Hip-Hop In The 2000s: Jay-Z's 'The Black Album'

JoeyBada$$ dropped his highly anticipated album 2000 this year, a nod and celebration of an era that not only influenced music but culture as well. The early 2000s saw Joey growing up listening to generational rappers such as Jay-Z and Nas who spun stories about the streets of New York that Joey and his friends walked. You could still hear the echo of Biggie on the corner as Life after death and Ready to die were played in respect to the Brooklyn rapper who died too soon.

After listening to the album, I had the urge to revisit the early 2000s again in the form of listening to some of the most prominent voices from those times.

The first album that I started to dive into was Jay-Z’s The Black Album (2003), and once I started playing it, I become addicted. It's fitting that this close reading comes on its 19th anniversary and during the time between conception to now it has continued to provide enjoyment with its many memorable songs.

There’s an undeniable feeling that's so familiar and comforting when hearing Hov’s voice with his Brooklyn tang rap over beats. I think the first Jay-Z song I’ve ever listened to was either ’99 Problems’ or 'Dirt off your shoulder' or even ‘Encore’. All three are on this album.

And I remember the energy that ’99 Problems’ holds, the sort of rockstar vibe that you get from the track with its smacking drums, scratching record sound and satire that Jay Z sometimes drifts into when impersonating a police officer. It’s fun but it also holds a serious note to it as it subtly talks about police brutality, the difficulty of being black in western society and the issues that Jay faces in his life.

‘Dirt off your shoulder’ has that bravado D.N.A that’s interwoven in the history of Rap and Hip-Hop. On the track, Jay-Z raps about staying unbothered by the noise, the critics and the comments that come with being successful. You could argue in a digital era where anyone can say anything online and on social media this is a song that has never been more relevant. Labelling himself the “best rapper alive” Jay stays making moves and urges everything to brush off their problems and carry on with a hustler mentality.

At the start of The Black Album in ‘Interlude’, the unnamed narrator starts to speak about Brooklyn and we immediately get an idea that the borough has had on Jay-Z and the rap industry. Legacy is big on this project by either paying homage to the past or by acknowledging that rap has a future past Jay-z’s own future. We hear this in bits and pieces throughout the album which is the nature of the industry that Jay-Z is fully aware of. Rap is something that is alive, it will continue to grow to experiment musically and sonically but will sometimes revisit the past for inspiration and appreciation.

‘December 4th’ is the date of birth of Shawn Carter or as we know him, Jay-Z. The trumpets used on the track make it feel like a ceremony giving it a contrasting feeling as whilst it’s his birth it also signals his musical death as he announces his retirement on the track. Jay-Z positions himself as his own biographer as he talks about his own life from conception to his present. But the narrator who is his mother is added to give a textured reading of her son.

Teaming up with Pharrell on ‘Change Clothes’ the fifth song on the album. The duo creates an anthem that is highly suited for summer. I can picture block parties and BBQs with the track playing on the speakers. ‘Change Clothes’ is about high fashion and lavish living but also that feeling you get when you step out looking clean. Hov and Pharell effortlessly capture that sexiness and empathises with the relationship that Hip-Hop has on fashion that is still felt to this day.

‘Threat’ sounds like 90s Jay-Z as he taps into his younger flow on a bouncing scratchy instrumental using clever wordplay to dish out pop culture similes and metaphors. ‘Allure’ is all about the addictiveness of the feeling you get when you challenge social norms, as well as the high feeling you get when you’re successful.

The Brooklyn rapper is as cool as ice on the beat, rapping unrushed with a smoothness on the Neptunes production. He raps “I put my feet in the footprints left to me” implying that his humble beginnings and hustler nature is still such a good part of him and the reason why he thinks the way he does. In a way, we’re doing what Jay-Z raps about by looking back in the past to appreciate it and recognising that the steps he’s taken have allowed us a head start.

With ‘Moment of Clarity’ Jay-Z creates an internal moment in which he reflects on what he has accomplished so far such as his record label Roc-A-Fella achieving longevity, musical legacy and still being current.

‘Public Service Announcement’ produced by Just Blaze is similar to ‘Threat’ in that it’s a reintroduction to Jay as a person and a rapper. It comes towards the end of the project as if it signals a shift in Jay, almost as if we thought he was saying goodbye before he’s confirmed that he’s taking a bit of a break. Even though we know Kingdom Come came three years later.

Like all the other beats on the album, it has a heavy bass but applies an electric and almost futuristic undercurrent that is played throughout. ‘Justify my Thing’ provides an insight into a W.O.K.E Jay as he hints at the causes of institutional racism, touching on liquor stores and drugs being strategically placed by higher powers to destroy black communities. In his last verse he spits the lines “Mr President there’s drugs in our residence….tell me what you want me to do, break bread with us” “Mr Govener, I swear there’s a cover-up…every other corner there’s a liquor store, fuck is up?”

He also makes a reference to Reasonable Doubt his debut studio album, which supports the main theme of this album being a revisitation of the past and a look at how it still affects the present musically, culturally and historically.

Produced by Kanye West ‘Lucifer’ is made up of piano chords and a rhythmic bouncing beat. It has Jay-Z painting himself as a sinner who would rather kill than be killed which is what he uses to justify his actions. There are numerous biblical references in the song, which should come as no surprise due to the title of the track. Lucifer is the fallen angel so whether it’s due to experiences in the industry or his environment growing up Jay-Z feels somewhat jaded if he’s willing to compare himself to Lucifer.

The track mainly is about accepting the fact that Jay-Z and people like the Brooklyn rapper grew up surrounded by violent death and the typical response to witnessing that type of death is no longer assessable due to his elevated status. However, those feelings of revenge, pain and grief do not go away, and this song is an exploration of that.

Well, I'ma s—try to stay above water, you know? Just stay busy, stay working Puff told me, like, "The key to this joint— The key to staying on top of things is treat everything like it's your first project, know what I'm saying? Like it's your first day, like, while—when you was an intern Like, that's how you try to treat things—like, just stay hungry"

Ending this 14-track project with ‘My 1st Song’ and hearing that audio clip of Biggie at the beginning of the song gives me shivers down my spine. Added in with the blues rift undercut really ties everything’s in together. At the time this was supposed to be Jay-Z’s last ever album and it shows.

Hov attacks the beat like he’s on Reasonable Doubt but the only difference is lyrically and delivery wise he’s polished. He glides over the beat with a practised ease dipping in and out of beat.

Jay-Z is considered one of the best musicians in the 21st century, with his ability to curate his own pain and struggle and his ability to turn it into something beautiful. It’s his ability to turn it into art. And art is something that can be revisited, taken in and interpreted by reading it freshly again and again.