#349 - Jay-Z - The Black Album (2003)

MUSIC HISTORY COMPILED BY ADAM BERNARD:

JAY-Z BIO

Shawn Corey Carter was born in Brooklyn in 1969 and grew up in the infamous Marcy Projects in Bed-Stuy. His father Adnis left at a young age, leaving Jay-Z and his two siblings to be raised alone by his mother Gloria. Jay says that he shot his brother in the shoulder at 12 years old for stealing his jewelry (talk about street cred!). He went to a couple of different high schools, at one point with The Notorious B.I.G. and Busta Rhymes (imagine those cafeteria freestyle sessions during their lunch period). He was also dealing crack at this point, and got shot a few times himself. The name Jay-Z is a hat tip to his mentor, hip hop artist and producer Jaz-O. Carter can be heard on some of Jaz-O’s early recordings in the late 1980s and 1990s, but got his first big break on the posse cut of Big Daddy Kane’s Show and Prove in 1994, and was making cameo appearances on stage during live shows. He also appeared on Big L’s “Da Graveyard”. Jay released his first single “In My Lifetime” in 1995, but had no record label deal. After forming Roc-A-Fella Records with Damon “Dame” Dash and Kareem “Biggs” Burke the same year, his debut release “Reasonable Doubt” came out in 1996. Six albums and seven years later leads us to today’s album.

BACKGROUND – BLACK ALBUM

After visiting south France, Jay-Z announced that he was working on his 8th studio album at the opening of the 40/40 club in New York City. The album was released in November 2003, and was talked about being his last album before “retirement” from studio albums to move into the corporate world (he would still do collaborations before resuming writing 3 years later). He cited a perceived lack of competition as reason for his retirement, stating "The game ain't hot. I love when someone makes a hot album and then you've got to make a hot album. I love that. But it ain't hot." He wanted to have a different producer for each track and almost achieved that. The album was very well received, debuting at #1 on the US Billboard (his 6th #1) and selling 463,000 copies in the first week and went triple platinum in 2005. It was nominated for Best Rap Album at the 2005 Grammy’s but lost to Kanye West’s The College Dropout. Just a couple of weeks after he released the album he had a “retirement party” at MSG followed by a retirement tour. It became Jay-Z's top selling record of the 2000s decade.