The Black Album (Jay-Z album)

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Professional reviews
The Black Album

Studio album by Jay-Z
Released	November 14, 2003 (US)
Recorded	N/A
Genre	East Coast hip hop
Length	N/A
Label	Roc-A-Fella/Island Def Jam
Producer(s)	Just Blaze The Buchannans Kanye West The Neptunes Timbaland 9th Wonder Eminem Luis Resto Rick Rubin DJ Quik Aqua Joe "3H" Weinberger
All Music Guide link Rolling Stone link Pitchfork Media link
Jay-Z chronology
The Blueprint²: The Gift & the Curse (2002)	The Black Album (2003)	Unfinished Business (2004)

The Black Album is a 2003 hip hop music album by rapper Jay-Z. It was supposedly his last studio album until Jay-Z announced a return to solo recording in 2006. The album has generally been well received by critics, going on to sell more than 3 million copies.[1] The album's name is a reference to both The Beatles (more commonly known as The White Album) and Prince's The Black Album. It features a black-covered set of liner notes and a black jewel case to go along with a black disc.

An a cappella version of this album was also released with the intention of providing material for remixes and mashups. The first popular use of the a cappella tracks was with the Danger Mouse release The Grey Album, which sparked a flood of remix albums made available on the Internet through file sharing.

The album has no guest appearances aside from some background singers and Jay-Z's mother, who talks about his childhood on "December 4."

1 Release history
2 Remixes
3 Track listing
4 Album singles
5 Album Chart Positions
6 Singles Chart Positions
7 Credits
8 See also
9 External links

[edit] Release history

Jay-Z changed his mind about how the album would be set up before it was released. In early interviews, he said that it would be a return to his Reasonable Doubt sound (referring to criticism from certain hip-hop fans that his subsequent efforts were too commercial) and would be for the streets, with no singles; however, "Change Clothes" and "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" (both successful singles) showcase sentiments about clothes, women and selling drugs that are prominent in mainstream rap.

Later, he also claimed that he would have a different producer for each track. In fact, early magazine advertisements for the album featured full-page layouts featuring a series of numbers, representing tracks, and the producer for each one of them. The final result did have a wide variety in producers, although Roc-A-Fella producers Kanye West and Just Blaze were given priority (West produced two tracks, and Just Blaze produced two as well as the intro) and The Neptunes produced two tracks. Notably left off the album's production are DJ Premier and Dr. Dre, two longtime collaborators. 9th Wonder, producer for Little Brother, gained a huge boost in popularity after producing "Threat" for the album. Jay-Z is credited as the second producer on the track, as he found the R. Kelly sample that 9th Wonder chopped up for the beat.

[edit] Remixes

The only officially recognized remix related to The Black Album is Jay-Z's collaboration with Linkin Park, Collision Course; this was produced by Mike Shinoda and included a DVD featuring the artist and the band performing together. Their collaboration led Jay to executive produce Shinoda's solo debut, The Rising Tied, released under the name Fort Minor.

In addition to the many remixes, lines from the album have been sampled by other artists into entirely new songs. These include:

T.I.'s "Bring Em Out", based on a line from "What More Can I Say". Ironically, Jay got that line from Tracy Lee and The Notorious B.I.G's song "Rap Phenomenon."
Joe Budden's "Stuntin'", also based on a line from "What More Can I Say".
Cassidy's "I'm a Hustler", based on a line from "Dirt Off Your Shoulders".
Juvenile's "Way I Be Leanin'", also based on a line from "Dirt Off Your Shoulder".
Clipse's "Where You Been", based on a line from "Threat".

[edit] Track listing

#	Title	Performer(s)	Songwriters	Producer(s)	Samples
1	"Interlude"	Jay-Z		Just Blaze
2	"December 4"	Jay-Z	Shawn Carter Justin Smith Walter Boyd Elijah Powell	Just Blaze	Contains sample from "That's How Long" as performed and written by The Chi-Lites
3	"What More Can I Say"	Jay-Z Additional vocals by Vincent "Hum V" Bostic	Shawn Carter Roland Chambers A. Gonzalez S. Johnson Thom Bell Kenneth Gamble	The Buchannans	Contains sample from "Something For Nothing" as performed by MFSB Contains sample from Gladiator
4	"Encore"	Jay-Z Additional vocals by Don Crawley, John Legend, Kanye West and Leonard Harris	Shawn Carter Kanye West	Kanye West	Contains sample from "I Will" as performed by John Holt
5	"Change Clothes"	Jay-Z Additional vocals by Danee Doty and Pharrell Williams	Shawn Carter Chad Hugo Pharrell Williams	The Neptunes
6	"Dirt Off Your Shoulder"	Jay-Z	Shawn Carter Tim Mosley	Timbaland
7	"Threat"	Jay-Z Additional vocals by Cedric the Entertainer	Shawn Carter Patrick Douthit Robert Kelly	9th Wonder and Jay-Z	Contains sample from "A Woman's Threat" as performed by R. Kelly
8	"Moment Of Clarity"	Jay-Z	Shawn Carter Marshall Mathers Luis Resto Steven King	Eminem
9	"99 Problems"	Jay-Z	Shawn Carter Rick Rubin Norman Landsberg William Squier John Ventura L. Weinstein Felix Pappalardi	Rick Rubin	Contains sample from "Long Red" as performed by Mountain Contains sample from "The Big Beat" as performed by Billy Squier Contains sample from "99 Problems" as performed by Tracy Marrow and Alphonso Henderson Contains sample from "99 Problems" as performed by Ice-T
10	"Public Service Announcement (Interlude)"	Jay-Z	Shawn Carter Justin Smith R. Levin	Just Blaze	Contains sample from "Seed Of Love" as performed by Little Boy Blues
11	"Justify My Thug"	Jay-Z Additional vocals by Sharlotte Gibson	Shawn Carter David Blake Ingrid Chavez Madonna Ciccone Lenny Kravitz Darryl McDaniels Larry Smith Joseph Simmons	DJ Quik	Contains sample from "Rock Box" as performed by Run DMC Contains sample from "Justify My Love" as performed by Madonna
12	"Lucifer"	Jay-Z	Shawn Carter Kanye West Max Smith Lee Perry	Kanye West	Contains sample from "I Chase The Devil" as performed by Max Romeo
13	"Allure"	Jay-Z	Shawn Carter Chad Hugo Pharrell Williams	The Neptunes
14	"My 1st Song"	Jay-Z	Shawn Carter Nicholas McCarrell Germaín De La Fuente	Aqua, Joe "3H" Weinberger	Contains sample from "Tu y Tu Mirar...Yo y Mi Canción" as performed by G. De La Fuente Contains sample from Notorious B.I.G. interview

[edit] Album singles

Single cover	Single information
	"Change Clothes" Released: November 11, 2003 B-side: "What More Can I Say"
	"Dirt Off Your Shoulder" Released: January 13, 2004 B-side: "Encore"
	"99 Problems" Released: April 13, 2004 B-side: "My 1st Song"

[edit] Album Chart Positions

Year	Album	Chart positions
		Billboard 200	Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums
2004	The Black Album	#1	#1

[edit] Singles Chart Positions

Year	Song	Chart positions
Year	Song	Billboard Hot 100	Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks	Hot Rap Tracks	Rhythmic Top 40	Top 40 Mainstream	Top 40 Tracks
2004	"99 Problems"	#30	#26	#10	#13	#37	#34
2004	"Change Clothes"	#10	#6	#4	#13	#33	#33
2004	"Dirt Off Your Shoulder"	#5	#3	#2	#5	#18	#15
2004	"Encore"	-	#30	#22	-	-	-
2004	"What More Can I Say"	-	#48	-	-	-	-

[edit] Credits

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 & 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 allan, Antoinette Trotman, Jeff Kempler
Sample Clearance Agent: Eric Weissman