With the release of The Blueprint 3 in September 2009, Jay-Z surpassed Elvis Presley as the solo artist with the most number-one albums on the Billboard 200. The concept album American Gangster followed in 2007 and continued his streak of number-one albums in the United States. įollowing a period of dormancy, Jay-Z became president of Def Jam Recordings in December 2004 and resumed his rap career two years later with the release of Kingdom Come, which peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 and was certified 2x Multi-Platinum by the RIAA. The albums included hit singles such as 'Big Pimpin' and 'I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)' and featured several guest appearances from artists signed to Roc-A-Fella Records. Carter and The Dynasty: Roc La Familia – followed in December 1999 and October 2000 respectively. 2 was certified five times platinum by the RIAA and won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album in 1999. The album featured the international hits 'Can I Get A.' and 'Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)', which both reached top twenty of the Billboard Hot 100. Hard Knock Life was released in September 1998 and became his first number-one album in the United States. 1 (1997), which saw Jay-Z collaborating with producers such as Sean 'Puff Daddy' Combs and Teddy Riley, peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and earned a platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Its singles included 'Dead Presidents', 'Ain't No Nigga' and 'Can't Knock the Hustle', all of which reached the top ten on the BillboardHot Rap Songs chart. The album peaked at number twenty-three on the United States Billboard 200 record chart and has since been recognized as a seminal work of the hip hop genre. Jay-Z later founded Roc-A-Fella Records with close friends Damon Dash and Kareem 'Biggs' Burke and released his debut studio album Reasonable Doubt in June 1996. Album DescriptionJay-Z began his music career in the 1980s, building a reputation as a fledgling rapper in his hometown of Brooklyn and collaborating with his mentor and fellow rapper Jaz-O. See More Your browser does not support the audio element. (Ironically, the most commercial production is actually from Teddy Riley on "The City Is Mine," with an unfortunate interpolation of Glenn Frey's "You Belong to the City.") Having one of the toughest producers around (Premier) as well as one of the slickest (Puff Daddy) sometimes creates a disconnect between who Jay-Z really is and who he wants to become, but he balances both personas with the best rapping heard in the rap game since the deaths of 2Pac and Notorious B.I.G.
But Jay-Z plays the ghetto celebrity equally well, and continues his slick, Cristal-sipping image with "I Know What Girls Like" (featuring Puff Daddy and Lil' Kim), "(Always Be My) Sunshine" (featuring Babyface and Foxy Brown), and "Lucky Me." Puff Daddy's Bad Boy stable is responsible for almost half the productions, and though they often verge far into pop territory, Jay-Z usually rescues them from a complete crossover. The song leads right into "Friend or Foe '98," the sequel to a track from Reasonable Doubt that only increases the sense of paranoia. He slings some of the most cutting rhymes heard in hip-hop, brushing off a legion of rappers riding his coattails on "Imaginary Player." For "Streets Is Watching," high-tension background strings and vocal samples from the gangster film Sleeper emphasize the pitfalls of a rapper everyone's gunning for ("If I shoot you, I'm brainless/But if you shoot me, then you famous"). Still showing his roots in the Marcy projects (he's surrounded by a group of kids in a picture on the back cover), Jay-Z struts the line between project poet and up-and-coming player, and manages to have it both ways. Though the productions are just a bit flashier and more commercial than on his debut, Jay-Z remained the tough street rapper, and even improved a bit on his flow, already one of the best in the world of hip-hop. in early 1997, Jay-Z made his claim for the title of best rapper on the East Coast (or anywhere) with his sophomore shot, In My Lifetime, Vol. Buy the album Starting at $15.09Īfter the death of friend and compatriot the Notorious B.I.G.
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