155. Jay-Z, "The Black Album"

 


"99 Problems" isn't just a great song, a justifiably famous track that lifted its chorus hook from an Ice-T song of the same name (from 1993's Home Invasion), it also is one of the few rap songs to inspire a law review article about the Fourth Amendment implications of the second verse.  In "Jay-Z’s 99 Problems, Verse 2: A Close Reading with Fourth Amendment Guidance for Cops and Perps," Southwestern Law Scool Professor Caleb Mason writes, "In one compact, teachable verse (Verse 2), the song forces us to think about traffic stops, vehicle searches, drug smuggling, probable cause, and racial profiling, and it beautifully tees up my favorite pedagogical heuristic: life lessons for cops and robbers."  Here's some of the verse:

"License and registration and step out of the car"
"Are you carrying a weapon on you, I know a lot of you are"
I ain't stepping out of shit, all my papers legit
"Well do you mind if I look around the car a little bit?"
Well my glove compartment is locked, so is the trunk in the back
And I know my rights so you goin' need a warrant for that
"Aren't you sharp as a tack? You some type of lawyer or something?"
"Somebody important or something?"
Well, I ain't passed the bar, but I know a little bit
Enough that you won't illegally search my shit

Good job, Jay-Z!  You should never cooperate with cops.  This is one of the many life lessons on this album which Jay intended to be his retirement album, although he then came back more times that Tom Brady.  He's still making music!  He just guested on Pusha-T's album that came out this year.

Jay brought in a ton of producers for this album, and that gives it an interesting mix of sounds, although of course it's Jay's big voice that holds it all together.  There is, of course, no shortage of braggadocio, as you'd expect ("Pound for pound I'm the best to ever come around here/Excluding nobody/Look what I embody," from "What More Can I Say"), but also introspection and reflection, as befits what was ostensibly a goodbye album.  On "Moment of Clarity," produced by Eminem, Jay sings, 

Pop died, didn't cry, didn't know him that well
Between him doing heroin and me doing crack sales
With that in the egg shell standing at the tabernacle
Rather the church pretending to be hurt

The Timbaland-produced "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" has a great vibe, with a robotic click track and a super catchy synth riff.  But my fave has to be the Kanye-produced "Lucifer," with a sample from the reggae song "Chase the Devil."  Ironically, this album lost Best Rap Album of the Year Grammy to Kanye's Graduation, which we have a non-zero chance of seeing on this list, I would imagine.

Does this album deserve to be in the Top 500? I mean, there has to be at least one Jay-Z album, so this makes the most sense probably.

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