In 1999 Jay-Z recorded his fourth studio album entirely in New York and released it in the last days of the decade. Having found the right formula to become a commercial powerhouse, Shawn Carter obviously did everything to maintain it if not improve it further. For the music he once again relied on a mix of the most popular and young producers who were now faithful to their discography: Timbaland and Swizz Beatz produced half the album, providing four and three beats respectively, DJ Premier and Irv Gotti placed one beat each, the rest of the set was completed by the choices of K-Rob, Rockwilder, DJ Clue, DURO, Digga, Lance "UN" Rivera, Russ, SAF and Lil Rob. Guests were Memphis Bleek, Beanie Sigel, Amil, Mariah Carey, Juvenile, Dr. Dre and UGK.
The album opens with the first of three rhythms made by K-Rob: beautiful lively boom bap, looped soul samples, deep vibrant bass, midtempo skinny drum accompanied by crunchy hi-hats, beautiful samples, smooth rapping by Jay-Z. DJ Premier, a regular on Hova's albums so far, produces "So Ghetto", a track that maintains his typical formula: dirty midtempo drum, loops of a few seconds, cold samples, honest rhythm. This musical solution by Preemo sounds a bit tight and bouncy, it's not his best work, in any case Jay flows fluidly, quickly, technically and makes it one of the best tracks on his new album. "Do It Again (Put Ya Hands Up)" features a bouncy, simplistic and cheap production designed by Rockwilder: the performers can only follow this landfill rhythm and spit something, flanking the main rapper are Amil and Beanie Sigel, the latter can't do very well on this type of rhythms and the less said about the former the better. The piece becomes a single that is particularly successful.
DJ Clue restores musical dignity to the project with "Dope Man", where he's credited together with DURO and Digga: boom bap very dark, cold, tense, cinematic, deeply mafia-like, beautiful. Poor midtempo drums, dusty strings, dotted bass, dusted cymbals, slick delivery by Jay-Z in one of the rare excellent productions of this his fourth LP. Swizz Beatz doesn't disappoint and ruins another effort by Jay-Z: oriental rhythm, worn out, cheap, poor, very weak, simplistic to the point of being unbelievable. The Brooklyn emcee struggles to flow on this garbage and Mariah Carey on the hook cannot come up with anything decent. The song is clearly intended for the pop audience and should be the single that drags the album towards platinum by itself, however, not being supported by a great promotion, the track doesn't get feedback in sales and is one of the few singles in Jay-Z's career and not to enter a single chart.
Finally Timbaland arrives behind the keyboards after six tracks: his rhythm is poor, simplistic, with suffered clapping to support the relaxed and subdued, not to say uninspired, delivery of the author. Forgettable piece. Also at the seventh choice is Juvenile, one of the few guys to sell more albums than Jay-Z himself and that's pretty much the only reason this guest is here: Timbaland again in production, he chooses one of his worst beats ever, bouncy, cheap, confusing, totally annoying. It doesn't help that Juvenile's hook is horrible, but Timbaland throws the whole song in the toilet. The next track is also buried by a ridiculous and absurd hook performed by Amil, who seems to be trying to imitate Foxy Brown with little success, on a weak and shoddy production again, credited to Russ and SAF.
DJ Clue on keyboards with DURO for the Roc-La Familia posse "Pop 4 Roc". He doesn't mess up with the posse. Usually. DJ Clue has made the best beat so far, so that's promising. From the second zero, the song promises to be a banger. However, by the second number four, you might start to realize that something is wrong with the beat: it's an excessively bouncy, cheap, shoddy boom bap, with confused sounds and a thick, raw, rough and random guitar riff. Amil goes down again with one of his worst Foxy Brown impersonations, his vicious and outrageous hook sounds very bad. Sigel does better than Bleek in his attempt to match Jay-Z, who's a few steps above. Too bad because the track promised great things that it fails to deliver. "Watch Me" is a historic collaboration between Jay-Z and Dr. Dre, who's not only a mainstay of the West Coast but is also a member of The Firm, Nas' supergroup, rival of Hova for the throne of the city as best emcee. Irv Gotti and Lil Rob draw a rhythm that is still bouncy, still boom bap, but with dusty strings, careful bass, thick, heavy, slow drum, beautiful samples. Jay and Dre deliver bars with elegant rapping and realize what could easily be one of the best tracks on the Firm album, but it remains outside.
"Big Pimpin'" is another historic collaboration, alongside Carter are UGK. Timbaland's beat is Middle Eastern, simplistic, it doesn't work, but for a certain type of pop audience it could also sound fascinating, at times brilliant. There's a poor drum, scattered flutes that make a mess, random sounds. It doesn't sound great in any case, it was born to be a commercial track intended for the pop audience. Jay-Z flows with a syncopated and irregular style on this rhythm for the hit, he's carefree, lazy, effortless in a track that he doesn't like. To solve the piece, UGK are called as guests: Bun B destroys the rhythm with an energetic delivery and smoothness that sweeps away Timbaland's elementary production, going down in history as one of the few able to surpass Jay-Z in one of his tracks, then, after being convinced, Pimp C also shows up with a short memorable verse. The song becomes a good commercial success, first on Billboard's Rhythmic and one of the best-selling singles of 2000, fundamental in dragging the album towards platinum certifications.
RUSS and SAF return behind the keyboards for "There's Been a Murder": synthetic production, poor, weak, bouncy, random sounds, Jay has to carry the tune alone for three minutes, it's not impossible, but those crazy hi-hats combined with random sounds all the time don't help, bad cut that had great potential. "Come and Get Me" has a poor, ugly, sloppy funky bouncy boom bap: Timbaland is credited with production, Jay tries to sweeten this rough rhythm, without much success. After a couple of minutes the beat itself slows down and goes silent in a sound as bouncy and abrupt as the previous one. Towards the end the bass relaxes and some rough synths come in a bit randomly. Six minutes of this is exhausting. Rockwilder places some guitar licks on "NYMP", one of the last decent cuts of the effort, before the outro. Along with the outro, the original album features two hidden tracks: "Jigga My Nigga" and "Girl's Best Friend", both of which were among the best-selling songs of the 1999 season. The first is a single from the Ruff Ryders compilation "Ryde or Die Vol. 1", terrible production by Swizz Beatz, whiny hook, Carter advances for four minutes in this hit that reaches the number one position among rap singles. The second is a single that comes from the soundtrack of "Blue Streak" and this one also got a decent response in sales, thanks to a bouncy and syncopated rhythm by Swizz Beatz that sounds less bad than usual combined with the smooth rapping of Jay-Z.
After 71 minutes of material, the album would be finished, however, the European version has some surprises. The first is "Is That Your Chick (The Lost Verses)", in which Jay-Z is joined by Twista and Missy Elliott on a Timbaland beat in the song in which Carter describes the relationship between him and Nas' girlfriend that will then lead to the feud between the two. The song is then revisited for Memphis Bleek's album "The Understanding" and is released as a single, in which Bleek adds his verses to the piece, it becomes one of the best-selling of 2001. As a final bonus track there's "Anything". After releasing "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)", Jay-Z had stated that he would never do anything like it again, no other song inspired by a musical. Instead this is an exact copy of that single: Sam Sneed and P. Skam behind the keyboards, dirty and dusty midtempo drums, effective bass line, dreamy piano in the background, dusty strings, direct sample from "I'll Do Anything" from the musical "Oliver". Hova commits to drop three verses with his smoothest and most pop flow possible on this tight boom bap, creating a classic piece that should equal the critical and sales success of "Hard Knock Life".
Instead, the piece falls pretty flat and fails to climb the charts in its homeland, obtaining good success in Europe and the UK (#2 among rap singles). In 2000, this song is included as the closing track of Beanie Sigel's debut album "The Truth" to boost the sales of the leader of State Property. Crowned best living rapper, Jay-Z secures Biggie Smalls' throne as the new king of New York, legitimized by the industry with his latest album that allows him to sprint ahead of his direct competitors, Nas and Prodigy above all. In 1999, the boy begins recording his album in New York, but a few months before its scheduled release, the album begins to be widely bootlegged. A few weeks after the album's release, at the release party for Q-Tip's "Amplified", Jay-Z finds himself facing the man everyone believes is responsible for the bootlegging, producer Lance "Un" Rivera, to whom Carter goes to give a jab, risking prison, being arrested and charged with three years of probation. Legal hassles aside, this effort remains one of his worst records. The author changes rhythms, hooks, bars and flow depending on the guests, on a bouncy and chaotic production and with a lazy rapping style, without desire and without energy, weak compared to that of the previous records, which is fading, letting go and settling into commercial pop.
Released by Roc-A-Fella and Def Jam 2000, this is Jay-Z's first effort distributed by Universal: it almost reaches half a million copies in the first week, is first in the pop chart, the fourth best-selling rap album of the year, certified triple platinum in 2001. It's also the most difficult album to tackle of the trilogy with over 70 minutes of listening. Very positively received also by music critics, it's not essential listening for enthusiasts. 4.5/10.
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