Episode 1: Coming of Age | Brooklyn’s Finest: The Making of Reasonable Doubt by Jay-Z

From Breaking Atoms comes a new original podcast series celebrating the 25th anniversary of Jay-Z’s debut album, Reasonable Doubt.

In this first episode, we travel back in time to a pre-gentrified Brooklyn, New York and explore Jay-Z’s early musical roots. 

We’ll also learn about how he came to a fork in the road and had to choose between the rap game and the crack game - even with all their similarities and pitfalls. 

We’ll also find out when and how Jay-Z met his future business partners, Damon “Dame” Dash and Kareem “Biggs” Burke and eventually starting Roc-A-Fella Records.

Featuring in order of appearance: Jaz-O, DJ Clark Kent, Ski Beatz, Abdul Malik Abbott and Dart Adams.

Sumit and Chris on the exceptional quality of Hip Hop music in 1996 (1:23)
Jaz-O on his first group, High Potent, along with Jay-Z (2:06)
Jaz-O on first hearing about Jay-Z and agreeing to a battle (3:35)
Jaz-O on his friendship with Jay-Z and building a fan base (5:45)
Jaz-O on travelling to London and bringing Jay-Z with him (7:05)
Jaz-O on recording Hawaiian Sophie featuring Jay-Z (8:08)
Jaz-O on Jost Productions and his early management deal (8:28)
DJ Clark Kent on meeting Jay-Z for the first time and trying to sign him to Atlantic Records along with Jaz-O and Sauce Money (9:20)
DJ Clark Kent on introducing Jay-Z to Dame Dash (11:36)
Ski Beatz on getting his demo to DJ Clark Kent and meeting Dame and Darien Dash (12:19)
Ski Beatz on meeting Jay-Z for the first time (13:27)
Abdul Malik Abbott on working with Original Flavor and meeting Jay-Z (14:30)
Abdul Malik Abbott on reconnecting with Dame Dash and directing the video for Jay-Z's I Can't Get With That track (15:49)
Dart Adams on how DJ Clark Kent featured Jay-Z on various songs and remixes (17:10)
Dart Adams on the fan support Jay-Z had through his early collaborations (17:57)
DJ Clark Kent on building his own studio to record Jay-Z (19:42)
DJ Clark Kent and Jaz-O on forming a supergroup with Jay-Z and Sauce Money called The Hard Pack (20:36)
Jaz-O on the disbandment of The Hard Pack and Dame Dash asking DJ Clark Kent to produce more music for Jay-Z (21:44)
DJ Clark Kent on the two versions of Jay-Z's 95 South and the prophetic nature of Got To Reach The Top (22:46)
DJ Clark Kent on gifting all the unreleased music from the early days to Jay-Z for Christmas (24:35)
Ski Beatz on producing the In My Lifetime single and helping to tailor a certain sound for Jay-Z (25:24)
Jaz-O on producing the In My Lifetime Remix (26:06)
Abdul Malik Abbott on the storytelling elements in Jay-Z's videos (28:21)
Ski Beatz on starting the production process for Reasonable Doubt without knowing at first (30:34)

Produced by Sumit Sharma and Chris Mitchell
Mixed and mastered by Dave Walker
Artwork by Jason Wheeler

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