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That Meth was the first member of the Wu to release a solo album – 1994’s The Tical – was hardly surprising. quickly rose to the top of the Clan’s catalogue.ģ Method Man ft Mary J Blige – I’ll Be There For You/You’re All I Need to Get By (Razor Sharp remix) Instantly resonant – the Wu’s junior affiliate Shyheim parlayed Deck’s “Life as a shorty shouldn’t be so rough” line into an entire song – C.R.E.A.M. Over a melancholic piano loop from t he Charmels’ 1967 soul ballad As Long As I’ve Got You, Rae’s gruff opening lines – “I grew up on the crime side, the New York Times side / Stayin’ alive was no jive” – set the scene as he and Inspectah Deck describe a harsh youth spent slinging drugs in the high-stakes pursuit of paper. While the titular acronym, which, as Method Man reminds us on the hook, stands for Cash Rules Everything Around Me, was quickly adopted as hip-hop slang for boatloads of dough (not least by the Wu themselves – witness Raekwon admiring the C.R.E.A.M.-making aptitude of Julio Iglesias on Criminology), this poignant study of ’hood capitalism (also from the crew’s debut) is no Puffy-style shopping spree.

Released in May 1993 on Loud Records after a DIY pressing the previous year earned the crew a Killa Bee buzz, the Wu’s opening salvo – featured on their instant classic album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) – was the perfect east coast antidote to Dre and Snoop’s crisp G-funk or, as GZA would put it, “the dirtiest thing in sight”. With eight distinctive voices (an incarcerated Masta Killa had yet to sign up) ravaging an RZA track powered by that trusty trumpet glissando from the JB’s The Grunt, quotable lines abound, from Method Man’s playful Irene Cara impression to GZA’s bitter takedown of his unappreciative former label Cold Chillin’ and the wider music industry henceforth “a mountain climber who plays an electric guitar” was the de facto stereotype of the clueless A&R. It's that depth that helps Reasonable Doubt rank as one of the finest albums of New York's hip-hop renaissance of the '90s.From the second Inspectah Deck attacks his opening verse ( “I smoke on the mic like smokin’ Joe Frazier/ The hellraiser, raising hell with the flavour”), it’s easy to see why the clued-up radio caller at the song’s start is desperate for a repeat fix of the debut single from the mysterious, kung fu-crazy Staten Island crew. Perhaps that's why Jay-Z waxes reflective, not enthusiastic, about the darker side of the streets songs like "D'Evils" and "Regrets" are some of the most personal and philosophical he's ever recorded. In that sense, the album's defining cut might not be one of the better-known singles - "Can't Knock the Hustle," "Dead Presidents II," "Feelin' It," or the Foxy Brown duet, "Ain't No Nigga." It just might be the brief "22 Two's," which not only demonstrates Jay-Z's extraordinary talent as a pure freestyle rapper, but also preaches a subtle message through its club hostess: Bad behavior gets in the way of making money. Jay-Z the hustler isn't too different from Jay-Z the rapper: Hustling is about living the high life and getting everything you can, not violence or tortured glamour or cheap thrills. And even if he's rapping about rising to the top instead of being there, his material obsessions are already apparent. (Plus, neither artist has since approached the street cred of his debut, The Blueprint notwithstanding.) Parts of the persona that Jay-Z would ride to superstardom are already in place: He's cocky bordering on arrogant, but playful and witty, and exudes an effortless, unaffected cool throughout.

Reasonable Doubt is often compared to another New York landmark, Nas' Illmatic: A hungry young MC with a substantial underground buzz drops an instant classic of a debut, detailing his experiences on the streets with disarming honesty, and writing some of the most acrobatic rhymes heard in quite some time. Skeptics who've never cared for Jigga's crossover efforts should turn to his debut, Reasonable Doubt, as the deserving source of his legend. Before Jay-Z fashioned himself into hip-hop's most notorious capitalist, he was a street hustler from the projects who rapped about what he knew - and was very, very good at it.