This is the kind of stuff that gets me most excited as a fan of music, journalist, DJ, all that s**t. I know that in 10 years or so, we’ll look back on some of our really early interviews with acts like J. Cole, Yelawolf, Cudi, etc, and be able to have similar thoughts. But, now to the business… Colby Colb posted an interview done with Jay-Z at Philly’s Radio Active that was done September 1, 1995. It was before Roc-a-Fella Records, before the massive amounts of number 1’s, before Def Jam, Kanye, Beyonce, all that Jazz… Jay-Z also drops a smooth freestyle over “Criminology”.
“What can I say, this is a historic moment in Hip Hop. At the time I knew of Jay-z from Original Flavor and he had a cameo on this Big Daddy Kane song that was out that summer.
This was before Rocafella, this was best friends Jay and Dame driving down to Philly in twin Lexus GS Coupes with records in the trunk. This was one of Jay-z first interviews outside of New York. You could see the potential in him, he was nervous yet confident. During this interview he talks about life before Reasonable Doubt which didn’t come out until 10 months later. Check out the freestyle over some Wu beats.”
If you’re a fan, hit Colby’s spot to hear the full interview, and you can download the freestyle below.
[audio: http://rubyhornet.com/media/rh/music/jay_z_criminology_95.mp3|width=180]