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You would’ve ran into to me at the local clubs in my best Rocawear fit throwing the diamond up when that shit came on. Jigga had the hood wearing button-ups to every function. “Things That U Do” versus “Change Clothes?” Gonna give it to “Change Clothes” for sure. Even today, he exhibits a rebellious attitude towards the hand that feeds him. That line showed that Jay was “selling out” on purpose. “Blindfolded, expected to walk a straight line/Mind molded, taught to love you and hate mine/Climbed over it, at an early age, Jay shined." It also featured Jay spittin’ about how hard it is to make it out of the projects, especially in the last verse with p owerful lines like: Jay-Z blacked on “Dope Man.” The theme of the song was fitting because this was the album leak he stabbed Un over and was facing 15 years, if convicted, but he only ended up doing three years probation. Kanye showed why he’s on another level with the production, and Jigga gave us a nice going away track. “Dope Man” versus “Encore?” The Black Album wins this one. “You got lil cars, lil jewelries, ” “three cuts in your eyebrows, tryna wild out,” etc. “Do It Again (Put Your Hands Up)” versus “What More Can I Say?” This is a tough one but I’m gonna go with “Do It Again.” The beat is harder, Beans went nuts, and Jay had too many quotables. "I spit that murder-murder-murderous/Everytime a verbalist/Iller than Verbal Kint is/Or O-Dog in "Menace"/I'm ill, start to finish/I rip apart contenders I'm hot." He also predicted the hate: "Soon as I sell too much, watch them turn on him cause that seem to be the shit that'll earn for them," and followed up with a verbal assault that left heads spinning: Tell a friend, bitch." This was Jigga in rare form, at his ultimate. And the lyrics? "Jigga Man, you're rich, take the durag off." He's a "thug nigga, til the end. I'm still amazed at the construction of this beat from the samples used to the drums to the hook. “So Ghetto” versus “December 4th?” Really? Vol. “Hova Song (Intro)” versus “Interlude?” No contest. Still think I’m out of mind, right? Fuck it, let’s go track-for-track. I’m also old enough to remember what Life and Times could’ve been. He worked with producers he hadn't worked with before (The Buchanans, 9th Wonder, Rick Rubin, and DJ Quik.) However, I tend to go back to Vol. This is not to say the album isn’t one of his best. As he predicted, he raped Def Jam 'til he was the hundred-million man while fightin' the ghosts of 2Pac and Biggie. He didn't let the music industry take advantage of him. Promise.” What else was there left for him to say? He had done it like no other rapper before him. Everything surrounding that LP said: “I’m done. There was a farewell concert at Madison Square Garden, the Fade to Black documentary, and Mark Ronson’s brilliant Fade to Black mixtape. The Black Album was a big deal once upon a time. He reached his apex with 2001's The Blueprint, faltered a bit with the releases of The Best of Both Worlds and The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse, but was able to reach down deep for what was supposed to be his last, The Black Album. As he said on the Timbaland-produced cut "It's Hot," "you can't stop it, when it's hot, it's hot." Everything he dropped was fire. 3 and would release his Gold-selling debut The Truth the next year. One of his newest signees, Beanie, who was featured on “Reservoir Dogs” an album before, was all over Vol. It was the beginnings of his rise as a mogul and Roc-A-Fella's stranglehold on rap. 3 said he was here to stay and that he could do it his way. 2 said he was a viable, commercial star, Vol. Here was a kid from the gutter just like me, who had his own record label, his own clothing line, standing in the middle of the financial capital of the world. It's an imposing shot of Jay decked out in his own clothing brand, minimal jewelry, standing in between the Twin Towers. It was the album that set Jay into a zone that would last for about five years and produce what many consider his last "street" album, Dynasty, and his last undeniable classic, The Blueprint, before culminating with the release of his then-farewell project The Black Album. A mixture of unforgiving talk of blocks, glocks, bricks, and slick party anthems. Carter, was the beginning of the end of Jay Z. “Back to Shawn Carter the hustler, Jay Z is dead.”