Classic Albums: Jay-Z – Reasonable Doubt (Eagle DVD)
Picture: C+ Sound: C+ Extras: B- Episode: C+
The Classic Albums series survives and
marches on, finally deciding to take on a key Hip Hop album, Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt. Besides being a standout in a genre easily
glutted with product, it was his debut, his breakthrough and one that changed
the genre before it began to loose ground starting in 2000.
The real
challenge for the series and each episode is to explain the album, its content
and importance no matter what kind of music.
As this writer is not Hip Hop audience, I found the show informative and
did a decent job, but did not learn as much as expected. The extras had content that did add up more
and made me realize that in this case, more than usual was edited out that
should have been kept in. Fans will love
this, but others wanting to find out or needed to research the subject will
want to take on all the content instead of trusting just the main program.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image originates on HD and adds it’s a share
of film and analog NTSC video footage where applicable, edited nicely together
like the vast majority of fine programs in this series. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is fine, though
cannot fully convey the rich beats of the music. Extras include 50 minutes of additional
interviews and some decently transferred Music Video clips from the album.
- Nicholas Sheffo
