Congratulations to Beanie Sigel on the 20th Anniversary of his debut album, “The Truth.” This album is known for being the first Roc-A-Fella release to introduce Just Blaze and Kanye West. It was released with critical and commercial success, selling 155,000 copies in its first week. The Truth reached #5 on The Billboard 200 and had 1 charting remotely popular single: “Anything”. Beanie Sigel and his debut album were highly anticipated after collaborating with a Jay-Z. The lead title single was produced by Kanye West and help set the tone for not only Beanie Sigel’s album, but Kanye West’s career. “The Truth” would have one more single “Remember Them Days”, featuring fellow Philly artist Eve.
Beanie Sigel first became known after freestyling on DJ Cosmic Kev mixtapes with fellow Philly rappers Major Figgas. Soon after he was known for his association with Jay Z and Roc-A-Fella Records. Freestyling in the spot for Jay-Z, he was quickly on a feature even before having a contract with The Roc. After signing he went on to release his debut studio album The Truth through Roc-A-Fella in February 2000 to critical and commercial success.
After Roc-A-Fella Records released Beanie Sigel’s debut album, Sigel and much of the Roc-A-Fella roster starred in State Property, the Roc’s first major motion film. The release coincided with the creation and promotion of State Property, a group of Philly artists signed to Roc-A-Fella, who were organized by Sigel and Freeway. Its members included Peedi Crakk, the Young Gunz (Neef Buck & Young Chris), Oschino and Omillio Sparks. Beanie Sigel’s second studio album, The Reason, also saw similar commercial success but received mixed reviews from critics. His third album, The B. Coming, was critically acclaimed with its lead single “Feel It In The Air” and peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200. Sigel released his fourth studio album The Solution. Sigel’s fifth and sixth studio albums, The Broad Street Bully and were released independently in 2009 and 2012, respectively. Sigel’s last release was his studio album This Time.
“The Truth” introduced Beanie Sigel to the world and help stamp Philly as a hub for artists. Jay-Z co-signed Beanie by having numerous appearances on the album. Beanie Sigel’s vivid storytelling is impressive on a song like “Everybody Wanna Be A Star.” He manages to show his raw lyrical ability on songs like “Mac and Brad” that featured him go back and forth with hip hop heavyweight, Scarface. Another classic song on this album is “Die,” a song where he describes different ways of leaving the earth. Overall this album was a classic and only served as a taste of what Beanie Sigel was going to bring to hip hop.
Easily one of my favorite albums and I’m actually honored to write about it. This album helped me through some times and drive my artistic abilities. I want to give a salute to 20 years in the game and the 20th anniversary of “The Truth”.
