From where you can't put your vest away because the day after we'll be like, "We were just with him yesterday!"

Wu Tang was damn big worldwide! We were banging in Mozambique 🇲🇿 back then without even internet!

95 Prodigy was in that conversation off of The Infamous as was GZA off of Liquid Swords. You can say P was in the conversation off of Hell On Earth too in 96.

Streets is Watching is what made me buy the  album. I was walking by a project in Harlem when I first heard it.

Been telling cats  this for decades. They finally heard it from the man's own mouth.

And this is why Jay Z is in the songwriters  hall of fame....

This is one of the best Hip Hop commentary channels on YouTube. For me, where I live I have no people that look like me or like-minded people to discuss Hip Hop and Rap in a meaningful way, so it is great to get perspectives from knowledgeable people like you (an actual Hip Hop journalist, like Company Man). Keep up the good work! I'm enjoying the convos

"Hov got flow though he's no Big and Pac, but he's close / How I'm 'posed to win? They got me fighting ghosts"

Man this was a great video. Love your content. I’m glad your spotlighting that Jay put himself into the conversation with Nas and Big.

Ep 4 is tough on the soul

Thank you for this episode, I needed to hear some real shit right now. Great job, brother.

I was happy Ep 3-4 he addressed something I been saying, even in this comment section… back then The Streets still looked at Rappers as CORNY. “They wanna be US, they rapping OUR life.’” Jay talked about personally having to fight that perception from his own crew (Can’t Knock the Hustle, 22 Two’s). But, Reasonable Doubt, Volume 1, and then DMX and The LOX in 98 helped changed that perception. Jay was talking that talk, in a way and with a level of intricacy and accuracy that had never been done. DMX, The LOX came with a grit and a rawness that had never been presented. Reasonable Doubt went gold in 3 months. 5x faster than ILLmatic, INDEPENDENTLY. That’s HUGE. 97-98 JayZ, DMX, The LOX, and even Ja Rule ushered in a new era. Hard Knock Life Tour was a culmination of extraordinary forces. No Limit and Cash Money was right alongside them come from The South with another facet of street rap. Along with Capone and Noreaga - The War Report in 97 also. That’s a crazy turning point that doesn’t get talked about enough. But, Biggie, Jay and Cash Money particularly were different. They weren’t grimey. 97 Biggie and JayZ were coming with a cleaner, smarter, more prosperous, more aspirational rhetoric than DMX, The LOX, CNN, Mobb Deep, The Wu, Souljah Slim, Juvenile, BG. Jay was doing freestyles on radio talking about The Robb Report (The Symphony Freestyle, which also had the radio station dying laughing as he took a light jab at LL and Ma$e). In the words of Bleek, Jay wasn’t just, “reporting live from the streets.” Jay and BIG were world-building a world where your daughter got a trust fund, and, “a college plan, so she don’t need no man.” A world where, “we play the charts like The Beatles.” No more shootouts, fists fights, and robberies.. instead it’s a world where an Emcee can sit at the top of an empire, with, “lawyers watching lawyers, so you don’t go broke.”

Jay has said in other interviews that Where Im From he played for Big before he died so that record was done while Big was still alive. And you right i was a kid then and i remember when Jay dropped that line i at first ddnt get it how he could put himself in the Top 3 and his first major hit album was Hardknock Life in 98. I felt at that time it was a bold line so to see him live up to it made it that more impactful

I remember GZA also being in that convo after Liquid Swords came out. That also went heavy

And goofies think Hov was copying 50 with the bullet proof vest 💀🤦🏾‍♂️

we need a 5 and 6 breakdown

Damn that story about his pops is a great example of how family ain’t always all it’s cracked up to be lol

Biggie and Jay Z is like Kobe and Jordan to me. Jordan (Biggie) is the blueprint from which Jay (Kobe) modeled his game after and is quite close, but he isn't quite there yet. Big is my favorite rapper, but I acknowledge that Nas is the best of the three.

Thank you for your coverage of these episodes 🙏🏿 meaningful work

The best is your fav
It’s an argument you can’t win.
The Notorious Big is the greatest Mc I ever heard period