Sketch, in black-and-white Reasonable Doubt mode.

Seems like the anniversary of every notable TV show, movie, album, and single is celebrated these days, but the 15th anniversary of Jay-Z's classic 1996 album Reasonable Doubt slipped by unnoticed by most. Virginia rapper Sketch was one of the few who remembered the June 26 milestone, and marked the occasion by re-releasing his track "Am I Pigg," a reworking of "Can I Live," which is considered by many to be Reasonable Doubt's standout track. 

"Am I Pigg" was originally done for Inner Loop Records' 2009 Reasonable Doubt remix project. "Right now, we're actually in middle of the push for the new album, Virginia Tec-9, but because this past Saturday was the 15th anniversary of Reasonable Doubt, we decided to put [the track] out in honor of that," Sketch says.

"I had the cassette--I was in about the 9th grade when it came out--and I wore it out," Sketch says of listening to the album when it debuted. "This was around the time that New York hip-hop was really where it was at, and it was just a dope time for music. Jay was bringing something new to the table--he was a real slick-talking dude, but he also had skills."

The title of Sketch's Jay-Z homage also takes him back to his youth. "My real name is Matt McGuiney, so everybody called me 'pig,' which is short for 'Guiney pig'. It's a childhood nickname, my friends still call me it," he says. "I was thinking how to flip the 'Can I Live' track, and things that rhymed with it, and I came up with 'Am I Pigg.' I thought it would be funny--add a little comedy, but still have a story behind it."

Producer Kevlar took the original Isaac Hayes sample used for "Can I Live," and added some of his own elements, but basically left it untouched and very similar in sound to Jay-Z's version. Sketch decided to take every single line and rearrange it to suit his own life story, but keep the delivery similar to Jay's. The result is a piece of music that is both fresh and instantly recognizable.

"I went in line for line and flipped it line for line, but kept the same cadence," Sketch says.

That same sort of detailed approach is evident on Virginia Tec-9, which is due in September. Sketch says it has taken roughly two years to complete the J-Scrilla-produced project. He has already released two singles:  "My Life, My Love, My Blood," with reggae artist Akshan and "Nightmares" with Nipsey Hussle. 

"I actually opened up for him at Ned's, in Sterling," Sketch says of Hussle. "He was in town for Howard Homecoming, and Scrilla knew some people, and I knew some people from doing the show with him, so we linked up and made it happen. We got in the studio--Depth Charge in Crystal City--and he laid his verse, and then we laid everything around it, until we got it where we needed it to be.

"This album is like my baby--I've been working on it for a while," Sketch says. "But so far, all of the feedback has been really great."