Pharrell Williams’ falsetto lends Change Clothes a sweet undercurrent, Carter switching focus from calling out his rivals to admiring the female form.

It features live band-style instrumentation and horns aplenty, and a splendid ebullience ensures its enduring freshness. Encore paints a picture of the artist as a contemporary James Brown, riffing on the soul legend’s live performances where an excitable compère would ask the audience if they were ready for 'star time'. 'For one last time I need y’all to roar…'Īs a swansong, though, Jay-Z made sure that The Black Album had its share of tracks that would sit comfortably in the clubs and charts – tracks that would reach further than the hardcore, as accessible as previous party hits like I Just Wanna Luv U and Big Pimpin’. Grammy-winning cut 99 Problems revisits discrimination experienced when an unknown rapper in 1994, and presents a criticism of what he saw to be racial bias in the US legal system. Dirt Off Your Shoulder, referenced by Barak Obama during his presidential campaign, finds Jay-Z confidently calling himself the best rapper alive Threat’s lyrical violence harks back to his gangster-themed debut, Reasonable Doubt and Justify My Thug is full of eye-for-an-eye attitude: 'If you shoot my dog, I’m’a kill your cat'. 'You’re now tuned to the mu’f***in’ greatest…'Ĭonfrontational, aggressive, antagonistic – The Black Album is all these things, its protagonist revelling in the role of rap’s kingpin, every boastful word backed up by sales figures to make the world’s biggest stadium-rockers dizzy.

Of course, his retirement didn’t last – but if it had, The Black Album was a perfect sign-off. Carter was to move into the corporate world, leaving the studio behind. His eighth long-player in seven years, this set brought together a number of high-profile producers – Timbaland, Rick Rubin, The Neptunes, Kanye West, DJ Quik – and was presented as a triumphant parting shot. The Black Album was intended as the full stop on a recording career that saw Shawn Carter rise from hip hop fan in his Brooklyn home, rapping over a boombox his mother bought him (to the annoyance of his siblings), to the multi-millionaire artist known as Jay-Z. 'This here is the victory lap, and I’m leaving…'

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