Why Did Reasonable Doubt Flop When It Came Out?

Reasonable Doubt was an indy release initially. It dropped on Priority. I might be mistaken though. I know that album and Master P's Ice Cream Man both dropped in '96 on that label. Both went Gold in '96 and platinum in '01. I don't think Def Jam was involved in Reasonable Doubt outside of "Ain't No ? " being on it which was initially on the Nutty Professor soundtrack.

Though it's not excuse, without a considerable build up, buzz, and singles, it was difficult for a debut album to move considerable units in the 90's.

rapmastermind wrote: »

I was 16 in the summer of 96, I brought that LP in June the day it dropped. "Reasonable Doubt" did not flop in 96. It went Gold in like 3 months and had a Gold single with "Dead Presidents". Jay wasn't known like that even with features from Biggie, Mary J and Foxy. Jay was a lower tier artist but still went Gold, far from a flop in 96. He was also on an independent label too. For NYC, only Biggie, LL, NaS, Lil Kim and Foxy were moving units past Platinum in 96. In 96, Mobb Deep "Hell on Earth" went GOLD was that a flop too?, NO. Also you didn't cop RD in 96 if it has "Can I live II" on it.

What did you think when you first heard it... And at the time where did you place it against the other albums you had from 94-96?

because gangsta rap was more popular back then

it was a chess move

I'm still confused why cats still worry about the initial sales of a dude who has sold millions of records. All the so-called hot dudes that sold a lot of records in 96 can't sell 300,000 right now. Honestly, I'm not into how many units are moved. I go for the music. I know I was living in Charlotte, NC when Reasonable Doubt came out...bought it the same time I got It Was Written. Needless to say, I felt both were worth the money even if I would have been the only cat that bought them. Hell, I don't know how much what I consider one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time (Black Moon's Enta Da Stage) sold, but I know it was dope & I still play that ? to this day along with Reasonable Doubt

What did you think when you first heard it... And at the time where did you place it against the other albums you had from 94-96?

I loved it then and I still love it now, I put so many ppl onto Jay with this album, PPL still apologizin to me cause they didn't really get into until "Hard Knock Life", the album ppl love to hate today is the main album most of Jay Z fanbase came from. I personally like RD and Vol 1 Jay the best, he was so slick lyrically and his flow was crazy. His production was real eastcoast Classic NYC Production. Was it my favorite LP of 96?, no so many Classics dropped that year, but I found myself always listening to "RD", I loved the production, obscure album cuts like "Coming of Age", "Bring in On" and even "Regrets" I enjoyed just as much as the main songs. There was no revisionist history for me, the album was hot from the start. I copped the original "Dead Presidents" single as I said, I knew he was something speical, would of never imaged him get this far though. Quality wise it was Top 10 of 96 for sure.

Yamoley wrote: »

A lot of east coast rappers was on that mafioso ? and "Reasonable Doubt" got caught up in the shuffle....the execution of that album was flawless, but back then Jay wasn't a household name so it slipped under the radar.
and Biggie wasn't the one that gave Jay a smidgen of buzz, it was Foxy..."Ain't no ? " was big in the Tri-State

"Ain't no ? " was big here. I was a lil ? and I remember that ? .

jay didnt hav mass appeal when 1st drop. i didnt check 4 him til tha 2nd album..

RD is dope tho..

a_list wrote: »

pop duke wrote: »

a_list wrote: »

rapmastermind wrote: »

I was 16 in the summer of 96, I brought that LP in June the day it dropped. "Reasonable Doubt" did not flop in 96. It went Gold in like 3 months and had a Gold single with "Dead Presidents". Jay wasn't known like that even with features from Biggie, Mary J and Foxy. Jay was a lower tier artist but still went Gold, far from a flop in 96. He was also on an independent label too. For NYC, only Biggie, LL, NaS, Lil Kim and Foxy were moving units past Platinum in 96. In 96, Mobb Deep "Hell on Earth" went GOLD was that a flop too?, NO.

thats what i was getting at...i guess its only a flop for jay.....rd went gold before illmatic and was released over 2 years after it?

This is true but if U can or anyone else in da IC pls tell me what other album got bootlegged da way Illmatic did pre-internet era B4 napster etc etc.???

Oh ? you dont have to tell me nothing about prolly the most bootlegged album ever.....my peeps had the 6 song demo in like febuary and the album dropped a couple months later.....but what im getting at is say if illmatic went gold no one would seem to have a problem with that so why is rd a flop?




Nah I was replying to da length of time it took Illmatic to go gold vs Hov's RD. Gold on a independent is real BOSS ish & a huge payday @ da same time.

IntellectualViolence wrote: »

ppl forget that nobody was checking for Jay Z back then...

That's not true at all.jay was killing the Tri State by that time.he was all over Clue mixtapes and was getting college and mainstream play w/ Mary J Blige on his single.

What made it sale slow was he was on like Priority and they didn't have the reach of Def jam and other labels.Priority has pretty bad track record with artists, but it hit the streets like ton of bricks.It was everywhere.

Even back then being too wordy was underground to an extent, especially w/out Def jam backing you.The west was popping.

We still were very much into lyrics and culture and jay wasn't mainstream at 1st because drug talk wasn't commercial yet really

That ? 1.5 now.jay has always been an enigma because he's lyrically complex, but makes catchy songs. if he was simpler he would do old Nelly/ 50 numbers, but he kills w/ singles somehow