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The Black Album (Jay-Z album)

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The Black Album is the eighth studio album by American rapper Jay Z, released on November 14, 2003, by Roc-A-Fella Records. It was advertised as his final album before retiring, which is also a recurring theme throughout the songs,[1] although Jay-Z resumed his recording career in 2006. For the album, Jay-Z wanted to enlist a different producer for each song, working with Just Blaze, Kanye West, The Neptunes, Timbaland, 9th Wonder and Rick Rubin, among others.

When The Black Album was released, it received widespread acclaim from critics. In its first week, the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 463,000 copies in the United States. It became Jay Z's top selling record of the 2000s decade, and by July 2013, it had sold 3,516,000 copies in the US. The Black Album was promoted with a retirement tour by Jay Z and three singles that also achieved Billboard chart success, including the top-ten hits "Change Clothes" and "Dirt Off Your Shoulder".

Background

Jay-Z said The Black 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. Dr. Dre and DJ Premier were originally supposed to be among these producers; however, they did not make the final cut.[2] 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.[citation needed].

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[4]
The Guardian[5]
Mojo[6]
MSN MusicA[7]
NME8/10[8]
Pitchfork8/10[9]
Q[10]
Rolling Stone[1]
USA Today[11]

Jay-Z had announced that The Black Album would be his final record and went on a retirement tour after its release.[12] When it was released, the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and sold 463,000 copies in its first week.[13] According to Billboard, it became Jay-Z's top selling record of the 2000s and the 136th highest selling record of the decade in the United States.[14] By July 2013, the album had sold 3,516,000 copies in the US.[15]

The Black Album received widespread acclaim from contemporary critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, it received an average score of 84, based on 19 reviews.[16] AllMusic's John Bush claimed Jay-Z was retiring at his peak with the album.[3] Vibe magazine said it was remarkable as an apotheosis of his genuinely thoughtful songwriting and lyrics "delivered with transcendent skill",[17] while Steve Jones from USA Today said even with "top-shelf work" from elite producers, the album was elevated by Jay-Z's uniquely deft and diverse rapping style.[11] Writing for The A.V. Club, Nathan Rabin felt Jay-Z returned to "brevity and consistency" on an album that demonstrated his lyrical abilities and, more importantly, hip hop's best producers.[18] Jon Caramanica wrote in The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004) that The Black Album was both "old-school and utterly modern", showcasing 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".[19]

In a less enthusiastic review for Rolling Stone, Touré argued that The Black Album was slightly inferior to Jay-Z's best records, namely Reasonable Doubt (1996) and The Blueprint (2001).[1] Dave Simpson from The Guardian was more critical, dismissing the music as "an aural equivalent of that old American favourite, the schmaltzy biopic."[5] In The Village Voice, Robert Christgau gave the record a back-handed compliment: "[Jay-Z] raps like a legend in his own time—namely, Elvis in Vegas".[20] Nonetheless, he was impressed by the stretch of songs from "Encore" to "Justify My Thug" and wrote in a retrospective review for MSN Music that "the fanfares, ovations, maternal reminiscences, and vamp-till-ready shout-outs were overblown at best", but they have come to sound "prophetic" because of the entrepreneurial success and fame Jay-Z continued to achieve after The Black Album: "He's got a right to celebrate his autobiography in rhyme because he's on track to become a personage who dwarfs any mere rapper, and not only can he hire the best help dark green can buy, he can make it sing."[7]

In 2005, The Black Album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album,[21] losing to Kanye West's The College Dropout at the 47th Grammy Awards.[22] It was also ranked number 349 in Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[23] Pitchfork ranked The Black Album at number 90 on its decade-end list of the top 200 albums from the 2000s,[24] while Slant Magazine ranked it seventh best on a similar list.[25] In 2012, Complex named it one of the "classic" records of the previous decade.[2]

Track listing

No.TitleProducer(s)Length
1."Interlude"Just Blaze1:22
2."December 4th"Just Blaze4:32
3."What More Can I Say"The Buchanans4:55
4."Encore"Kanye West4:11
5."Change Clothes" (featuring Pharrell)The Neptunes4:18
6."Dirt Off Your Shoulder"Timbaland4:05
7."Threat"9th Wonder4:05
8."Moment of Clarity"Eminem, Luis Resto (co.)4:24
9."99 Problems"Rick Rubin3:55
10."Public Service Announcement (Interlude)"Just Blaze2:53
11."Justify My Thug"DJ Quik4:05
12."Lucifer"Kanye West3:12
13."Allure"The Neptunes4:52
14."My 1st Song"Aqua, Joe "3H" Weinberger4:45

Sample credits

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2003) Peak
position
Belgian Albums Chart 97
Dutch Albums Chart 66
French Albums Chart 66
German Albums Chart 47
Norwegian Albums Chart 18
Swedish Albums Chart 41
Swiss Albums Chart 29
UK Albums Chart 34
US Billboard 200 1
US Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums 1
US Top Rap Albums 1

Year-end charts

Chart (2004) Position
US Billboard 200 11

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[26] Platinum 100,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[27] Platinum 300,000^
United States (RIAA)[28] 3× Platinum 3,516,000[15]

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Preceded by Billboard 200 number-one album (first run)
November 23, 2003 – November 29, 2003 		Succeeded by
In the Zone by Britney Spears
Preceded by Billboard 200 number-one album (second run)
December 7, 2003 – December 13, 2003 		Succeeded by

Personnel

  • Executive producers: Shawn Carter, Damon Dash, Kareem "Biggs" Burke
  • A&R direction: Kyambo "Hip Hop" Joshua
  • A&R: Lenny S.
  • A&R direction/join venture: Darcell Lawrence
  • A&R administration: Rob Mitchell
  • Recording administration: Rob Mitchell
  • Mastering: Tony Dawsey
  • Marketing: Shari Bryant, Amber Noble
  • Management: Roc-A-Fella Management
  • Art direction and design: Robert Sims
  • Principal photography: Jonathan Mannion
  • Additional photography: Lenny "kodak man" Santiago, Walik Goshorn
  • Legal counsel: Michael Guido, Jennifer Justice
  • Business affairs for Roc-A-Fella Records: Michael Seltzer, Ian Allen, Antoinette Trotman, Jeff Kempler
  • Sample clearance agent: Eric Weissman

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Touré. Archived 2009-04-01 at the Wayback Machine. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2009-10-02.
  2. ^ a b "Jay-Z, The Black Album (2003) — 25 Rap Albums From the Past Decade That Deserve Classic Status". Complex. Retrieved December 8, 2012.
  3. ^ a b Bush, John. Review: The Black Album. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2009-10-02.
  4. ^ Drumming, Neil. Review: The Black Album. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on 2009-10-02.
  5. ^ a b The Guardian review
  6. ^ Mojo. London: 104. January 2004.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
  7. ^ a b Christgau, Robert (September 9, 2011). "Jay-Z". MSN Music. Microsoft. Retrieved September 15, 2011.
  8. ^ Columnist. "Review: The Black Album". NME: November 22, 2003. (Transcription of original review at talk page)
  9. ^ Review: The Black Album. Pitchfork. Retrieved on 2009-10-02.
  10. ^ "Reviews". Q. January 2004. p. 108.
  11. ^ a b Jones, Steve. Review: The Black Album. USA Today. Retrieved on 2009-10-02.
  12. ^ Toure. Superstardom is Boring: Jay-Z Quits Again. New York Times, 2003, p. AR33.
  13. ^ "Back In 'Black': Jay-Z Swan Song Bows On Top". Billboard. Retrieved July 12, 2013.
  14. ^ Decade-end Charts. Billboard. Retrieved on 2010-05-29.
  15. ^ a b Paine, Jake. "Hip Hop Album Sales: The Week Ending 7/7/2013". HipHop DX. Retrieved July 12, 2013.
  16. ^ The Black Album (2003): Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2009-10-02.
  17. ^ Editors, The. "Review: The Black Album". Vibe: 120. January 2004.
  18. ^ The A.V. Club review
  19. ^ Caramanica, Jon (2004) "Jay-Z". In Christian Hoard (ed.). The Rolling Stone Album Guide: 424–425.
  20. ^ Christgau, Robert (January 13, 2004). "Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. New York: Village Voice Media. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
  21. ^ Grammy Award Nominees. Retrieved on 2011.05.10.
  22. ^ Grammy Award Winners. Retrieved on 2011.05.10.
  23. ^ 500 Greatest Albums of All Time: Jay-Z, 'The Black Album' | Rolling Stone
  24. ^ Pitchfork staff (September 30, 2009). "The Top 200 Albums of the 2000s: 100–51". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 1, 2009.
  25. ^ Slant staff (February 1, 2010). "The Top 100 Albums of the 2000s: 10–1". Slant Magazine. Retrieved March 21, 2010.
  26. ^ "Canadian album certifications – JAY Z – The Black Album". Music Canada.
  27. ^ "British album certifications – JAY Z – The Black Album". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type The Black Album in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  28. ^ "American album certifications – JAY Z – The Black Album". Recording Industry Association of America.
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