Jay-Z - Road To Perdition (2016)

On 27 October 27 2005 Jay-Z headlined New York's Power 105.1 annual concert, Powerhouse, calling the concert "I Declare War", and the theme was Jay-Z's position as president and CEO of Def Jam, complete with an on-stage mock-up of the Oval Office. In November 2006 he released his come-back album, 'Kingdom Come', and the single 'Show Me What You Got' was leaked on the Internet in early October 2006, scheduled to be released later on that month, and first week sales of the album were 680,000, enough to be his "biggest sales week ever" as Billboard reported. He followed this in November 2007 with his tenth album entitled 'American Gangster', reportedly inspired after he viewed the Ridley Scott film of the same name, where he wanted to create a new concept album that depicted his experiences as a street-hustler. On 1 January 2008, Jay-Z resigned as president of Def Jam. In winter 2008 it was announced that he would become the first major hip hop artist to headline Britain's Glastonbury Festival, and despite negative comments from Noel Gallagher, tickets sold out quickly, and he also headlined many other summer festivals in 2008, including Roskilde Festival in Denmark, Hove Festival in Norway, and O2 Wireless Festival in London. In May  2009 he announced he would be parting ways with Def Jam, and had struck a multi-million-dollar deal to sign with Live Nation, with whom he would start his Roc Nation imprint which would serve as a record label, talent/management agency, and music publishing company. He released his eleventh album 'The Blueprint 3' in September 2009, and it was his eleventh album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200. In 2011 he collaborated with Kanye West to record their joint album 'Watch The Throne', following this two years later with his own 'Magna Carta... Holy Grail' in 2013. This final collection of out-takes and rarities covers the years 2005 to 2016, and so might not be as cohesive an album as some of the previous posts, but all of the tracks are worth hearing if you are fan of his work. 

Track listing

01 Dead Presidents 3 
02 Ignorant Shit 
03 You're Welcome (feat. Mary J Blige & Swizz Beatz)
04 Off That (feat. Drake) 
05 Ain't I (feat. Timbaland) 
06 When The Money Goes 
07 All About The Benjamins Freestyle (feat. Shyne & Sauce Money)
08 Higher (Hai Hai) 
09 The Game Iz Mine 
10 Blue Ivy
11 Bounce (demo) (feat. Timbaland) 
12 We Made It (feat. Jay Electronica) 
13 Road To Perdition (feat. Jay Electronica)
14 Bedstuy To Marcy (feat. Sauce Money)  
15 Tower Heist

Jay-Z - Can't Stop Won't Stop (2004)

After the release of 'The Blueprint' in 2001, Jay-Z collaborated with Chicago singer R. Kelly to release a joint studio album, 'The Best Of Both Worlds', in March 2002, and he followed that with his seventh studio release, the double album 'The Blueprint2: The Gift & The Curse' in the November. The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at number one, selling over 3 million units solely in the U.S., and surpassing 'The Blueprint'. After visiting the south of France, he announced work on his eighth studio album, 'The Black Album', at the opening of the 40/40 Club, on which he worked with several producers including Just Blaze, The Neptunes, Kanye West, Timbaland, Eminem, DJ Quik, 9th Wonder, The Buchanans, and Rick Rubin. Notable songs on the album included 'What More Can I Say', 'Dirt Off Your Shoulder', 'Change Clothes', and the classic '99 Problems'. 'The Black Album' was released in November 2003, and is one of the rapper's best-loved works, and was in fact my first exposure to him when Dangermouse use the beats from it for his Beatles/Jay-Z mash-up 'The Grey Album'. At the same time as the album came out, he held a concert, billed as a "retirement party", at Madison Square Garden in New York City, which was later the focus of his 2004 documentary, 'Fade To Black'. All proceeds went to charity, and it featured a host of the best rappers and R&B artists of the time, but while it had been intended to allow him to retire from making new studio albums, various side projects and appearances soon followed. These included a greatest hits record, a second collaborative album between Jay-Z and R. Kelly, and an EP recorded with rock group Linkin Park, with the remix EP 'Collision Course', which featured mashups of both artists' songs, and which sold over one million copies in the U.S. Later in 2004, Jay-Z was named president of Def Jam Records, which led to him, Dash and Biggs selling their remaining interests in Roc-A-Fella Records and Jay-Z taking control of both of the companies. Despite 2004 being fairly light on the release of new material, there were the usual slew of out-takes by the end of the year, with some going back to 2002, so here is the fifth in this series of rarities from the career of Jay-Z.

Track listing

01 Early This Morning 
02 Hold Up (feat. R Kelly)
03 Roc Army (feat. The Roc)
04 Alone In This World (Remix) (feat. Faith Evans)
05 Hovi Baby (Remix)  
06 Get My Shit Off (feat. Timbaland)
07 You Rock My World (Remix) (feat. Michael Jackson) 
08 Can't Stop Won't Stop (Remix) (feat. Young Gunz 
09 Get Your Money Right (feat. Dr. Dre & The Game) 
10 I Can't Get Wid That (feat. Sauce Money & Jaz-O) 

11 Stop
12 PSA II 
13 Hell Yeah (Remix) (feat. Dead Prez)

Jay-Z - Addicted To The Game (2001)

Jay-Z spent much of 2001 involved in disputes with other rappers, starting with a clash with Prodigy, after he took an issue with a Jay-Z line from 'Money, Cash, Hoes' that he felt alluded disparagingly to Mobb Deep and Prodigy's dispute with Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg, and Death Row Records. Jay-Z later performed the song 'Takeover' at Summer Jam 2001, which initially attacked Prodigy, and had a line which referred to Nas, who criticized him on 'We Will Survive', to which Nas responded with a diss of his own, and Jay-Z straightaway added a verse to 'Takeover' that dissed Nas, and which would start a feud between the two rappers which lasted for four years. In September 2001 Jay-Z released his sixth studio album, 'The Blueprint', which he'd written in just two days, and which sold more than 427,000 copies, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200. Eminem guest performed and produced the track 'Renegade', while four others were produced by Kanye West, and it included future favourites 'Izzo (H.O.V.A.)', 'Girls, Girls, Girls', and 'Song Cry'. In October 2001, Jay-Z pleaded guilty to aggravated assault for stabbing record producer Lance Rivera at the Kit Kat Klub in New York City in 1999, but despite his sentence of three years probation for the crime, Rivera later recanted the allegations in 2023. By the end of this eventful year there were a dozen or so unreleased tracks from the 'Blueprint' sessions floating around the internet, so here is the fourth collection of out-takes from the rapper, this one covering the year 2001.    

Track listing

01 20 Bag Shorty (feat. Boo Gotti) 
02 People's Court 
03 Murda Marcyville (feat. Memphis Bleek & Geda K)
04 Show You How
05 Rock Steady (feat. Mary J Blige)
06 It's Obvious (feat. Rell) 
07 Mi Amor (feat. Angie Martinez) 
08 Addicted To The Game 
09 I Get High (feat. Memphis Bleek, Freeway & Young Gunz)
10 Supa Ugly 
11 Murda Marcyville (Remix) 

Jay-Z - Black Gangster (2000)

Following the release of 'Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life' in 1998, and it's general critical acclaim, Jay-Z collaborated with Mariah Carey on 'Heartbreaker', a song from her seventh album, 'Rainbow', which was released in 1999. The song became Jay-Z's first chart-topper in the U.S., spending two weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, and in that same year, he released his fourth album, 'Vol. 3... Life And Times of S. Carter'. This was another hit record, selling over three million copies, and the most successful single from it was 'Big Pimpin', featuring UGK, which peaked at number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2000 he released 'The Dynasty: Roc La Familia', which was originally intended to be a compilation album for Roc-A-Fella artists, but Def Jam decided that it was to be a Jay-Z album. It did, however, help to introduce newcomer producers The Neptunes, Just Blaze, Kanye West, and Bink, all of whom have gone on to achieve notable success. This is also the first album where Jay-Z utilizes a more soulful sound than on his previous albums, and while not quite as successful as '..'Life And Times...', it's still sold over two million units in the U.S. alone. This third post from Jay-Z features mostly unreleased tracks recorded between 1998 and 2000, and includes the 'Heartbreaker' single, which never appeared on one of his own albums, plus collaborations with Lil Kim and Mya. 

Track listing

01 So Right (remix) (feat. The Lox) 
02 Love Is Love 
03 What The Game Made Me (feat. Memphis Bleek & Sauce Money) 
04 From Marcy To Hollywood (feat. Memphis Bleek & Sauce Money)
05 Heartbreaker

06 4 Alarm Blaze (feat. Mop)
07 Love For Free (feat. Rell) 
08 Black Gangster
09 Queen Bitch (remix) (feat. Lil Kim)
10 Is That Your Chick (The Lost Verses) (remix) (feat. Memphis Bleek & Twista) 
11 Best Of Me (remix) (feat. Mya)

Jay-Z - HOVA (1997)

Following the critical success of 1995's 'Reasonable Doubt', which was later included in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time at No. 248, Jay-Z struck a distribution deal with Def Jam Records in 1997, and they released the follow-up 'In My Lifetime, Vol. 1', featuring production by Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs, DJ Premier, and Ski, and which went on to earn platinum status in the United States. In 1998 he released 'Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life', which spawned the biggest hit of his career at the time, 'Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)'. This relied more on flow and wordplay, and he continued with his penchant for mining beats from the popular producers of the day such as Swizz Beatz, an upstart in-house producer for Ruff Ryders, and Timbaland. Other producers included DJ Premier, Erick Sermon, The 45 King, and Kid Capri, and other charting hits from the album were 'Can I Get A...', featuring Ja Rule and Amil, and 'Nigga What, Nigga Who', featuring Amil and Jaz-O. 'Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life' would eventually become Jay-Z's most commercially successful album, selling over five million copies, and winning a Grammy Award. During the making of these two albums, he recorded a number of tracks with artists such as Sauce Money, Horace Brown, Lord Tariq & Nas, Jaz-O, and Tone Hooker, none of which have ever been officially released, and so for the second post in this look back at the career of Jay-Z, here are some of those tracks that he recorded between 1995 and 1997. 'Dead Presidents' is the 1995 promo release with the original verses which were removed from 'Dead Presidents II' when it appeared on 'Reasonable Doubt', and 'In My Lifetime' is the original Ski Street version.   

 

Track listing

01 Reach The Top
02 Dead Presidents
03 In My Lifetime
04 HOVA
05 Dead Or Alive Pt. 1 (Sauce Money)
06 Things You Do For Love (feat. Horace Brown)
07 Analyze This (feat. Lord Tariq & Nas)
08 If You Want It (feat. Tone Hooker)
09 Foundation (feat. Jaz-O, Sauce Money & Tone Hooker)
10 Dead Or Alive Pt. 2 (feat. Sauce Money)
11 Bring Back Your Love (feat. Christion)

Jay-Z - The Greatest MC (1994)

Shawn Corey Carter was born on 4 December 1969, in Brooklyn, New York City, and was raised in Marcy Houses, a public housing project in Brooklyn's Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood. His father abandoned the family, and so he and his three older siblings were raised by his mother. He attended Eli Whitney High School and George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School, both in Brooklyn, and then Trenton Central High School in Trenton, New Jersey, but he didn't graduate, dropping out during his sophomore year at Trenton Central High School. According to his interviews and his lyrics, he sold crack cocaine after leaving school, and was shot at three times during this period. Known as "Jazzy" around the neighborhood, he later adopted the stage name "Jay-Z" in homage to his mentor Jaz-O. He can briefly be heard on several of Jaz-O's early recordings in the late 1980's and early 1990's, including 'H. P. Gets Busy', 'The Originators' and 'Hawaiian Sophie', and he also became embroiled in several battles with rapper LL Cool J in the early 1990's. He first became known to a wider audience on the posse cut 'Show And Prove' on the 1994 Big Daddy Kane album 'Daddy's Home', with Jay-Z being referred to as Big Daddy Kane's hype man during this period. However, Kane explains that he did not fill the traditional hype man role, and was instead basically making cameo appearances on stage when Kane left the stage to change outfits. He appeared on a popular song by Big L, 'Da Graveyard', and on Mic Geronimo's 'Time To Build' in 1995, which also featured early appearances by his former Murder Inc. colleagues Ja Rule and DMX. His first official rap single was 'In My Lifetime', which was released with an accompanying music video in 1995, but before this he had recorded a number of demo tracks which he passed around in the hope of finding a record deal. With no major label prepared to give him a deal, he sold burned CDs out of his car, and with Damon "Dame" Dash and Kareem "Biggs" Burke, created Roc-A-Fella Records as an independent label in 1995. After striking a distribution deal with Priority, Jay-Z released his 1996 debut album 'Reasonable Doubt', with beats from acclaimed producers such as DJ Premier and Super DJ Clark Kent, and an appearance by The Notorious B.I.G. The album reached number 23 on the Billboard 200, and was generally favoured by critics, kick-starting a career which would make him one of the biggest rap stars on the planet. But everyone has to start somewhere, and so here are those 1994 demos, collected together and named after the opening track of the album, which shows that even at the start of his career, Jay-Z knew exactly what he wanted to be. 

Track listing

01 The Greatest MC
02 What's In A Name? 
03 Get Off My Dick (feat. Sauce Money) 
04 Understand Me 
05 Pass the Roc 
06 Broken English & Drug Sellin' 
07 Rippin' It Up, Right? (feat. Sauce Money) 
08 Nuttin' But Love (feat. Sauce Money) 
09 Under Pressure (feat. Sauce Money) 
10 Behind The Ropes (feat. Sauce Money)