Wiki
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Release Date
1 January 2003
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Length
14 tracks
The Black Album is a 2003 hip-hop album by rapper Jay-Z. It was promoted as his final studio album, although Jay-Z subsequently announced a return to solo recording in 2006. The album was very well received by critics and was also a commercial success, debuting at #1 with about 463,000 sold in its first week and more than 3.5 million to date. The black disc is accompanied by a black-covered set of liner notes and a black jewel case.
The album features a guest appearance by Pharrell Williams (in "Change Clothes"), and Jay-Z's mother, who speaks about his childhood in different portions of "December 4th". A cappella-only version of "The Black Album" featuring these performances was also released.
In early interviews, Jay-Z said that the album would be a return to his Reasonable Doubt sound (responding to criticism from some fans that his subsequent efforts were too commercial) and that it would be "for the streets", with no promotion or singles, however, "Change Clothes" and "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" were both successful singles.
He also claimed that the album would have a different producer for each track, and early magazine advertisements listed a series of numbers (representing tracks) and a producer for each number. The final album did feature a variety of producers, although Roc-A-Fella producers Kanye West and Just Blaze produced two tracks each, in addition to the two produced by frequent Jay-Z collaborators The Neptunes. Longtime collaborators DJ Premier and Dr. Dre did not produce any tracks. 9th Wonder saw a boost in popularity after producing "Threat" for the album. (Jay-Z is credited as the second producer on the track for finding the R. Kelly sample that was included in the beat.)
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