Steve 'Flash' Juon at Rap gave the album 9/9/9 saying, "Whether this release will settle the debate about his rank in hip-hop or just fuel the discussion further is ultimately not as important as whether or not this is a good album. Pitchfork Media ranked The Black Album at number 90 on its list of the top 200 albums of the 2000s, and Slant Magazine ranked it number 7 on its list of the Top 100 Albums of the 2000s. According to The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), The Black Album is "old-school and utterly modern", as it showed Jay-Z "at the top of his game, able to reinvent himself as a rap classicist at the right time, as if to cement his place in hip-hop's legacy for generations to come".Hoard, Christian. It received general acclaim from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 84/100 from Metacritic. The album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 463,000 copies in its first week. * Vakill's "Farewell to the Game" samples "December 4th." Reception * Bobby Creekwater's "Hello World" samples "December 4th." * Jedi Mind Tricks' "Put 'em In The Grave" chorus samples "Threat." * RZA's "Straight Up the Block" chorus was based on a line in "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" * The chorus to Freeway's "It's Over" was based on a line in "Encore". * Beanie Sigel's "All the Above" uses a line from "Public Service Announcement (Interlude)". * Clipse's "Where You Been" was based on a line from "Threat". * Clipse's "Number One Supplier" was based on a line from "Public Service Announcement". * Cassidy's "I'm a Hustla" and Juvenile's "Way I Be Leanin'" were based on lines from "Dirt Off Your Shoulder". * Joe Budden's "Stuntin'" based on a line from "What More Can I Say".
* The chorus to T.I.'s "Bring Em Out" was based on a line from "What More Can I Say", which Jay-Z in turn got from Audio Two's "Top Billin'". Lines from the album have been sampled by other artists into entirely new songs. It was produced by Mike Shinoda and included a DVD featuring the two acts performing together. The only officially released remix album is Collision Course, Jay-Z's collaboration with Linkin Park. Further mashups have been created using the music of alternative bands Pavement ("The Slack Album") and Weezer ("The Black and Blue Album"). Subsequent remixes have mashed-up the acapellas with Prince (The Purple Album) and Dr.
The latter gained attention due to unauthorized use of samples of songs by The Beatles.
An early attempt by Kev Brown, The Brown Album, was followed by Danger Mouse's The Grey Album. The final album did feature a variety of producers, although Roc-A-Fella producers Kanye West and Just Blaze produced two tracks each, in addition to the two produced by frequent Jay-Z collaborators The Neptunes.Īn acappella version of the album was released to provide material for remixes and mashups.
Jay z the black album acapella series#
Jay-Z said the album would have a different producer for each track, and early magazine advertisements listed a series of numbers (representing tracks) and a producer for each number. Upon its release, The Black Album received general acclaim from most music critics. It produced three singles that attained Billboard chart success, including Hot 100 top-ten hits "Change Clothes" and "Dirt Off Your Shoulder". The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 463,000 copies in its first week. 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 Black Album is the eighth studio album by American rapper Jay-Z, released November 14, 2003, on Roc-A-Fella Records.