Thirty years after its original release, JAŸ-Z has brought the OG version of "Dead Presidents" to streaming services for the first time. Released on February 20, 1996, through Roc-A-Fella Records, "Dead Presidents" served as the lead single ahead of Jay's debut album, Reasonable Doubt.
Produced by Ski Beatz and recorded at D&D Studios, the track prominently samples Nas' "The World Is Yours," looping Q-Tip's line "I'm out for presidents to represent me" from the 1994 remix. Despite being the first glimpse of what Jay had in store, the original version never made the final album cut. Roc-A-Fella co-founder Kareem "Biggs" Burke later explained that he pushed Jay to re-record the song with new verses over the same Ski Beatz production — resulting in "Dead Presidents II," which became the version that appeared on Reasonable Doubt when it dropped on June 25, 1996.
To mark the 30th anniversary, JAŸ-Z has made the original available to stream for the first time alongside limited-edition vinyl, CD, and cassette editions available at JAYZ30.com. The physical release mirrors the original 1996 packaging, including the umlaut spelling of JAŸ-Z — a stylistic detail Hov has also restored to his name on streaming platforms.
JAY-Z 30
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Nas "The World is Yours"
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