The Black Album

A thread.

The rumor started in 2002 during the making of The Blueprint 2 that Jay-Z was planning to retire soon

Hov came back from his vacation and decided it was officially time to call it quits with one more album

Hov got jokes lol

The original idea was to have 12 tracks by 12 different producers

Jay created a wishlist of producers he wanted to work with

A couple of them didn’t make the cut and this idea was changed

On the production side:

Just Blaze
Timbaland
Pharrell
Kanye West
Eminem
DJ Quik
Rick Rubin
9th Wonder
The Buchannans
Aqua

Jay-Z sampled Madonnas song “Justify My Love”

On the feature side:

There’s no guest rap verses.
John Legend
Sharlotte Gibson on Justify My Thug
Cedric The Entertainer
Ms Gloria Carter

Jay tricks his mom into recording December 4th by having them link at the studio and playing the beat

The first draft plan was to not have any music videos for the album but Jay decided it should have a complete era and proper promotion

Change Clothes is the first single but Jay says it should’ve been Encore

To complete the entire fan experience, he gives the Fade To Black tour and DVD

We get to see the making of the album and the concert at MSG

Reppin BIG

This album takes a dive into his personal life, brings you up to date with his next moves, and covers his entire career

Before making the album, he finally got to make amends with his father. They started to form a relationship and months later, Adnis died.

Moment Of Clarity

The Black Phone by Nokia

The Black Album was preloaded by memory card into the phone and came with exclusive wallpapers and ringtones

Buying this phone got you weekly texts from Jay and a once a month voicemail

The phone cost $124

The following singles were major

Dirt Off Your Shoulder
99 Problems

Although it wasn’t a single, PSA is one of the biggest Jay songs of his career

The beat was made in 10 minutes, recorded in one take, and almost didn’t make the album

It’s important for me to highlight that the song 99 Problems is about police harassing Jay

In the song he says he’s got 99 problems but a bitch ain’t one

Bitch = police dog, not a woman

Ladies is pimps too. Jay is for the women lol

The Black Album -

Comes full circle with his childhood and parents
Shows his established, successful career
Properly ends his yearly album release run
Proof that he’s the GOAT
Gives you storytelling
Tons of classics

I’ll end this thread here.