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New York rapper
Jay-Z (Shawn Carter)
was one of the most successful hip-hop acts of the 1990s.
His gangsta-rap album
Reasonable Doubt (1996), featuring state-of-the-art raps such as
Ain't No Nigga, Can't Knock the Hustle, Dead Presidents, Feelin' It, was not particularly original, but at least packed some passion and sounded sincere.
His subsequent albums were the exact opposite: superficial, artificial and
meaningless.
The conversion to mainstream pop-hop fusion began on
My Lifetime Vol 1 (1997), and its hits
Sunshine and The City Is Mine,
and continued on
Vol 2: Hard Knock Life (1998), with
Can I Get A, Hard Knock Life
Jigga What, It's Alright and Money Ain't a Thang,
the
star-studden Vol 3: Life and Times of S. Carter (1999),
and
Dynasty Roc la Familia (2000), with I Just Wanna Love U.
Each of these was a monster selling album. Jay-Z's style was easy to digest
and basically invented living-room rap.
The Blueprint (2001), with Izzo, upped the ante a bit, but it
was the eclectic double album The Blueprint: The Gift & the Curse (2002)
that established his credentials as a musician. Not a single track was
innovative, but all tracks were sophisticated enough in their respective styles.
Jay Z Collison Course (2004) is a collaboration with Linkin Park.
Jay-Z announced his retirement after The Black Album (2004), but
nobody believed him.
The Best Of Both Worlds (2002) and Unfinished Business (2005)
were collaborations with R. Kelly.
Despite the cast of guests (Dr Dre, Timbaland, Pharrell Williams, Kanye West),
Kingdom Come (2006) was another disappointment.
On the other hand,
American Gangster (2007), a post-modern concept album drenched in the
sound of the 1970s
(with floating snippets of Al Green, Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye),
restored Jay-Z's claim to the throne of gangster-rap
Pray
Ignorant Shit
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