AZ - Doe Or Die (Album Review)

 

Release Date : October 10, 1995
Label : EMI Records

Today I wanted to revisit AZ's Doe Or Die, so lets get into it. After having a classic verse on Life's A Bitch, AZ got offered mad deals, including Sony (Where Nas was signed at the time), but he chose to sign with EMI instead. How many rappers can say they got signed off of one verse? Not too many. But on the flip-side, its a lot of pressure that comes with it, but AZ lived up to the hype on Doe Or Die. Some consider it a classic album and others consider it a near-classic album, honestly you can't wrong either way. Az wanted his first single to be more street, but he said  EMI saw how huge Biggies One More Chance song was, so he ended up making the Miss Jones featured Sugar Hill his first single.

Jadakiss - Kiss Tha Game Goodbye (Album Review)

Release Date : August 7, 2001
Label : Ruff Ryders / Interscope

2001 was crazy because Nas and Jay were going at it and D-Block and State Property were going it at too. Jadakiss was killing it on the mixtape scene. And with the success of The Lox's "We Are The Streets" album, it was only right for Jada to put out a solo album first. I remember "Put Your Hands Up" being the first single. I first heard it on "DJ Clue's "Hev E Components Pt. 2 mixtape. Then "We Gonna Make It" came out. That song had everybody waiting on Jada's album. It was a little controversy with the beat because it was used on Ras Kass' "Home Sweet Home" record.  Ras said that beat was one of the three Alchemist beats that were planned for his "Van Gogh" album, but then Alchemist said he was never paid the full amount, and when he tried to reach out to Ras Kass' team they never paid him the rest of the money, so he sold it to Jada. Crazy situation right there. Moving along, "Knock Yourself Out" was the third song released, but it was the first official single for the radio.