JAY-Z Reissues ‘Dead Presidents’ On 30th Anniversary Of Original Release
JAY-Z released “Dead Presidents” in 1996 and to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release, he has just released the single digitally
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On Feb. 20, 1996, Brooklyn stalwart Shawn “JAY-Z” Carter released a single titled “Dead Presidents” on the Priority-distributed Roc-A-Fella Records label, and to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release, he has released the single digitally online for the first time with the original version of the song.
According to Billboard, the reissued single was released with the original artwork, and as older hip-hop fans may notice, the original spelling of JAY-Z with an umlaut “Hovering” over the Y. The single has also been released as a limited-edition cassette, vinyl, and CD, in the same way it was originally sold in 1996.
The single preceded JAY-Z’s debut album, “Reasonable Doubt,” released on June 25, 1996. A different version of the single appeared on the album under the title “Dead Presidents II.”
Although this was the first single under the distribution deal with Priority, it wasn’t the rappers’ first song released.
That feat was accomplished two years earlier, when JAY-Z, Damon Dash, and Kareem “Biggs” Burke pooled their money to start the fledgling label. In 1994, on a white label that featured the first Roc-A-Fella Records logo, with a champagne bottle with JAY-Z embedded on it, the recording artist released a song called “In My Lifetime,” which was produced by the same person, Ski, from a Bronx hip-hop group, Original Flavor, who produced “Dead Presidents.”
The flip side featured production from DJ Clark Kent, “I Can’t Get Wid Dat.”
The billionaire businessman has a dedicated site for fans and consumers to stream the song directly, rather than through other Digital Service Providers (DSPs) like Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, YouTube Music, Bandcamp, Pandora, Amazon Music, and others. Fans can go straight to JAYZ30.com without having to worry about signing in or becoming a member. While there, people can sign up for updates, as speculation suggests this is the beginning of a rollout for a 30th anniversary “Reasonable Doubt,” though there has been no indication from Roc Nation.
