)
25. Unrest - Perfect Teeth (1993)
24. Burzum - Filosofem (1996)
23. Unrest - Imperial F.F.R.R. (1992)
22. Jay-Z - Reasonable Doubt (1996)
21. Remy Zero - Remy Zero (1996)

shanksh!

so much there i've never heard, or even heard of! Definitely never even heard mention of Remy Zero. Impressed that Burzum made it so high!

Remy Zero was a big radio rock band (with atmosphere?) for a hot minute in the mid '90s. I once got in an online flame war with one of the people (the singer, I think) over something stupid. I don't even remember what it was about now, but he's not the brightest bulb.

yeah their 2nd and 3rd albums each had a moderate radio hit, and the latter became the theme song to Smallville. i remember being vaguely intrigued by the single from their first album that I heard on a DGC compilation, but i never pursued them beyond that.

Impressed Appalled that Burzum made it so high!

*disclaimer - burzum should read "filosofem", obv. no nazo!