The Black Album by Jay-Z
The Black Album is the eighth studio album by American rapper Jay-Z, released November 14, 2003, on Roc-A-Fella Records. It was promoted as his final studio album, which serves as a recurring theme, although Jay-Z returned to solo recording with Kingdom Come in 2006. The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 463,000 copies in its first week. It produced three singles that attained Billboard chart success, including Hot 100 top-ten hits "Change Clothes" and "Dirt Off Your Shoulder". Upon its release, The Black Album received general acclaim from most music critics. The Black Album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album at the 47th Grammy Awards, ultimately losing to Kanye West's The College Dropout.
When Roc-A-Fella Records set up its first office in Manhattan, the company didn’t land in midtown Manhattan, but in the financial district—an area far from the music, but close to the money. It was a testament to just to just how much creative and commercial ground JAY-Z had managed to cover in his first few years. During that time, he became a transformative figure not only in the craft of rap, but also in the business of bringing it to the mainstream. That may explain why 2000’s <i>The Dynasty: Roc La Familia</i>, which had originally been planned as a showcase for Jay’s thriving label, wound up instead being marketed as a proper JAY-Z record. By then, he’d become more than an artist—he was a brand, one whose name and image would surely help <i>Roc La Familia</i> move a lot more copies. But this guest-heavy, 16-track collection is no mere cash-grab: “I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)” is one of Jay’s catchiest tracks, and “Soon You’ll Understand” one of his most candid—proof he could make club pop while still finding new avenues for self-expression. And <i>Roc La Familia</i> also gives Jay’s protégés plenty of time to shine, most notably Freeway (“1-900-Hustler”) and Beanie Sigel (“This Can’t Be Life”, which finds Sigel holding his own next to Scarface, no less). There’s new talent on the production side, as well, including The Neptunes (“I Just Wanna Love U”), Just Blaze (“Streets is Talking”) and a then-unknown Kanye West (“This Can’t Be Life”). Still, this is a Jay album through and through. He opens <i>Roc La Familia</i> with a breathtaking boast: “Watch it, my n****s/I’m tryin’ to be calm but I’m gon’ get richer/Through any means, with that thing that Malcolm palmed in the picture.” It’s a reference to the author Frantz Fanon’s justification of violence in the name of civil rights, a philosophy later adopted by Malcom X. It wasn’t meant as a slight to a bigger struggle, Jay wrote later—he just felt like they had more pressing concerns on hand. And in a capitalist system, what gets taken more seriously than money?
