Tag Archives: Reasonable Doubt

Swizz Beatz Recalls Jay-Z & DMX’s Battle, Shopping Beats To Jay-Z

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Swizz Beatz Recalls Jay-Z & DMX's Battle, Shopping Beats To Jay-Z

Even though there’s no video recording of it, Jay-Z and DMX‘s infamous ’90s rap battle is the stuff of legends in Hip Hop. Now, in a recent interview with VladTV via Nah Right, producer Swizz Beatz speaks on the mythical battle between two of his most frequent collaborators. Although Swizz explained that he missed the actual battle itself, he remembers seeing peoples’ excitement immediately after the battle took place. The Bronx-born super-producer also explained that it was these early connections with the Ruff Ryders that helped introduce him to Hova in the early part of both artists’ career.

“Nah, [I wasn't there for Jay-Z and DMX's battle]. I just missed it,” he recalled. “I don’t know [who won]. My uncles [Waah and Dee Dean, Ruff Ryder CEOs] made everybody turn their cameras off; that’s like the worst shit. You’ve just seen the end of it when the cameras come on and the dude’s rapping some shit…it was real. You could’ve made a movie around that moment. I just remember the energy from everybody coming from that to see [DMX] and to see Hov; [it was] like Meek [Mill] and Cassidy at that time. I’m just happy to be able to witness these moments because I was super young, so I was able to get all that from [a] young [age], and still be young and do what I’m doing.”

“I was just speaking to Jay yesterday…and it was like, ‘We’ve working [together] for 14 years, dog; that shit is crazy.’ I remember walking into his office with a cassette with 40 beats and he bought the whole joint right off the spot. That’s how we met…this was like, ’96-97 ‘cus the shit started coming out in ’98…I think it was right after Reasonable Doubt, because he definitely had that Reasonable Doubt swag in that office.” via:hiphopdx

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Woman That Didn’t Recognize Jay-Z On The Subway Found [VIDEO]

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Jay-Z makes being famous look as effortless as his ability to switch rap flows at blazing speeds. Ever since his breakout solo record, Reasonable Doubt, to the mogul status he currently enjoys, the Brooklyn native is a rags-to-riches story for the ages. Along the way, Jay has been known to hobnob with white folks outside his rap world confines, but nothing could have been more random than the millionaire riding the subway and chatting it up with a subway passenger on his way to the one of his eight sold out shows at the Barclays Center earlier this year.

The exchange between  67-year-old visual artist Ellen Grossman and the Roc Nation honcho – with the woman qupping “are you famous” to Jay – was as genuine a meeting as any. Filmed as part of the “Where I’m From” documentary, the clip has made its rounds online and the heartwarming image is lasting.

According to a New York Magazine Daily Intel profile on Grossman, who also shares the same stomping grounds as Hov, she even happens to know a little about rap music.

“I was on a fairly sparsely populated subway car, and I was sitting in the corner,” Grossman shared. “At Canal Street, a surge of people got on, and since my son was in the buildings on 9/11, my first reaction was that there had been a disaster upstairs. But everyone was laughing and smiling. My second reaction was, ‘Oh there’s a flash mob.’ They were filming this one guy that I didn’t recognize, which is why I said, ‘Are you famous?’”

Although Grossman had some scant knowledge of Jay-Z, her tastes are more firmly rooted in the 90s. “LL Cool J, Ice Cube, it’s old stuff,” she said listing her favorites.

Grossman is suddenly the envy of her family and friends,  obviously stoked by her chance run-in with one of Hip-Hop‘s elite. But after expressing she wants to catch Hov on stage, perhaps someone in the Live Nation offices can slide Ms. Grossman a ticket on the low.

Check out the exchange below: