Episode 3: Bring It On | Brooklyn's Finest: The Making of Reasonable Doubt by Jay-Z

In our third episode, we continue our deep dive into the album’s tracklist and key themes. We also analyse the people, places and things that made the album happen, including early live performances, leftover songs and promo campaigns.

Featuring in order of appearance: Charlie Braxton, Ryan Proctor, Yoh Phillips, Pain In Da Ass, Maria Davis, Ski Beatz, Rob Markman, DJ Clark Kent, Jaz-O, DJ Snips and Dart Adams. 

Sumit and Chris on Roc-A-Fella Records looking for distribution (0:52)
Charlie Braxton on why D’Evils is such an impactful critique on capitalism (2:02)
Ryan Proctor on other key themes in D’Evils (3:03)
Yoh Phillips on the religious imagery in D’Evils and how it adds context to Jay-Z’s character (4:00)
Pain In Da Ass on Jay-Z’s ability to create strong finishes in his songs (5:13)
Maria Davis on believing in Jay-Z’s talent (5:57)
Maria Davis on 22 Two’s being her favourite song from Reasonable Doubt (7:14)
Ski Beatz on trying to get Jay-Z to pick another beat for 22 Two’s (7:44)
Maria Davis on being asked to feature on Reasonable Doubt by Jay-Z and Dame Dash (8:23)
Maria Davis on the legal issues Jay-Z was having at the time (9:35)
Pain In Da Ass on 22 Two’s evolving from a freestyle into a full song (10:22)
Pain In Da Ass on how and why the album name was changed to Reasonable Doubt (10:33)
Yoh Phillips and Rob Markman on Can I Live and their favourite lyrics (11:56)
Ryan Proctor on the mix of danger and humour found in Friend Or Foe (14:30)
Pain In Da Ass and Ryan Proctor on Coming of Age developing into a mini-series and the impressive debut of Memphis Bleek (15:31)
Maria Davis on her fondness of Memphis Bleek and close relationship with Sauce Money (16:39)
Pain In Da Ass on Reasonable Doubt’s features and the creative freedom at Roc-A-Fella Records (17:10)
DJ Clark Kent on Cashmere Thoughts originally being a record for The Hard Pack and for a project with Jay-Z, Jaz-O and Sauce Money taking on pimp personas (18:38)
Jaz-O on being called at the last minute and writing his verse on the spot for Bring It On (20:46)
DJ Snips on the elusiveness of the sample used in Bring It On (21:43)
Charlie Braxton on Regrets being a song about remorse and why this content was rare at the time (22:35)
Dart Adams on why Jay-Z had umlauts in his name (23:08)
Jaz-O on the significance of Lil’ Lulu Publishing (24:33)
DJ Clark Kent on mastering the album and an unreleased track that went missing (25:31)
Ski Beatz on throwing away unreleased music with Jay-Z and Big L (26:21)
DJ Clark Kent on other unreleased songs and getting into trouble at Mad Wednesday (26:52)

Produced by Sumit Sharma and Chris Mitchell
Mixed and mastered by Dave Walker
Original artwork designed by Adrien Vargas
Updated artwork designed by Jason Wheeler

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