Music

Album of the Day: The Black Album – Jay Z

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22 April 2015

By Melanie

Picking just one Jay Z album for a die hard fan is a really hard job. It was a toss up between this, Reasonable Doubt and The Blueprint all which feature in Jay’s own personal take on his top three. But it came down to memories for me and what each album evoked and being that 2003, when The Black Album was released was a poignant year for me, the single heavy collection just had the edge over the other two.

With production being left in the capable hands of long time Roc-a-fella associate Just Blaze, alongside the likes of Def Jam founder, Rick Rubin, Timbaland, the Neptunes as well as Kanye West, DJ Quik and Eminem, the album was supposed to the final installment in the musical career of Jigga. Had this been his final curtain call it would have been the best goodbye in Hip-Hop history, in my opinion, but it wasn’t and while he went on to give us a couple more great albums, The Black Album truly is a classic.

 

’99 Problems’

 

‘Encore’

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