Jay-Z - 'The Black Album' on Roc-A-Fella originally released Friday November 14, 2003.
It was billed at the time as his swansong. During a playback at his Baseline Studios in New York, shortly before its release in 2003, Jay-Z was adamant that after this, his eighth album in eight years, he was ready to pass the mic for good. But no one really believed him.
Hova's ambitious plans for The Black Album involved a dozen producers serving up a dozen different tracks. Ultimately this proved a little too ambitious even for him, but the finished product did feature all the producers du jour – Timbaland, Just Blaze, Kanye West, the Neptunes, Eminem and even Rick Rubin. Many consider The Blueprint to be his greatest album – after which even Jay-Z admits he "dumbed down for my audience to double my dollars" – but with an unrivalled list of heavyweights behind him, The Black Album was the more rounded, polished beast.
Read the full article here:
Guardian UK - Albums of the decade No 8: Jay-Z - The Black Album
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