Now back to our regularly scheduled program, reviewing the discography of each band/artist featured in my top 50 favourite albums thread. For Jay-Z it was the “Watch the Throne” album with Kanye West but I’ve already covered Ye. So Hov it is.

Jay Z always seem in an odd spot for hip-hop for me, around since the 80s but coming to mainstream prominence after the east/west coast beef ended but before rappers of the late 90s/early 2000s blew up. So most older fans aren’t huge fans and younger fans seem to more into Ye, Eminem or obviously artists that came much later.

Nonetheless I’ve enjoyed most of his work, mostly listened to the blueprint onwards so early albums with be mostly new to me.


Collaborative albums are being skipped for time saving measures
(Plus he has two with R Kelly 🫠)


1. Marilyn Manson Discography
2. The Offspring Discography
3. Nine Inch Nails Discography
4. Jay Z Discography
5. MF DOOM discography ✅
6. Tool Discography ✅
7. Burzum Discography ✅
8. Earl Sweatshirt Discography ✅
9. Death Grips Discography ✅
10. Skinny Puppy Discography ✅

Reasonable Doubt
(1996)

1. Can’t Knock the Hustle (feat Mary J. Blige)
2. Politics as Usual
3. Brooklyn’s finest (feat The Notorious B.I.G.)
4. Dead Presidents II
5. Feelin’ It (feat Mecca)
6. D’Evills
7. 22 Twos
8. Can I Live
9. Ain’t No N***a (feat Foxy Brown)
10. Friend of Foe
11. Coming of Age (feat Memphis Bleek)
12. Cashmere Thoughts
13. Bring it On
14. Regrets

Many have disputed Jay Z’s claims of his drug dealing past but I’ll just review the albums as is, I know MF DOOM wasn’t really a supervillain so I’ll give hov a reasonable amount of doubt and enjoy as is.

Straight away you can tell this is right at the end of the East/West Coast rivalry with the west coast diss and Biggie being on the album who was shot dead only a year later. (Quick Biggie Discography review, Ready to Die and Life after Death are both 10/10).

Also with the production of this era I’ve always found it a bit jarring having some of these lyrics over samples of jazz, I get sleepy while rappers are talking about the their mafioso lifestyle and dissing people (EG: Feelin it). It’s prevelant here in a few tracks so tracks like 22 Twos and Coming of Age won me over more. It works in Politics as Usual and Dead Presidents II but they are the exception to the rule. Speaking of Politics as Usual I know he uses one of the bars much later in the catalogue so I’ll make note when it comes up.

Not as great of a debut as Nas’ Illmatic (we will get to that beef later) but still a very good debut with some classics tracks that still get played to this day.

(The CD I have has an accent over the Y on the album cover, this pic is better quality)



Favourite Tracks:
22 Twos, Coming of Age, Dead Presidents II

Rating
8/10

In My Lifetime, Vol. 1
(1997)

Track List

1. Intro/A Million and One Questions/Rhyme No More
2. The City is Mine (feat Backstreet)
3. I know what Girls Like (ft Diddy & lil Kim)
4. Imaginary Players
5. Streets is Watching
6. Friend or Foe ‘98
7. Lucky Me
8. (Always be My) Sunshine ft Babyface & Foxy Brown
9. Who You Wit It II
10. Face Off (feat Sauce Money)
11. Real N****z (feat Too $hort)
12. Rap Game/Crack Game
13. Where I’m From
14. You Must Love Me



Idk if anyone has seen the videos like above where it’s “the lyrics don’t match the beat” as it sums up about half this album. On the other half the production is better and has some great tracks on it like track 11 and Where I’m From but there’s also some truly awful style like “I know what girls like” with the hook as insufferable as being at a Diddy party.

Aside from Diddy & Lil Kim the rest of the features are pretty good but this album suffers the same way a lot of mid90s (great film) albums do and gets bogged down with mediocre tracks just to have a longer run time.

Also streets is watching is censored, apparently just a mistake they never fixed and there’s no official uncensored version. How does a monumental stuff up like that happen? It wasn’t intentional like DONDA either. Even on Tidal that Jay Z was involved in, it is nowhere to be found.



Rating
5/10

I agree that Reasonable Doubt isn't quite Illmatic but it's pretty damn close. It trails off a bit on the final few songs, but the first eight are fantastic. D'evils especially is an absolute classic track with some incredible wordplay and a killer Premo beat - there's a reason it's still referenced by rappers today. 

Not to pre-empt too much of what you will post but in my opinion Jay goes cold after his debut until he hooks up with Kanye (I don't vibe with that late-90s production style of Timberland and Swizz Beatz at all). It makes sense when you think about the story he always mentions about RD being the only album he really wanted/needed to make.

Vol 2… Hard Knock Life
(1998)

Track List

1. Intro - Hand it down (ft Memphis Bleek)
2. Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)
3. If I Should Die (ft Da Ranjahz)
4. Ride or Die
5. N***a What,N***a Who (Originator 99)
6. Money,Cash,Hoes (ft DMX)
7. A Week Ago (ft Too $hort)
8. Coming of Age (Da Dean Sequel) (ft Memphis Bleek)
9. Can I Get A… (ft Ja Rule & Amil)
10. Paper Chase (feat Foxy Brown)
11. Reservoir Dogs (ft The Lox, Beanie Sigil & Sauce Money)
12. It’s Like That (ft Kid Capri)
13. It’s alright (ft Memphis Bleek)
14. Money Ain’t a Thang (ft Jermaine Dupree)


Anyone used use ITunes back in the day and RIP CDs, specifically hip-hop?
Gave me a huge headache having to sort when it would split the album when tracks had features, or it would put lil wayne and Lil Wayne as separate artists.
I miss my iPod classic.

I never realised how close these earlier releases were. This is a slight step in the right direction as far as production goes, hov’s flow has always been good and stayed the same his whole career. Track 5, “Money,Cash,Hoes” and “Reservoir Dogs” being my favourites on the album. No annoying features this time but the ending of Paper Planes is excruciating. The bars about intentionally screwing people on their music deals didn’t age well after all the dramas with Roc-A-Fella that would come later, and with other artists like Birdman.

Jay said the making of Vol 1 was hard after the death of Biggie and not as fun to make, so good to see slight improvement here.

Rating
6/10

Jay trying to make Memphis Bleek a thing seems so strange to look back on. I know the industry was different 20 years ago in terms of sales, but he put a lot of effort into a guy who wasn't very good or particularly popular.

And then he unintentionally burnt him with that line on Diamonds from Sierra Leone: "Bleek can be one hit away his whole career as long as I’m alive he’s a millionaire" :lol:

Vol. 3… Life and Times of S.Carter
(1999)

Track List

1. Hova Song (Intro)
2. So Ghetto
3. Do it Again (Put Ya Hands Up) (ft Amil & Beanie Sigil)
4. Dope Man
5. Things that U Do (ft Mariah Carey)
6. It’s Hot (Some Like it Hot)
7. Snoopy Track (ft Juvenile)
8. S.Carter (feat Amil)
9. Pop 4 Roc (ft Beanie Sigil, Memphis Bleek & Amil)
10. Watch Me (ft Dr.Dre)
11. Big Pimpin (feat UGK)
12. There’s been a Murder
13. Come and Get Me
14. NYMP
15. Hova Song (Outro)

Man this album was a drag, Snoopy Track and Come and Get Me were ok but this album just felt like it went on forever. I’m a big hip-hop fan but unless it’s something like a Kendrick album the long run times don’t really work.

I’m far from PC principal but some of the lyrics on this have aged like milk also,
especially regarding never settling down :lol:

Rating
2/10

Yeah this vies with Magna Carta for his weakest album. So Ghetto is the only one I have in my playlist.

The Dynasty: Roc-La-Familia
(2000)

Track List

1. Intro (The Dynasty)
2. Change the Game (ft Memphis Bleek & Beanie Sigil)
3. I just Wanna Love You (Give it to Me) (ft Pharrell Williams)
4. Streets is Talking
5. This Can’t Be Life (ft Scarface)
6. Get Your Mind Right Mami (ft Snoop Dogg)
7. Stick 2 The Script
8. You,Me,Him & Her
9. Guilty Until Proven Innocent
10. Parking Lot Pimpin’
11. Holla
12. 1-900-Hustler (ft Freeway)
13. The R.O.C.
14. Soon You’ll Understand
15. Squeeze 1st
16. Where Have You Been (ft Beanie Sigil)



(Finally getting to test my Bluetooth discman out & listen to this in CD quality)

This has a lot in common with Cruel Summer, it’s more of a compilation album than an album for the one artist, it has an unfortunate R Kelly feature and the music is great.


Unlike “Cruel Summer” which is marketed as “Kanye West presents” this is sold as a Jay-Z album when he isn’t even on all tracks. As a compilation of album of artists from the label? Brilliant. The opening track is one of my favourite Jay tracks ever and doesn’t go down much in quality from here. Change the Game is great, I Just Wanna Love You is great (with brilliant production from the neptunes) and all the Just Blaze beats work well also. Squeeze first is so catchy & the closing track (produced by Rick Rock) was a really emotional and heavy way to end the album too. It also works wel
As a sequel to two tracks before it, showing another side to the story. Maybe I misunderstood a line but this album mentions Illmatic (by Nas) in a positive light and the next album starts with a NAS diss so will get to that feud. Mentioning as Nas disputed Jay’s claims of being locked up on track 14 but it played to me like Jay was portraying a character in the song anyway?

This album really shows its age when hov is bragging about owning a Motorola and a 2 way pager. Speaking of age, You know how I said some tracks aged like milk in the last album? Nothing compares to “Guilty until proven innocent” with R Kelly considering he’s now convicted of the sort of stuff he’s denying here.

Also I never realised how many line Jay re-uses later in his career, as I’ve more so listened from The Blueprint onwards and assumed many were new. Definitely not doing the lil Wayne check (side note: imagine how long a weezy discography thread with the mixtapes included would be :lol:).

Yes it’s too long and one or two features maybe didn’t work but other than that I think this is a highly underrated entry in the catalogue.


Rating
9/10

The Blueprint
(2001)

1. The Ruler’s Back
2. Takeover
3. Izzo (H.O.V.A.)
4. Girls,Girls,Girls
5. Jigga that N***a
6. U Don’t Know
7. Hola’ Hovito
8. Heart of the City (Ain’t No Love)
9. Never Change
10. Song Cry
11. All I Need
12. Renegade (feat Eminem)
13. Blueprint (Momma Loves Me)

Between the Diamond Cutter hand gesture Jay Z debuted (settled out of court with DDP), this releasing on September 11 2001 and the bottom right of the album cover looking like the Freemason symbol, you can see where “omg Illuminati confirmed” stuff started, that he played up later on. This album also brought mainstream attention to Kanye West who handled some of the production of this album (as did Just Blaze).


This album starts off really strong with everything but “Girls,Girls,Girls” being a great track. I accidentally called “Takeover” the opening track it isn’t, The Ruler’s Back is and it’s a great track but not on the level of The Takeover. The reason being The Takeover is what I remember most from this album, the second response to Nas
(First being “People Talking).

Most already know what I’m talking about


I’m in the very small minority on this considering getting “ethered” become a thing but I think Takeover is a better track. (“The Rape Over” by Mos Def/Yasiin Bey is also good). Also on this album “Renegading” became a thing with mainly claiming Eminem completely outshined Hov on his own track.

This has mostly fantastic tracks all the way through but I don’t think this is a masterpiece like some claim as there’s some filler and the attempt at singing on track 4 as well as the lyrics are not good. Quite varied also from catchy songs like Izzy & Hola’ Hovito to brutal disses like Takeover there’s at least a track or two you are bound to like.

Rating
9/10

The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse
(2002)

Track List
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blueprint_2:_The_Gift_%26_The_Curse

Is above, I cbf typing all that out.

I know I sound like a broken record but even Jay-Z says this album is way too long. Double albums rarely if ever work for this genre. Summertime 06 by Vince Staples, Wu-Tang Forever and All Eyez on Me are the only examples I ever see people bring up of good hip-hop double albums.

The Watcher 2, 03’ Bonnie and Clyde, Diamonds is Forever and Poppin’ Tags is cool
(and cool to hear Killer Mike) but considering a considered version of this for released as “The Blueprint 2.1” only a year later just proves my point about the unnecessary amount of tracks.

Will give Jay credit for the consistent yearly releases though, definitely not pulling a Playboi Carti.


Rating
3/10

The Black Album
(2003)

Track List

1. Interlude
2. December 4th
3. What More Can I Say
4. Encore
5. Change Clothes (ft Pharell Williams)
6. Dirt Off Your Shoulder
7. Threat
8. Moment of Clarity
9. 99 Problems
10. Public Service Announcement (Interlude)
11. Justify my Thug
12. Lucifer
13. Allure
14. My First Song

Jay-Z’s retiring. Really? Yeah. So this is his last album? Yeah..


Nah mate, he pulled a John Farnham and he’s back. This is Shawn Michaels VS The Undertaker. Sure in retrospect Kingdom Come can be considered the Saudi match in this equation (not speaking to its quality, to the fact he came back) but you can’t deny that match was brilliant.

As is this album, having so many different producers on hand really kept things fresh and then producer Kanye West would drop his debut as a rapper only a year after this.
Just Blaze,Dr.Dre & The Neptunes did fantastic work on this.

PSA, Dirt off Your Shoulder,99 Problems are all classics with Threat and Encore not far behind them. Though I suspect to the PW crowd and many they know the Linkin Park version much better. (No Collision Course Review but I really enjoyed that project).

Yes this is like when horror films pull “the final chapter” but when the music is so good you can excuse it, especially when we get a second run akin to Shawn Michaels 2002 onward run.


Rating
10/10

I'm totally with you on the (slightly unpopular) opinion that the Black Album is better than Blueprint. It's a bit of a contradiction that an album with so many different producers is so tight and cohesive. And Cedric the Entertainer on Threat is one of my favourite ever rap skits.

Blueprint is great but I've always thought it was never quite at that all time classic level that it's been put at.

Kingdom Come
(2006)

Track List

1. The Prelude
2. Oh My God
3. Kingdom Come
4. Show Me What You Got
5. Lost One (ft Chrisette Michelle)
6. Do U Wanna Ride (ft John Legend)
7. 30 Something
8. I Made It
9. Anything (ft Usher and Pharrell)
10. Hollywood (ft Beyoncé)
11. Trouble
12. Dig a Hole (ft Sterling Simms)
13. Minority Report (ft Ne-Yo)
14. Beach Chair (ft Chris Martin)


Only 3 years later, Jay-Z comes out of retirement to the surprise of no one. That’s about the standard wait (or even longer) for some artists between albums so it’s not like it was a Chinese Democracy style wait.

And it’s an average at best album, the features of Beyoncé,Usher and Ne-Yo work well and the production is solid but “The Prelude” and “Minority Report” are the only good memorable tracks from this album. “Beach Chair” with Chris Martin is memorable because it’s awful. I have this on CD and almost in mind condition which goes to show how much this gets played.

The diss at Ben Affleck and J Lo is extra funny now they’ve split twice.



Rating
5/10

American Gangster
(2007)

Track List

1. Intro (by Idris Elba)
2. Pray
3. American Dreamin’
4. Hello Brooklyn 2.0 (ft lil wayne)
5. No Hook
6. ROC Boys (and the winner is…)
7. Sweet
8. I know
9. Party Life
10. Ignorant Shit (ft Beanie Sigil)
11. Say Hello
12. Success (ft Nas)
13. Fallin’
14. Blue Magic
15. American Gangster





Now the awkward retirement is over, Jay can have “fun” with a concept loosely basing this of the 2007 film of the same name (which is one of my favourite films). It’s not a comedy album but less serious than Jay-Z normally is seemingly having fun with the concept.

Blue Magic is one of my favourite Jay tracks ever, very cool to hear Nas on success , Wayne on Hello Brooklyn 2.0 and ROC Boys is cool. Ignorant Shit gets corny towards the end and a few tracks here and there don’t land but this is an improvement over the utterly forgettable Kingdom Come.
[



Rating
7/10

The Blueprint 3
(2009)

1. What We Talkin’ About (feat Luke Steele)
2. Thank You
3. D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)
4. Run this Town (ft Kanye West & Rihanna)
5. Empire State of Mind (ft Alicia Keys)
6. Real As It Gets (ft Young Jeezy)
7. Onto the Next One (ft Swizz Beatz)
8. Off That (ft Drake)
9. A Star is Born (ft J. Cole)
10. Venus VS Mars
11. Already Home (ft Kid Cudi)
12. Hate (ft Kanye West)
13. Reminder
14. So Ambitious (ft Pharrell)
15. Young Forever (ft Mr Hudson)

The night before I moved to Tennant Creek, NT to live with my dad instead of packing I did the important thing of loading up my iPod with new music. Needing something new after mainly listening to alternative music, I decided to give more of hip-hop a try and downloaded this and a few other artists on to it.

Played this album non-stop and still stays in heavy rotation as my favourite Jay Z album. Onto the Next One is my favourite hov track ever (and the video clearly playing off the Illuminati rumours is awesome), D.O.A. sent shockwaves through the industry and would argue that Empire State of Mind is now Jay’s most well known song.



It’s always playing at work and was always playing at tourist spots in NYC when I went there. Yes this album is very feature heavy but like “The Dynasty” they work, case in point Alicia Keys on the song I just mentioned and Rihanna & Kanye on Run this Town.

Already Home, Reminder and Off That get played heavily too, not a bad track on this album.

Rating
10/10

Magna Carta… Holy Grail
(2013)

Track List

1. Holy Grail… (ft Justin Timberlake)
2. Picasso Baby
3. Tom Ford
4. Fuckwithmeyouknowigotit (ft Rick Ross)
5. Oceans (ft Frank Ocean)
6. F.U.T.W.
7. Somewhereinamerica
8. Crown
9. Heaven
10. Versus
11. Part 2 (On the Run) (ft Beyoncé)
12. Beach is Better
13. BBC
14. Jay Z Blue
15. La Familia
16. Nickels and Dimes

I remembered loving this album, driving around in my old Toyota Corolla as life was on the up for me. I enjoy the first 8 tracks but I definitely didn’t listen to this on long drives as the rest of the album is really dull, save for Heaven.

I know Justin Timberlake is hated these days after the Britney book and the DUI, but the intro to this is incredible. Tom Ford is incredible catchy as is Tom Ford. A lot of praise for Beyoncé on this album at the time seeming like love for his wife, in hindsight probably in the doghouse :lol: (will get to that next).

With Jay-Z bragging about all the #1 albums he’s had, surely this had to go number 1 as well right? Well it did but in a deal where Samsung would purchase a million copies than distribute it for free. A concept that made the industry change how record sales were counted.

www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2013/07/jay-z-samsung-deal-riaa-platinum/313708/

If this was an EP length or something along the lines of Daytona by Pusha T it would got a lot better score as it’s a very top heavy album with not much to show at the end.


Rating
6/10

4:44
(2017)

Track List
(CD Version)

1. Kill Jay-Z
2. The Story of O.J.
3. Smile (ft Gloria Carter)
4. Caught Their Eyes (ft Frank Ocean)
5. 4:44
6. Family Feud (ft Beyoncé)
7. Bam (ft Damian Marley)
8. Moonlight
9. Marcy Me
10. Legacy

CD tracks
11. Adnis
12. Blue’s Freestyle/We Family (ft Blue Ivy)
13. ManyFacedGod (feat James Blake)


(If you haven’t listened to this album before, highly recommend listening to Lemonade by Beyoncé beforehand.)



Who better to talk about generational trauma and family dynamics in the African American community than a pale dude from Australia?

Seriously though while the album delves into such topics, failing relationships, infidelity and family issues is something universal that people can relate to in some aspect.

The album is a bit hypocritical with Jay denounces all of the stuff he became famous but at least is self aware of it. Hov is incredibly introspective and vulnerable on this album something rarely seen on past releases, detailing his mistakes such as having an affair.

It plays like the old wrestling veteran who’s had enough of those green horns and just wants to hang it up and call it day and this likely might be Jay-Z’s last album (@ me when Kingdom Come 2 drops 😒) and a brilliant one at that. Much like Kendrick Lamar’s “Mr Morale and the big Steppers” this isn’t party music but a deep thoughtful piece of work.

Rating
10/10