But I did 5 mil, I ain’t been rhyming like Common since…

In all fairness, Shawn Carter has never resembled Rashid Lynn on the mic. True, both MCs are very adept in the art of mic wizardry, but when the Chicagoan was comfortable kicking rhymes about orange pineapple juice, Jay-Z was detailing his accounts of the drug game on records. One of the original D-Boys, as far as lyrics are concerned.

But in 1998, he be damned if he didn’t take his career to greater heights with his third album Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life. Hip-Hop had barely recovered from the tragedy that befell Pac and B.I.G. and Jay-Z set himself up to be the premier attraction by default. Say what you will about the album, but this is the project that made “Jay-Z” as you know him today. The deal with Live Nation and marriage relationship with Beyoncé were all spawned because of this album. With Reasonable Doubt and In My Lifetime under his belt, the question wasn’t whether or not he had skills to allow his career to blossom, but if the music he made would allow his career to do so. Eventually, Vol. 2 became a landmark for albums that looked to incorporate a popular sound without going Pop. Read the rest of this entry »