Beanie Sigel balances competing impulses, mixing street bluster with a searing emotional honesty and rough-and-tumble flows with sweetly soulful productions. It was this raw talent and versatility that led JAY Z to build his Roc-A-Fella Records roster around the Broad Street Bully, and it's the MC's skittering, blurry-eyed worldview that gave classic tracks “Feel It in the Air” and “The Truth” their swaggering velocity. Though—as tracks “Roc the Mic” and “Purple Rain” perfectly demonstrate—Beenie's ultimate legacy is his voice, a growling weapon that ranks among rap's most cherished instruments.