About Ethan Nahté
Location: Dallas
Occupation: Video & Film Producer/Director, Journalist, Titan Comics, Broadcast Coordinator
Bio: Began playing music in clubs @ the age of 13 while simultaneously getting published in school mags. Moved on to TV and has shot everything from naked women to wolves! He's traveled a 1/2 mile under the earth and a 1/2 mile above with his cameras! Currently working on a documentary, a book and attempts to sleep. LIVE'N'LOUD
Posts: 281
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Hip-hop artist, Jay-Z is one of the most successful guys in the business. His music, although still sampling and borrowing bits and pieces that are combined with a funky beat to give his style of Rap more of a Jazz type flavor than most of his contemporaries. When he released his debut album, Reasonable Doubt, it was considered a ground-breaking piece of work. Quite a feat for someone just busting onto the scene.
In this Classic Albums series release from Eagle Vision, Jay-Z: Reasonable Doubt takes a look back on every track from the album, complete with interviews with producers such as DJ Premier, Irv Gotti, Clark Kent, Knobody, Sean Cane & Ski. Performer, Mary J. Bilge, also appears in the interviews. Jay-Z appears as much or more than anyone else, not only talking about each song, but mumbling along with the lyrics as the songs play, then repeating them and explaining the context in case you aren’t bright enough to figure out what they mean.
I’ll give credit where credit is due. If you can manage to make it in this business and sell a ton of albums, then my hat’s off to you. But the more that this DVD looks into how Jay-Z got out there to the masses, it’s a combination of a tip of the hat and spitting on his shoes. The guy had the cojones to basically record the album himself, then take it to the record labels and say, here it is, I’ve done it, now you just distribute it.
But he also flashed a lot of cash, not only to make it look like he was a player, but what almost appears as to buying fans in high places. It’s that fine line of what some might consider payola. He flashes cash in other places to get the attention, the girls and the parties. Honestly, if I had to buy people to get them to like my material, I think I would reconsider and possibly have my ego checked at the door.
Regardless, if you’re a fan of the music, then this DVD is just over an hour long, featuring parts of videos, rare footage and some home movies. There are also promo videos for “Ain’t No Nigga” and “Can’t Knock The Hustle” as bonus material.
The DVD is widescreen, in English only with subtitles in English, French or Spanish. The audio is Dolby Digital Stereo.
