Ironically, Jay-Z's biggest hit to that point and still one of his biggest ever, "Hard Knock Life," stood as one of the much more street-rooted songs on the record. It features an old-school beat and no collaborations with any other rappers. It's a classic hip-hop record.

Jay-Z must have known it was hot to release it as a single, but could anyone have truly foreseen that it would be vastly more successful (and relevant into the future) than a song such as "Money, Cash, Hoes," a star-studded collaboration with DMX and Swizz Beats?

Hard Knock Life features two other collaborators who were just making their names known, one who would go on to be extremely successful and one who would peter out very quickly. The first was Timbaland, who here provides two beats: "Nigga What, Nigga Who" featuring Amil and Jaz-O and "Paper Chase" by Foxy Brown.

"Nigga What, Nigga Who" became a hit in itself, introducing the mainstream listening audience not only to Timbaland's talents as a producer but also to Jay-Z's mentor Jaz who would become a thorn in Jay-Z's side for years to come. "Paper Chase" is a minor track on the record, but this is still a strong introduction to a producer who would come to dominate the scene for years and remain a strong ally for Jay-Z, even as his future tracks for a much older and wiser Jay-Z on The Blueprint 3 would be lambasted.

The other collaborator was Memphis Bleek, Jay-Z's less-than-renowned protégé. The entire album features a running theme of Bleek taking Jay-Z's place in the grand scheme of things after Jay-Z finishes his run on top. This was hinted at in Bleek's features on Reasonable Doubt, "Coming of Age."

Here, we get an intro featuring Bleek solo preceded by a speech from the Scarface-styled character Pain In da Ass, who had introduced Jay-Z's previous albums as well, which primarily discusses Bleek taking Jay-Z's place. Bleek pops up again on "It's Alright" and "Coming of Age (Da Sequel)," continuing the story.

This would have been all well and good if Bleek possessed any discernible talent. While Bleek can clearly flow here, legend has it that Jay-Z ghostwrote all his rhymes on his features. That would stand to reason, given Bleek's lackluster performance on solo albums, as a rapper and as a hitmaker.

Slowly, Jay-Z would move away from this constant talk of Bleek replacing him as it became apparent this would never happen, at first to proclaim himself as the king of hip-hop now and forever and eventually taking on other, superior protégés such as Kanye West.

Seeing as this is a developmental album for Jay-Z, one can't help but notice the ways he's grown since then. Though he's been through a few different phases since, one can tell the difference immediately from looking at the track list.