Jay-Z’s three best albums of the 21st century
The career of Jay-Z has been a long and winding one. Thriving in the Marcy Projects, Jay would soon shake off his role as a street hustler to become one of the most fmaous rappers in the world.
There are very few artists who can match the potency of Jay-Z, the premiere music mogul, undoubted king, and undeniable rhyme master. Hova has rightly established himself as one of the legends of hip-hop, and while he certainly made his name away from the mic, being Beyonce’s husband can have that effect on your career; it is in the studio that Jay really put his own spin on the rap game.
Unlike any other hip-hop artists before him, the rapper made sure that his albums weren’t hit singles with a few fillers, they were bodies of work, pieces of art set to be discussed for decades. He would release his debut record Reasonable Doubt in 1996 and become an overnight success. Skating in on the end of the 1990s hip-hop explosion, Jay would become the foreword in class.
However, as the years wore on, Jay-Z would assert himself on the throne of the rap game during the 21st century becoming one of the genre’s most successful contributor while also becoming hip-hop’s first ever billionaire rapper. If Jay was the ultimate rapper in the 21st century, then which were his best records? Here we have the three albums that define his role as the king of hip-hop.
Jay-Z’s three best albums of the 21st century:
Blueprint (2001)
He had been working on his rap game for five years within the public eye and, on Blueprint, everything came together to assert Jay-Z as the best rapper around. Everything that makes Hova a true king can be heard on this LP. From the soulful seventies beats, the introduction of Kanye as his producer, to the way he tells stories with consummate ease, on Blueprint, Jay laid it all out and the plan was set to take him to the top of the mountain.
Songs like the title track, ‘Never Change’ and ‘Song Cry’ are all moments that will live in his legacy for a long time to come. Of course, we can’t forget about ‘Takeover’ either, which is right up there as one of the greatest diss tracks of all time. As well as that murder, there’s an argument that Eminem, the only feature, also dealt out his fair share of bloodshed. It’s a powerhouse release that can only be thought of as one of the finest of the decade and arguably Jay’s best.
The Black Album (2003)
Two years later and the rapper was in his groove and ready to shell out more gut-punch albums. On The Black Album, Jay laid down a marker that, even to this day, few have ever matched. Featuring some of the biggest names in the game, including Timbaland, the Neptunes, Eminem and Kanye West, there is only one fault on the entire album. ‘Justify My Thug’ might well be considered one of Jay’s worst songs.
Billed originally as Hov’s swansong, it’s fitting that the final track on the album ‘Allure’ should see him reminisce about street living. Equally, there is ‘My 1st Song’, which is genuinely blessed with his classic double-time stutter style. It’s a peach of a record and deserves to be heard right now.
American Gangster (2007)
There’s no doubt that American Gangster is an underrated gem. The reason this record flourishes, especially when looking back, is the simplest, soulful and oh-so-sultry beats courtesy of Diddy and the Hitmen. It’s the exact album Jay would have made had he been active in the 1970s.
There are loose notions of a concept album floating around the LP but to focus on that would be to miss some of the rapper’s finest work. Supposed to storyboard the career of a don, there are stonking moments across the LP, including ‘American Dreamin”, ‘Roc Boys’ and ‘Fallin’ which all deserve revisiting at your earliest convenience.