Reasonable Doubt 20: Kareem "Biggs" Burke Remembers Jay Z's Debut - YouTube

Jay Z has done it all.

He’s recorded over a dozen albums.

He’s sold over 50 million records.

He’s topped the charts

brought the Nets to Brooklyn

built a business empire

and has the hottest chick in the game wearing his chain.

“Got the hottest chick in the game wearin’ my chain, that’s right HOV!”

And it all began 20 years ago on June 25, 1996 when he released his debut album

'Reasonable Doubt' independently on Roc-A-Fella Records.

There weren’t any platinum singles or No. 1 Billboard hits, that would come much later.

Instead, Hov did it with 14 tracks for raw and uncut hip hop.

“Peep the style and the way the cops sweat her, the number one question is can the feds get her?”

Rob: But he didn’t do it alone. Jay Z co-founded a record label to make that first album happen.

Teaming up with Dame Dash and this man, Kareem“Biggs” Burke.

Rob: What’s up, man?

Biggs: What’s up family?

Rob: 20th anniversary of Jay Z’s ‘Reasonable Doubt‘ album.

Biggs: Yeah.

Rob: How did you first meet Jay?

Biggs: I met Jay through Dame. Dame and I grew up together in Harlem. We was a part

of this crew called the Best Out.

Rob: The Best Out crew.

Biggs: Yeah, we used to throw parties all over Harlem. Dame had left that for a bit,

and got in the music business with his cousin Darien Dash. They were managing Future Sound.

Biggs: And Future Sound turned into Original Flavor and he started managing them.

Biggs: He signed Original Flavor to Clark Kent’s label. Clark introduced Dame to Jay.

Biggs: And then about a year or two later, I ended up meeting Jay down at by Quad studio.

Rob: So you meet Jay, what are your first impressions of him?

Biggs: I actually didn’t really like Jay’s music at that time. It wasn’t impressed.

He had “Can I Get Open,” which I thought was cool.

Biggs: At that point, this is 93, probably listen to Scarface

Biggs: You know, Geto Boys.

Biggs: Probably Snoop was out around that time.

Biggs: So things, you know, are a little harder.

Rob: Jay had this style back then.

Rob: It was like a tongue-twister style. It was a very popular style in rap. Das EFX.

Rob: It was the way to rap if you wanted to get on. It’s how you sounded.

Rob: So he sounded like the era he was in.

Biggs: Yeah, I guess but again, Das EFX they had a little more going.They probably

had some bigger songs and things like that. It probably wasn’t til I heard

“In My Lifetime” that he was that guy.

Rob: At this time, Jay Z was shopping for deals and trying to get to signed and he was

striking out. He didn’t have any luck.

Biggs: some of the music, Jay was shopping early on, people didn’t really gravitate

towards even though lyrically he was on top of his game.

Biggs: People just couldn’t really see the vision. And like I said, neither could I,

at that time.

Rob: ‘Reasonable Doubt.’ When does Jay start recording that? What is the moment like okay

we’re gonna put an album out?

Biggs: That was in ‘95. They kinda approached me and was like “Look, we’ve been trying

to get this done but we think the better play is to kind of do it ourselves. Instead of

getting a label deal, we should just go independant and own you know, 80% of the record and get

a distribution deal. I gave ‘em an offer they couldn’t refuse, and we kind of put

it together.

Rob: So you guys went through Priority and Freeze Records, is where it originally came

out right?

Biggs: Well, yeah.

“A lot of people wanna know, they wanna know, did you start that label Roc-A-Fella,

the one that you’re on?”

Jay Z: Oh yeah yeah yeah, me, my partner Dame Dash and my man Biggs, we put together Roc-A-Fella

Records. We got distribution with Priority.

Rob: Freeze was a dance label that had…

Biggs: Yeah they had distribution. They did some hip hop. You know the deal, we signed

on with them we thought we had 80% but it was 80% of his piece, which was a small piece.

So it really wasn’t the deal that we expected, so instead of making 3 or 4 million dollars

we probably made 30-40 thousand. You know? It didn’t really stop anything on our side

because we was living good at that time, but it taught up something.

Rob: “Can I live,” Jay has the line “We don’t lease. We buy the whole car as you should.”

Jay Z: “We don’t lease we buy the whole car, as you should.”

Biggs: Yeah..

Rob: Dame said you wrote that bar, that that was a. Well, I used to say that all time.

Biggs: Yeah. and then Jay took it and put it in there. I forgot about that

Rob: I gotchu. I did my homework.

Biggs: Definitely.

Rob: “Dead Presidents” is my favorite Jay Z song ever.

Biggs: It’s funny cause “Dead Presidents” remix is my favorite song.

Rob: I had read somewhere that you had some influence over that too.

Rob: Some of your slang made it when Jay has the line, “I want money like Cosby. Who wouldn't?

It’s that kind of talk that make me think you ain’t got no pudding.”

Biggs: I used to say that a lot too.

Pudding, that's money. A lot of guys was like they get money. I was like, "come on he ain't got no pudding."

So Jay flipped it, cause you know that commercial was out at the time

Biggs: Jay flipped it and put it in a song.

Rob: That was the original “Dead Presidents”. Part II was the one that made the album.

Rob: I always personally wondered why did he redo it? Part I was fire.

Biggs: He had the verse, and it was actually my idea for him to just put it over the original beat.

Rob: Wow.

Biggs: But you know, he would spit that verse acapella all the time, you know we’re riding

somewhere. I was like “Yo, just put it on the same beat”

Rob: “22 Two's”

Rob: when you talk about again, lifestyle. That’s a record, comes off like a live skit.

Features Maria Davis

Maria: Put that champagne down. And kick a little freestyle for me tonight.

Rob: It wasn’t just a skit, that was a real thing.

Biggs: Yeah, we used to perform at Essos, Country Club, and Sweetwaters.

Biggs: So those were all the spots Maria Davis frequented and had her Mad Wednesdays.

Jay was a big part of that so that actually built a huge fan base for us because we would

kind of go there and take that over.

Biggs: and we talk about bringing the lifestyle, I mean, at that time we had picnic baskets

in the club and garbage pails full of Cristal. So we would go in there and buy a 100 bottles

so we were kind of going before Wednesday and being like, “stack up on Cristal because

we are going to be everything.” Make sure the owner had enough. And just buy out the bar.

Maria: I smell some reefer. Now you see, that’s why our people don’t have anything.

Rob: Who was smoking reefer? Who was it that got kicked out? Is that a real story?

Biggs: Oh nah, that’s why we messing with her because she’s always say something like that

Maria: Who told me to shut the eff up? Get him out of here.

Biggs: But at that time, none of us smoked.

Rob: This is almost like the height of Marijuana in hip-hop culture so to even hear a rapper

say, “I don’t smoke weed. It was just like, “What?”

Biggs: We were drinkers. We drank heavy.

Rob: There’s a skit on the album, “The Pool” skit. That you're actually on it.

Biggs: It’s funny because I just spoke to Premier and he was like “Man, i would come

in the studio and you guys would be in there taking up the whole reel on skits.” He said,

“yall were wasting all my reels. I would come in upset like these dudes just wasted

15 minutes on reels.” He said, “y’all would just laugh all day.”

Biggs: So we was in there--I mean there is a lot of stuff that didn’t make it too -- so

we were just trying to give some life to the album.

Rob: What’s some of your favorite songs on the album? I just wanna talk about your

personal favorite, we know "Dead Presidents II"

Biggs: Politics

Biggs: Can I live?

Biggs: The “Bring it On” verse is one of my favorite verses ever.

Rob: Mannerisms of a young Bobby DeNiro,

Biggs: spent Spanish wisdoms In a whip with dinero, crime organized like

the Pharoahe I CREAM, I diamond gleam

High post like Hakeem, got a lot of things to drop

Brooklyn to Queens

Rob: try to hem my long jeans. Come on man, I got you!

Rob: That’s funny, again, 2016, I think if somebody is watching this or hearing ‘Reasonable

Doubt' for the first time. Even a bar like “Crime organized like the pharaoh” might

not get that. What is that?

Biggs: Ah man. Nah, forget that. What about “I’m two point two pounds/You’re barely

125 grams/Wouldnt’ expect yall to understand this money.”

Biggs: Cause everybody called each other money. And he said he wouldnt’ expect yall to understand

this money.” Stuff like that was incredible. I would just rewind that little part right

there all the time in the car.

Rob: “Can I Live,”

Rob: We talked about the one line that you influenced. Are there any other lines that

directly, that you can point your influences are?

Biggs: “Can I Live” is more or less is about Emory’s experience in Vegas.

Biggs: He took over Vegas. He bought everything out.

He was balling down there. Like uncontrollable. He was at the blackjack tables. And that’s

where Emory became Vegas Jones during that trip.

Rob: Which is now his Instagram name.

Biggs: Yeah, exactly.

Rob:It amazes me that there is other ‘Reasonable Doubt’ era material that we haven’t heard.

“Black Gangsta” which is a song that everybody knows from Jay Z.

Rob: There was an original version that was supposed to be on the album.

Biggs: Yeah, Skee actually produced that song and it didn’t make the album. Lyrically

that was probably one of our favorites.

Rob: So how didn’t it make the album? Who decides to cut this from the album?

Biggs: I think the material at that time--I know “Reached the Top” is a song Dame

wanted to make the album that didn’t make it that Clark produced.

I think me and Jay probably decided on that. But I know Dame really wanted that song. It’s

funny cause I just heard it the other day again and I spoke to Jay, “I’ve been listening

to ‘Reached the Top’ for the last week and a half.” And he was like “Damn that’s

crazy” because he just heard it about a year ago. He said somebody played him some old songs

Biggs: This song “Hot” that I co-produced with Skee

Rob: Co-production credit too? Like we got it all?

Biggs: Yeah, that actually would have been the last song. That didn’t make it. I asked

Skee and he can’t find that anymore. The lyrics to that was crazy. He was talking about

this young guy, “Even when I put him on the block and disappear/I make his ass Indian

summer hot/It’s so hot, I’m blowing up.” Man, that shit was crazy.

“95 South”

Rob: Hold on. Hold on. You can’t do that to me, brother. There’s this song called

“95 South” that I think just last year when Jay Z did his B-Side concert, I think

Clark had said that was his favorite song. So we know the existence of a song called

“95 South.” Nobody’s ever heard it. So you can’t just name drop “95 South.”

You gotta rewind. What’s “95 South?”

Biggs: “95 South” was crazy. About Jay rapping about hit 95 and stopping off in towns

and things like that. It was probably like 6 songs that didn’t make it. The earlier

songs from the album though was “Coming of Age,”

Biggs: “22 Two’s”

Biggs: and “Cashmere Thoughts”

Biggs: So those were done years before ‘Reasonable Doubt.’ Those were the only three that still

made the album.

Rob: This was supposed to be Jay’s only album. You guys together built Roc-A-Fella.

You built one of the best rap careers. Most storied labels that there is. Roc-A-Fella

chain. You guys got into fashion. You guys were selling liquor. You guys were making

films. Looking back at it now, did you see 20 years into the future?

Biggs: Not at all. You know, making that album, it was just the here and now. Being these

black guys you know from these urban neighborhoods. Dame getting his GED. Jay dropping out of

school when he was in the tenth grade and then getting his GED. And me barely graduating

from high school to put together this conglomerate that reaches down to the millennials today

because now it branches off to Kanye West who now has GOOD Music, right? If we didn’t

have Kanye West, there would be no John Legend and Big Sean. Desiigner “Panda” who’s

relevant today. Guys are getting in the business of saying “Oh I want to have a co-venture.

I want to have this company where I can build and sell one day.” And they might not even

know what’s the genesis of that and where that came from. So to see how this album actually

changed worldwide what people are doing, is just crazy to me.