In 1998, two years after his debut, Jay-Z releases his third album, which he considers to be his last album, a phrase he has said for practically all his releases. It cannot be said that it's not even the first because Carter wanted to retire after releasing his debut and it's not even the second, because after the release of "Vol. 1", the artist once again declares that he wants to leave the game.
For the music, Hova searches for the most popular producers of the moment, obtaining three rhythms from the young producer of the Ruff Ryders Swizz Beatz, who's the main beatmaker of this album, and two productions from Timbaland. In addition to them, the boys from the debut Irv Gotti and Kid Capri return behind the keyboards and there's also space for The 45 King, Lil Rob, Erick Sermon, Darold "POP" Trotter, Rockwilder, Mahogany, J-Runnah and Jermaine Dupri. Of the Puff Daddy The Hitmen lineup that was supposed to make his previous LP skyrocket, only Stevie J remains, while DJ Premier becomes the only one to get at least one beat on all his records until now. His friend Memphis Bleek is the main guest, besides him there are also Da Ranjahz, Big Jaz, DMX, Too Short, Ja Rule, Amil, Foxy Brown, The LOX, Beanie Sigel, Sauce Money, Kid Capri and Jermaine Dupri.
After the intro and the usual quote from the usual movie, DJ Premier invents yet another magic for Jay-Z in "Hand It Down": robust bass, dirty midtempo drum, sublime piano, splendid tight, pure, underground, NY jazzy boom bap, with a sample from "Are You Man Enough?" by Four Tops. When you expect Jay, the boy announces his retirement and makes room for the one who is designated as his direct natural heir, Memphis Bleek, who flows so well here that he convinces you that he could easily take that fiery torch of lava without getting burned, but this will not be the case.
The album takes a different turn with track number two, where Jay-Z is still the star: the boy wants to create an entire track on the theme of the musical "Annie" (1982), "It's a Hard Knock Life". Obviously there's resistance to granting the rights for a rap track, which is why the author has to invent a lie so big that only these guys could believe it and so it happens. Now, Hova has already heard the beat he wants, it's from The 45 King, who also has no intention of giving it up easily: this time Carter has to fork out cash to get the beat. The Bed-Stuy emcee delivers three verses with his most mainstream style, leaves the hook to the sample and is rewarded with what is for a long time the most successful single of his artistic career. The whole piece is imperfect, the rhythm is a bit bouncy, the rapping follows the beat in a somewhat irregular and slow way, the sung chorus sounds bad, nevertheless, the song works anyway. Jay-Z puts his career on the line and once again he's right: "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)" is a worldwide hit that climbs the charts in every country and drags the album towards several platinum certifications.
Coinciding with the arrival of Swizz Beatz also come the first problems of the album, in "If I Should Die": the rhythm chosen by the beatmaker is bouncy, cheap, heavy, Jay and the guests Da Ranjahz do a good job, which is canceled out by the beat. The only representative of the Hitmen Stevie J doesn't bring with him a better production for the following track, which is also brought down by a poor hook. Big Jaz joins his protégé on track number five, in which Timbaland takes charge of the production: the piece is chosen as a single and fails to make its way into the charts, the boom bap is skeletal, simplistic, sounds bad, even if in retrospect some music critics believe that this is one of the ten best tracks ever by Jay-Z. In the next choice we have a taste of what Murder Inc. should have been, Jay-Z's rap supergroup, his personal answer to The Firm, a trio composed of him, Ja Rule and DMX. Ja Rule is not here. DMX is one of the prospects on the launch pad of hardcore rap and shouts something up here, even Jay-Z tries to spit some verses, but the beat doesn't work: behind the keyboards is Swizz Beatz at his worst, offering a sloppy, cheap, shoddy, chaotic rhythm. In any case the piece is chosen as a single and goes up in the charts, top 20 in the rap singles chart.
After appearing on the previous CD, Too Short is once again a guest of Jay-Z: simplistic and weak beat by J-Runnah, somehow better than the previous three. Hova delivers relaxed with a calm flow alongside the Oakland-raised emcee. The sequel to "Coming of Age", a duet between Jay-Z and his friend Memphis Bleek with DJ Clark Kent behind the keys on the original track included on "Reasonable Doubt", features the same performers, except that the beat is made by Swizz Beatz. For whatever reason, it's also one of his best beats ever: pleasant and somehow melodic chaotic sounds, raw bass that stays in the background, poor drum, cheap samples, second-hand and simplistic musical carpet, rhythmic, confused, weak. Somehow it highlights the delivery of the two Marcy rappers, Bleek is comfortable alongside Hova on this rough production, loose rapping that allows the boys to find one of the rare good pieces of the product.
"Can I Get a..." features another nod to Murder Inc., this time Hova is joined by Ja Rule, with Amil joining them: Irv Gotti and Lil Rob's bouncy beat is mildly disturbing, Carter and Ja are fine, but I don't understand what Amil is doing, she's incomprehensible and spits out low-key lines in a vicious attempt without any end. The track becomes an international hit single, doing well both domestically (#19 on the Hot 100) and in Europe, where it does well in the UK (#5 among rap tracks) and in Germany, where it's one of the best-selling singles of 1999. The impact of the track helps launch the artistic careers of Ja Rule and Amil. Foxy Brown also delivers a bit subdued on a cheap, cheap, bouncy, simplistic beat created by Timbaland. The eleventh choice is an homage to the Tarantino film of the same name.
The LOX, Sauce Money and Beanie Sigel reunite on this Jay-Z posse track over a simplistic, bouncy, funky boom bap by Erick Sermon: the EPMD half makes a questionable beat in order to support the boys' delivery. Sheek Louch leads the way with a steady style, Beanie Sigel, later a member of the Roc-A-Fella group created by Hova State Property, drops bars with a good energetic flow, followed by Jadakiss who sweeps the beat away with style. Short refreshing break with Pain in da Ass who shouts a few things before three other rappers. Sauce Money drops bars with his velvety flow and is less comfortable than the others on this beat. Styles is the last member of the LOX to appear on the track and decides to recite his lyrics with a rough rapping on an unmemorable production, preceding the verse of Jay-Z that kills the track, he's the only one who sounds smooth and loose without effort on this musical carpet.
Kid Capri is producer and guest on the personal "It's Like That", where Carter drops a couple of verses on one of the most beautiful soundscapes of the album: descending piano scale, sad and melancholic, raw bass line, perfect dusty dirty drum midtempo, magnificent silky smooth delivery of Jay-Z who offers one of the best pieces of his third LP, unjustly forgotten. Damon Dash and Mahogany are credited for the following track: the guys behind the keyboards perform a chaotic and somewhat confused boom bap, annoying, experimental, almost detached from the body of the rhythm itself. Jay-Z tries to turn this lava rock into gold and this time he fails. Next to him, Jay-Z himself? No, there's Memphis Bleek, but here more than ever he resembles Shawn Carter so much so that he seems like a good clone. The album ends with what you expect to be a resounding hit, the track by Jermaine Dupri, produced by him with him as a guest: "Money Ain't a Thang". Annoying boom bap by Dupri: poor and cheap drum, robust synthetic vibrant bass line, piano keys that explode directly in your brain, they are excessively annoying. It's a shame because the two emcees together were quite decent and those triumphant horns were not bad, nor excellent though.
Jay-Z chooses to keep the glossy, radio-oriented and mass-audience-oriented sound he established on his previous album, deciding to almost entirely forgo the Hitmen and basing the music on a set composed of both producers from his first album (DJ Premier, Kid Capri, Irv Gotti) and new beatsmiths (Swizz Beatz, Timbaland, Jermaine Dupri). Lyrically, he stays on materialistic, personal and braggadocio themes, finding the best pieces when he sinks his teeth into gangsta narratives, where he proves to be among the most inspired interpreters in the genre, but he recites this lyrics with a slow, often lazy, almost energy-free style that winks excessively at the mainstream. His third effort is packed with guests to cover every coast and almost every possible influence, there's something for everyone and there's also Roc La Familia before "The Dynasty": unfortunately, a good part of the guest contributions aren't memorable or are ruined by poor musical choice. Foxy Brown and Sauce Money become the only ones to have appeared on all three of Jay-Z's albums.
The results prove him right and take him to the pinnacle of rap: his third album is the most commercially successful, definitively launches him into pop culture, legitimizes him in the pop music industry through the Grammy win for best rap album, making him an immediate star of the genre. Published by Roc-A-Fella and Def Jam, distributed by PolyGram, the album sells over 350,000 physical copies in the first week and continues to rack up sales in the following days without stopping, being certified for the fourth time platinum five months after its release and fifth platinum in 2000. It's also certified platinum in Canada. The album debuts first on the Billboard 200 and is among the best-selling of the decade, third hip-hop album of 1998 behind "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" by Lauryn Hill and "It's Dark and Hell is Hot" by DMX and fourth of 1999 behind Juvenile, "Flesh of My FLesh, Blood of My Blood" by DMX and Lauryn Hill. Overall, the project is a disappointment and among the worst albums of his career, not recommended. 5/10.
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