This choice was reportedly inspired by the lengthy trial of OJ Simpson, which was ending while Jay was recording the album. Somewhere during the recording process, Jay-Z switched gears and decided to name the project Reasonable Doubt. Jay-Z’s self-assured attitude is reflected in the album’s working title, which was Heir to the Throne. I’m pretty sure the only reason a Brooklyn resident was on the bill was due to his affiliation with Mic Geronimo and DJ Irv (now known as Irv Gotti). A then mostly unknown Jay-Z was curtain-jerking that night, going on first. That year, the show was headlined by Method Man, but acts like O.C. I was a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania at the time, and every year, in the midst of the Penn Relays track event, the school would host a concert that featured some of the biggest hip-hop acts. It was a late night in the late spring of 1995, just after the Penn Relays concert. But years later, after he’d fashioned himself as one the most beloved and commercially successful emcees ever, I’ve periodically looked back on that spring night in 1995, and thought, “Yeah, this all makes sense.” It would be an exaggeration to say that the first time I saw Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter on his grind, I knew he’d be a star. Happy 25th Anniversary to Jay-Z’s debut album Reasonable Doubt, originally released June 25, 1996.
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