Produced by Peter Panic for Clark Kent's Supermen Productions, Understand Me is one of the more enlightening pre-Reasonable Doubt tracks to come to light via mixtapes. The Tupac-inspired track borrows its sample and theme from 'Pac's "Pain", with Jay breaking down the existential intricacy of hustling in the easily relatable fashion that would become a trademark: Thirteen, I was a thug, selling drugs. Many people thought I flipped my wig, sorta bugged. But I shrugged 'em off, like who cares what they say. They was getting jelly and I was getting paid." The tone of this one is dark and haunting, a pitch-perfect prequel to Reasonable Doubt's tracks like "D'Evils" and "Dead Presidents"
1. High Potent - HP Gets Busy
As a fledgling rapper, Jay-Z was tutored by the only other guy in his neighborhood who was actually making a living off of rap, Jaz aka Jaz-O aka Big Jaz. All the way back in 1986 Jaz, Jay-Z, Joy, and Easy L.B. formed the short-lived group High Potent. HP Gets Busy would be their only single. Jay has a verse at the end of the song that indeed hints at great things to come. However, the actual song is fairly cheesy (though, what would you expect?). From the drum-machine to the keyboard sounds, the song is a product of its time. It's crazy to think that Jay wouldn't release an actual album until over a decade later. Crazy right? Are there any other little-known Jay-Z songs that deserve to be on this list? Let us know in the comment section below.