Jay-Z "Dead Presidents III" (Prod. by Young Guru)

During the American Gangster recording sessions, Jay-Z laid the vocals for "Dead Presidents III." An unfinished version of the track hit the web in 2007, but during a webchat with Hov in 2013, a fan questioned him about the track and if it was ever completed, to which he gave permission for Just Blaze and Young Guru to let it leak. Guru obliged and leaked a version with some additional bars and touched-up production (Just Blaze found the sample, and Guru made the beat), but the version you hear below is all there is of "Dead Presidents III." As to why, Just Blaze added that "DP3 had 2 verses, one of which got used on another record... So there's only that 1 verse. Sorry." He also adds that the verse has been out for years and was on a Green Lantern mixtape. Oh and "Google is your friend," just to add some snark. It's now 8 years later and I still go back to listen to the track every now and again. If you searched and found this link, maybe Google is your friend. Photo by Jamil GS. 

The Firm "The Firm Album" (Cassette Sampler, 1997)

"The Firm was like this hip-hop supergroup. All three of them - Nas, AZ, and Foxy Brown - had reached a level of success by this time, so getting the three of them together was a real challenge. AZ was an hour late, Nas was an hour late, and Foxy was even later, like hours and hours, so I decided to work with AZ and Nas first and got some individual shots. I remember Nas was wearing this big "QB" (Queensbridge) medallion. I shot this at Sony Studios soundstage. I was always really inspired by the Blue Note albums, so I used filters for the lights and also added a filter on the lens, and that gives it the red tone. When you apply red filters to black-and-white photos in particular, it does something really magical to skin tones." - Jamil GS (Contact High). Just about anything that could be said of The Firm's 1997 group album has already been said, surely, but just wanted to revisit the album on its anniversary and aside from the photoshoot above, also share the original album sampler (via cassette) that was hosted by DJ Clue and released to promote the LP. It's dope that Cormega is back in the fold of things and is featured on the King's Disease LP. Of course, respect to Nature, who had one of the best mix tape runs at that time. He bodied everything he touched on those early Clue mix tapes. Anyhow, released on 10/21/97.... listen to the sampler below.

Firm Biz ad from The Source's cover issue with Nas, Foxy & AZ...