You may not be able to buy American Gangster on iTunes but thanks to Jay-Z's former partners Damon Dash and Kareem "Biggs" Burke, you can purchase a copy of Jigga's classic debut, Reasonable Doubt, online for the first time.
The now-famous CD, originally released in June of 1996 has since gone platinum. Most importantly, it launched Jay-Z's music career as a solo artist and is now considered among hip-hop's most historical CD's.
Mary J. Blige, The Notorious B.I.G. and Foxy Brown all appeared on the CD, also in the early parts of their respective careers. In 2006, 10 years to the day that the album was released, Jay-Z peformed the entire CD at a special Radio City Hall show to celebrate the tenth anniversary.
"Jay has grown to become such a massive public figure that Reasonable Doubt doesn't really have all that much to do with what he is today, except that he still considers it his finest artistic achievement and brings it up in every interview," Tom Breihan wrote in the Village Voice in a review of the concert.
Dash and Burke can make the CD available as they retained the masters to it in the $10 million sale of Roc-A-Fella to Island Def Jam in 2004. It will be available for download at digital music download sites via TuneCore.
"We went with TuneCore because TuneCore delivered Jay-Z's music while keeping none of the rights and none of the profits for themselves," Burke said in a statement. "For the first time, thanks to TuneCore, Jay-Z's great first album will be available in iTunes."
Jay-Z, who got his tenth #1 debut with American Gangster, moving into a tie with Elvis Presley, decided not to release it on iTunes as he didn't want the concept CD purchased as separate tracks
Source: HipHop-Elements.com
The now-famous CD, originally released in June of 1996 has since gone platinum. Most importantly, it launched Jay-Z's music career as a solo artist and is now considered among hip-hop's most historical CD's.
Mary J. Blige, The Notorious B.I.G. and Foxy Brown all appeared on the CD, also in the early parts of their respective careers. In 2006, 10 years to the day that the album was released, Jay-Z peformed the entire CD at a special Radio City Hall show to celebrate the tenth anniversary.
"Jay has grown to become such a massive public figure that Reasonable Doubt doesn't really have all that much to do with what he is today, except that he still considers it his finest artistic achievement and brings it up in every interview," Tom Breihan wrote in the Village Voice in a review of the concert.
Dash and Burke can make the CD available as they retained the masters to it in the $10 million sale of Roc-A-Fella to Island Def Jam in 2004. It will be available for download at digital music download sites via TuneCore.
"We went with TuneCore because TuneCore delivered Jay-Z's music while keeping none of the rights and none of the profits for themselves," Burke said in a statement. "For the first time, thanks to TuneCore, Jay-Z's great first album will be available in iTunes."
Jay-Z, who got his tenth #1 debut with American Gangster, moving into a tie with Elvis Presley, decided not to release it on iTunes as he didn't want the concept CD purchased as separate tracks
Source: HipHop-Elements.com
