This page is referenced by:

• 1 2017-06-01T22:58:44+00:00 Reasonable Doubt's Samples 14 image_header 2017-12-12T23:18:38+00:00 Across Jay Z’s albums, he incorporates numerous samples from Hip Hop, Jazz, R&B, and Rock genres. The previous graph was an interactive model that accounted for all of the known samples he uses in his work. Below, are three YouTube videos that offer clips of the classic samples Jay Z uses on three of his solo albums.
  
  VinRican, Production Director at Los Angeles radio station Power 106, created a playlist focusing on Jay Z’s albums in his “Wax Only” series. In these videos, he spins the original versions of songs that Jay Z used on his album. He then plays the Jay Z track that includes the sample.
  
  VinRican’s “Wax Only” series provides another dimension when interpreting the interconnectivity of Jay Z’s music. 
   

  Reasonable Doubt

  
  
  
  At the age of 26, Jay Z released his debut album Reasonable Doubt on June 25, 1996.  The album debuted at number 23 on the Billboard 200, and after nearly six years, became certified platinum in February 2002.  Many critics place the album among the best records of all time with some ranking it as Jay Z’s best album.
  
  The 14 track album contains 30 samples across five musical genres. One of the most famous samples is on “Dead Presidents II.” Jay Z samples Nas’s voice from “The World is Yours.”  The line, “I’m out for president’s to represent me” serves as the vocal backing for the song’s chorus.  Jay Z also drew on several instrumentation samples from artist ranging from Lonnie Liston Smith, the Stylistics, and even a Tribe Called Quest.