99 problems

Today In Hip Hop History: Jay-Z Dropped ‘The Black Album’ 21 Years Ago

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TodayinHip HopHistory:JAY ZDropped'TheBlackAlbum'YearsAgo

TodayinHip HopHistory:JAY ZDropped'TheBlackAlbum'YearsAgo

On this day in Hip-Hop history, Brooklyn’s own Jay-Z released he would-be retirement album The Black Album. Although there was virtually no pause between The Black Album and new Jay-Z music (collaboration albums with both R. Kelly and Linkin Park were released the following year), this album is easily the greatest retirement project of all time.

In its entirety, this album sounds more like a greatest hits album than the eighth project of an illustrious career. Starting with the first track, “December 4th”, this album takes the listener on a nostalgic journey. This opening tale of Hov’s origin sets the tone of the album and properly introduces Jay to an industry that he feels has taken him for granted. This album is an opus to Jay’s distaste with the rap game as a whole. On numerous tracks, specifically “Encore” and “What More Can I Say”, Hov can be heard stating his frustration with being the one punch man (a fictional superhero who can defeat any opponent with merely one punch causing him to become bored with superhero work) of Hip Hop.

Aside from staking his claim as the greatest, Hov spent this album perfectly juggling his unique brand of bragging with the dropping of street knowledge you couldn’t pay for. Singles “Change Clothes” and “Dirt Off Your Shoulder” are perfect examples of the particular swagger Jay-Z brought to rap. His mature yet flamboyant lyricism is on par with the life described by Robin Leach. As the album progresses, Jay begins more and more to put his would-be competition in its place with sheer willpower. From “Threats” to “Lucifer” it seems Jay is directly challenging the rest of the rap world to get on his level before they never again get the chance.

The album ends with two songs that could interchangeably be used as an outro. Both “Allure” and “My 1st Song” show Jay-Z coming to terms with the final chapter of his career coming to a close, even if he was planning a comeback.

Featuring production from Kanye West, Just Blaze, The Neptunes, Timbaland, 9th Wonder, Rick Rubin, DJ Quik, and even Eminem, it’s easy to see why this album is as amazing as it is. Aside from the prolific production team, Jay-Z put together one of his most successful albums without any features (aside from a hook sung by Pharrell). Commercially, the album peaked at #1 on both the Top R&B/Hip-Hop chart and the Billboard 200 chart (where it appeared twice, each for a week). The album also went triple platinum in the United States and made appearances on music charts of eight different countries.

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Ice-T Says Jay-Z Approached Him About Rumored “99 Problems” Beef At The Grammys

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Jay-Z’s “99 Problems” remains one of the most iconic anthems in hip-hop music of the last 20 years. There’s not a time when that song kicks off at any event and people aren’t singing along word-for-word. However, the catchiest part of the song isn’t something that Jay came up with himself. He actually paid homage to Ice-T and 2 Live Crew’s Brother Marquis who delivered a song of the same name 1992 album, Home Invasion.

Over the years, there’s been a debate surrounding the use of the line. While Jay faced accusations in the past of ripping lines off of Biggie, many felt as though he did the same to Ice-T, especially since not everyone knew where the line came from. “Why Jay Z never said, ‘This is Ice-T’s song,’ and showed me some love, I don’t know,” Ice T said in a 2014 interview. “I’m friends with Jay. I met him with Big Daddy Kane. I would have handled the situation differently. If I use your music, I want to let people know.”

Jay-Z Patches Things Up With Ice-T

That particular interview resurfaced in November and it appears that it caught the attention of Hov. During a recent interview on Big Boy’s Neighborhood, Ice explained that Jay-Z approached him at the Grammys to clarify that he never meant any disrespect towards him. “I’m at the Grammys and JAY-Z comes to me. He says, ‘Ice, you know I love you, right?’” Ice-T recalled Jay telling him at the award show. “I say, ‘Yeah!’

Apparently, Jay wanted to clear up the rumors on the Internet surrounding Ice-T’s issue surrounding the song. “He says, ‘Well, it’s on the internet that you mad.’ I said, ‘I’m not mad! They’re bringing up all kinds of interviews about it and they asked me the story, and I told them the true story,’” Ice-T continued. “He goes, ‘Yeah man, but it’s no hard feelings,’” he continued, explaining that the two dived into their storied history, dating back to Jay’s relationship with Big Daddy Kane.

Though it was all love, he said that he told Jay-Z that he wished he had given him a shout-out. “But I said, ‘Yo, well, you know, when you did ’99 Problems,’ at the end of the record you could’ve said, ‘Ice!’ You could’ve given me a little dap or something!’ I said, ‘But I’m not mad at it. What had happened was people wanted to know the story,’” Ice-T said. Check the interview above. 

Bun B Shares Reaction To Jay-Z Using His Lyrics On “99 Problems”

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Only a few might recognize Jay-Z’s reference to UGK in “99 Problems” but Bun B doesn’t seem to take any issue with that. During a recent interview on The People’s Party With Talib Kweli, Bun B reflected on Jay-Z using his bars from “Touched” on The Black Album highlight.

Kweli noted that not everyone is aware that Jay used his bars on the third verse of “99 Problems.” However, Bun B said he feels it was a way that Jay-Z showed respect to him and Pimp C.

Young Jeezy, Bun B, Jay Z and Bernard Hopkins during Young Jeezy Launch Party at the Hugh Hefner Suite in the Palm Hotel at Hugh Hefner Suite in the Palm Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. (Photo by Johnny Nunez/WireImage)

“But I don’t feel like it’s that big of a deal. I would call it mutual respect,” he said. “We do this a lot in Hip Hop, right? Where we have artists who have said, ‘Fuck that was dope, the way he said that.’ And sometimes you wanna pay homage to that wordplay. How many songs, Kweli, have you listened to and been like, ‘I woulda rhymed that last part like this.’”

Bun went on to explain that Jay-Z ultimately put more people onto UGK’s Ridin’ Dirty hit by using his lyrics.

HOUSTON, TX – JANUARY 07: Bun B performs during Future and Friends One Big Party Tour at Toyota Center on January 07, 2023 in Houston, Texas.(Photo by Prince Williams/Wireimage)

“I think you feel like, ‘This is a dope rhyme, I don’t think enough people heard this shit. I’m finna drop this shit in here.’ Sometimes you take a dope rhyme and make it a hook, and then people gotta go back and figure it out,” he continued. “But nah, I don’t think a lot of people know that. I don’t think it’s a big deal that they don’t know or a big deal if they do.”

Check out the clip below.