I love Latina women
Veteran
Back up early listening to this shyt right now
Album still does sound fresh
A while back I had moved American Gangster up as Jay's best album, I take that back
if Reasonable Doubt is his definitive classic, then The Black Album comes in second place with American Gangster in third place imo.
I get why some or maybe even most may refer to Reasonable Doubt as Jay's best, especially if they liked that album when it was released..
I liked Vol. 2 when it dropped but The Blueprint was the first Jay album I really liked from start to finish and after The Blueprint 2, then came the Black album which as we all know was an event in real time!
but anyway, listening back to The Black Album and how in a lot of ways, Jay brought it back full circle at a time when he was "retiring". The leap back to being more lyrically inclinded after production was more at the forefront of The Blueprint album, he was dropping quotables left n right all over The Black Album. Lyrically, it's steps way back up from The Blueprint. Then the production, Jay had Ye in his prime, Just Blaze, The Neptunes, DJ Quik, Timbaland and then Rick Rubin who hadn't really produced a hip hop record in a minute if i remember correctly. The album flows together so seamlessly from start to finish. The one thing that stands out about it too is how well it was sequenced. Each song fits together so perfectly and never wavers, even with the several producers behind the boards of production, it works.
I can still remember when i first got this album and how it was like an event. The fall of 2003. Then 2004, the clubs was playing "Dirt Off Your Shoulder", "Changes Clothes" AND "PSA". I can remember DJs playing "PSA" religiously and running it back several times, that joint always had the clubs going crazy.
The one collaboration on here that I was excited about was Jay's work with Quik. The way Quik gave him a beat that sounded like it was straight from Giogio Moroder's "Scarface" soundtrack just left me amazed. What really threw me for a loop was the fact that it didn't sound like a Quik beat. And it wasn't until DJ Quik said years later in an interview that one of the songs he sampled for "Justify My Thug" was Funkadelic's "The Witch" that it dawned on me that he didn't even abandon the Funk, even though it didn't sound like the typical funky Quik production.
then The Neptunes blessed Jay with one his greatest songs with "Allure". To this day, that beat sounds like nothing I've ever heard before. Pharrell and Chad are geniuses. I would say that's a top 5 Jay-Z song, in a different way, it reminds me of "Imaginary Player", it's Jay in his element as a writer and character. The production of "Allure" is as laid back as a retired person who's got their feet kicked up in their recliner sipping a margarita.
Listening to the album and looking back, it's hard to believe that it's been 20 years since it was released. Where the fukk has the time gone?! lol
Album still does sound fresh
A while back I had moved American Gangster up as Jay's best album, I take that back
if Reasonable Doubt is his definitive classic, then The Black Album comes in second place with American Gangster in third place imo.
I get why some or maybe even most may refer to Reasonable Doubt as Jay's best, especially if they liked that album when it was released..
I liked Vol. 2 when it dropped but The Blueprint was the first Jay album I really liked from start to finish and after The Blueprint 2, then came the Black album which as we all know was an event in real time!
but anyway, listening back to The Black Album and how in a lot of ways, Jay brought it back full circle at a time when he was "retiring". The leap back to being more lyrically inclinded after production was more at the forefront of The Blueprint album, he was dropping quotables left n right all over The Black Album. Lyrically, it's steps way back up from The Blueprint. Then the production, Jay had Ye in his prime, Just Blaze, The Neptunes, DJ Quik, Timbaland and then Rick Rubin who hadn't really produced a hip hop record in a minute if i remember correctly. The album flows together so seamlessly from start to finish. The one thing that stands out about it too is how well it was sequenced. Each song fits together so perfectly and never wavers, even with the several producers behind the boards of production, it works.
I can still remember when i first got this album and how it was like an event. The fall of 2003. Then 2004, the clubs was playing "Dirt Off Your Shoulder", "Changes Clothes" AND "PSA". I can remember DJs playing "PSA" religiously and running it back several times, that joint always had the clubs going crazy.
The one collaboration on here that I was excited about was Jay's work with Quik. The way Quik gave him a beat that sounded like it was straight from Giogio Moroder's "Scarface" soundtrack just left me amazed. What really threw me for a loop was the fact that it didn't sound like a Quik beat. And it wasn't until DJ Quik said years later in an interview that one of the songs he sampled for "Justify My Thug" was Funkadelic's "The Witch" that it dawned on me that he didn't even abandon the Funk, even though it didn't sound like the typical funky Quik production.
then The Neptunes blessed Jay with one his greatest songs with "Allure". To this day, that beat sounds like nothing I've ever heard before. Pharrell and Chad are geniuses. I would say that's a top 5 Jay-Z song, in a different way, it reminds me of "Imaginary Player", it's Jay in his element as a writer and character. The production of "Allure" is as laid back as a retired person who's got their feet kicked up in their recliner sipping a margarita.
Listening to the album and looking back, it's hard to believe that it's been 20 years since it was released. Where the fukk has the time gone?! lol
