Looks like I'll be a fish out of water here. I don't find the production to be good enough to give this a great rating, and vocally I don't like Jay-Z enough either. Some people say he makes rapping sound so easy, but for me, it's more that he seems like he ain't putting much effort into it. Although, this is more of an issue on future Jay albums than this one. I like the first half of the album a lot as it has some classic songs, but every time I listen to this, I find that in the second half it drops off considerably as the best tracks below suggest and as survivor games of this album demonstrate also. 'Ain't No Nigga' alone is one of the worst songs on a classically acclaimed hip hop album as well. It's horrendous. It's still a good album, but I'd never mention this when talking about the '90s classics as the consistency isn't here. Best Tracks: Dead Presidents II, Feelin' It, D'Evils, Can't Knock The Hustle