It's a capsule of the linchpin between Jay-Z's early phase (Umlaut spelling/heavy 'ft Jaz-O' days) and his skyrocket off into stardom with 'Vol 2...Hard-Knock Life' (1996-1998) and thus, is timeless. Even with it's mistakes. Streets Is Watching was released on May 12, 1998. That's 3 months before Vol 2...Hard-Knock Life and the smash lead single of the same name that was responsible for shooting Jay-Z into the stratosphere of success and hip-hop's A-List. It was a time in Sean Carter's life where he didn't know if his music career gamble would pay-off. He had an idea of his public image, but it was still in it's raw form and needed molding. Jay was feeling his way through being a player/ladie's man, a hard-nosed drug dealer, a tounge-twisting lyrical beast, and a Top 40 artist like his soon-to-be-deceased friend, Biggie Smalls. A perfect balance of all four and more attributes as well. His tastes needed grooming. His beats needed gloss. He basically needed to find a way to combine the street-tales of Reasonable Doubt (which wasn't "Reasonable Doubt" yet, either) with the Top 40-leaning Vol 1: In My Lifetime... but with less Puffy-type gloss. Shiny suits - even the black leather edition - wasn't a good look for Jay. He wasn't jiggy. He was JIGGA. Still, the era was endearing in ways. Like how a coming-of-age film is endearing. Except musically.
It's obviously "mid/late-90's music biz promo/filler" but has the quality of a studio EP. Like if every B-side and extra track on a 12" was used instead to create an entire work instead of just extensions on a single piece of it.
In the pre-internet days of music (which now seem ancient, even tho we're only about a decade removed from the music biz really transitioning 100% behind digital) the labels would try to promote their upcoming releases many way possible. In-store autograph signings and mini-shows, magazine interviews, and MTV were the obvious routes. Music-videos were still exactly THAT back in 1998 - videos. Mostly for use by television studios, radio stations, etc. and NOT the general public. Thus, labels didn't really spend much attention and/or money on making it a "sellable product". But Jay saw a new lane (which was just the beginning of this trend) and that was to create a form of music promo that was sellable to the general public. And he was going to do this by stringing together a bunch of music videos - past and to-be-filmed from his past albums, RD & Vol.1 and short cut-scenes to tell a somewhat legible story about generic hood crime ish that Jay was (and still is, and forever will be...) talkin' about in his rhymes. He'd use the "film" to promote not only his own musical act, but artists managed by Dame Dash & him and the label this was all under - Rocafella Records.
This was at the very beginning of the "hip-hop movie" trend that fellow artists like Master P and Ruff Ryders would expand upon and independent rappers would eventually come to dominate. But this was different. Yes, the budget wasn't exactly Hype Williams level. How much truth there is to Jay & Biggs funding the label initially with illegal drug sale proceeds, we might never know. But at least a few hundred thousand dollars was being spent here.
It has In My Lifetime (Remix).... even Vol. 1: In My Lifetime DOESN'T have a song called In My Lifetime!
In My Lifetime is one of Jay-Z's best songs ever (amongst many, MANY great tracks) and it's only available here. It's a superb blend of sappy piano-loopy Rap-&-B and was an obvious career jump-start attempt that would eventually succeed months later with Hard-Knock Life, and finally land Jigga the #1 spot on the Billboard Top 40 with Empire State of Mind a decade later. This song, in both it's original and remix forms, is the perfect example of Jay's transition. The original version was VERY street. Producer Ski had visions of Shaolin and army-camo-and-Timbalands when he created it, because it's VERY much like those two factions of hip-hop. RZA or Diamond D could even have been given credit and I'd have been none-the-wiser. Then Big Jaz (aka Jaz-O, aka Jay-Z's now-scorned mentor & past inner-circle member...) got ahold of In My Lifetime and straightened those braids and dreadlocks into a perm and the rest is history. No, it didn't pop-off like Hard-Knock. But it set the STAGE for 'Hard-Knock', it WAS the Jigga Man's soon-to-be recipe for success. Hard-ass rhymes over hard-ass, gritty beats - with some strings here, piano there plus some melodies snuck in every once and awhile.
Early R-O-C artists make-up more than half of the release. For better or worse. Mostly, worse.
Since it's an early Rocafella release (yes, they actually marketed the movie and soundtrack separately) that means that the label was doing a little soul-searching. They still hadn't found their "sound" yet - and were obviously borrowing from others. Pimp This Love (in title alone!) by early ROC artist (and soon-to-be castaway) Christion is West Coast G-Funk through-and-through. Indeed, there's nothing wrong with correlating some musical influence from places other than home. Now Jigga's relationship with Too $hort makes even more sense (besides him just being being fucking awesome in general). Crazy by Usual Suspects is just a straight-up New Jack Swing ghost. Whoever cleared this track for release should be fired. Like, literally shot. Rocafella was obvious hungry for artists in general, and Jay-Z had a mutual respect for Jermaine Durpi. This was his wannabe-Jagged Edge moment. And it failed miserably. One track that DID settle well is The Doe by Diamonds In The Rough, which ended-up being a showcase of the eventual R-O-C sound. High-pitch vocals. Fast tempo'd slow R&B samples. Gritty, street lyrics. Very-East Coast-sounding rappers in style and delivery. No, it's not anything special when matched-up against the entire Rocabella catalog. But as a stand alone cut from the Streets soundtrack, it succeeds. A young & hungry NORE shows-up for the late soundtrack dawn Thugs R Us, thanks to his work with DJ Clue. He'd recently gone solo after a splash with Capone-N-Noreaga. M.O.P. shows just how dated the album is with their joint My Nigga Hill Figga which slumps something fierce. But you can tell it's early in The ROC days - they just don't have the type of money to really sign artists and expand yet - because where's Beans? Where's Freeway? Where's The Neptunes? Timbaland? JUST BLAZE?? KANYE??? Obvs, Kanye came much later. But it's just proof that the Roc was a slow-burn, not a fast flash of brilliance.
Yes, the album didn't succeed itself upon release. But it DID keep Jay's name out there. Vol. 1: In My Lifetime and Streets Is Wqtching were his tent poles-in-the-ground to weather the storm that was the 2pac/Biggie beef and correlating media hype and NY-vs-LA headlines. And it lasted long enough for Jay-Z to create Vol. 2 and take-off for the A-List, never lookin' back. Ever. Streets Is Watching is like your junior-high years. Super awkward - but you look-back on the pictures in your yearbook/scrapbooks and smile. Hopefully with In My Lifetime (Remix) playing in the background.
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