I am truly surprised that Jay-Z‘s “Reservoir Dogs” has never been Song of the Week. Considering how many times Jay-Z has been featured on this site and how much I used to play Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life, it seems like a foregone conclusion. (Although, we did put the Classic Material title on Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life)
I’m mainly making “Reservoir Dogs” the Song of the Week because it samples the “Theme From Shaft” by Isaac Hayes, and the actual Shaft, Richard Roundtree, passed away the other day.
Now that I think about it, I barely remember watching the movie Shaft, but I do remember it being better than Super Fly. In terms of Blaxploitation, I’d probably choose The Mack or Dolemite over both (I recently saw a list that said The Last Dragon was considered Blaxploitation. If that is true, then that is my favorite Blaxploitation movie). Either way, R.I.P. Richard Roundtree.
Back to the Song of the Week: “Reservoir Dogs,” here are a few more thoughts:
Sauce Money was always underrated. I wanted him to win, but his album was mediocre. I wonder if he still gets royalty checks for Diddy’s “Missing You”? (Is it enough after Sting gets his cut?)
“Reservoir Dogs” contains one of Sheek Louch’s most memorable lines that I used to repeat back in the day to friends: “Yo, shut the fuck up ‘fore I blast and Banned From TV your ass.”
We now know that Styles P’s verse was actually a diss at Jay-Z: “I don’t give a FUCK who you are, so FUCK who you are/I don’t care about a pretty bitch, a watch, or a car.”
As for the best verse on the song, looking back at it now, I would actually give it to Jadakiss (“Gangstas don’t die, they get chubby and move to Miami”), but Jigga’s verse is dope too (“Locked in the slammer? Nope, popped up in Atlanta”).
It has always seemed weird to me that “Reservoir Dogs” was produced by Erick Sermon.
Check out the Song of the Week below and put some more beat on that joint.