For the first five years of Jay-Z’s career (At least his album-making career), this was the case.
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Nine times out of a ten, a musician’s best album is their first one. On the real, Jay-Z left it all on the court on the album, which resulted in hits (“Excuse Me Miss”), all-time great records (“99 Problems”), and even songs that made you tear up a bit (“Encore”). “The Black Album” is an album that features powerful instrumentals by legendary producers (The Neptunes, Timbaland, Kanye West, Just Blaze & 9th Wonder), dramatic subject-matters, and believe it or not, not a single rap feature. (Both dudes came back from retirement a few years after their respective walk-aways, looking and sounding rusty as hell) Much like Michael Jordan’s last shot against the Utah Jazz in game 6 of the 1998 NBA finals felt like the perfect ending to a legendary basketball player’s career, “The Black Album” felt like the perfect ending for a legendary rapper’s career. Not only did it feature his biggest hit at the time in “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem),” but it also featured other timeless hits like “Jigga What, Jigga Who,” Can I Get A…,” and “Money, Cash, Hoes.” Additionally, I feel like Jay was in his bad guy/asshole bag on the album - A persona he only manifested more and more as time went by.
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2… Hard Knock Life” was the album that made me pay attention to Jay-Z.
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All in all, “The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse” was a great follow-up to the classic “The BluePrint.”įor me, “Vol. I thought Jay-Z morphed into a legendary hip-hop figure on “The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse.” I get it, the album isn’t heralded as the best thing since sliced bread, but on it, Jay remade classics, collaborated with great hip-hop acts, did work with big-time producers, and in my opinion, spit his most impressive bars. We rank Jay-Z’s top 5 albums of all-time!