http://www.thechariottepost,com
Jay-Z’s
‘The Black
Album’
By Jesse Washington
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK-Is Jay-Z
really retiring? Listening
to “The Black Album ” it
truly looks like this
world-class hustler is
leaving the rap game like
he left the drug game: on
top.
Jay-Z and drug dealing
are like the needle and
the groove.
REVIEW Starting
with the
1996 classic “Reasonable
Doubt,’Jay-Z spent seven
albums building his
whole style and persona
on a cocaine connection.
“You already know what
I’m about,” he raps on the
new track “What More
Can I Say,” then proceeds
to recite a list of felonies
and related vices that
would give C. Dolores
Tucker an instant
seizure.
“What More Can I Say”
begins with a clip of Rus
sell Crowe in the “Gladia
tor,” roaring “Are you not
entertained?” to a blood
thirsty crowd. It’s an apt
analogy for today’s crimi
nal-minded rap music —
men from the bottom act
ing out a deadly specta
cle.
Drug dealers are
always struggling with
the right moment to
retire. Jay-Z escaped that
life with enough money to
launch his rap career.
Now he plans to escape
the rap race without end
ing up hke Michael Jor
dan in his final low-flying
season. And “The Black
Album,” full of complex,
witty raps and soulful
beats, is as good as any
thing Jay-Z’s ever done.
“December 4” is the
same story Jay-Z’s told
throughout his career —
the stoiy of his Mfe - but
he makes it fresh with his
trademark verbal dexter
ity and by adding his
mother’s voice to the cho
rus. It’s another potent
installment in Jay-Z’s
career-long justification
of his old lifestyle, his
explanation to the world
of why he is who he is. On
“The Black Album,” with
song titles like “Justify
My Thug” and demands
to “feel my truth,” the
man wants you to under
stand, literally, where he
comes from.
Jay-Z also spends con
siderable time claiming to
be the best rapper of all
time (he may have a
point, if you consider con
sistency) and talking
i about retirement (“They
' never really rniss you ‘til
you dead or you gone/ So
on that note I’m leaving
after this song”). And he
stops briefly to take aim
at critics who’ve accused
him*of a variety of ofiens-
es, hitting dead-on each
time.
lb those who don’t like
him quoting Biggie
Smalls: “I’m not a biter,
Tm a writer for myself
and others/1 sell you Big’s
Please see IS JAY-Z/2D
ooo
Cljarlotte
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2003
1D Arts ^ Entekiainment
Above reproach
in hip hop world
Eminem has owned up to making a song full of racist lyrics about black women.
By Aitellia Burch
artelHa.hurch@thecharlotieposl.com
Eminem, the self-proclaimed
worst thing since Elvis Presley to
do black music so
^ ^.... ^. selfishly may be
OPINION racist as well
Last week The
Source magazine held a press con
ference and released a song of dis
respect authored by Eminem.
Here are some of the lyrics, black
and white they' sometimes mix
Ihut black girls only want your
money cause they're dumb chicks
or lyrics like black girls are dumb
and white girls are good chicks/
white girls are good; I like white
girls.
After the song was released,
Eminem released a statement
saying he was a teenager who had
just broken up with a girlfnend
when he wrote those lyrics.
“The tape they played today was
something I made out of anger,
stupidity and fhistration when I
was a teenager,” he said.
But The Source has confirmed
that the tape was manufactured
in 1993, making Eminem at least
21 years old.
My question is where are the big
headlines about Eminem and his
racist, sexiest remarks? Why is no
one calling him to the carpet like
they have done to black artists?
Michael Jackson’s face is all over
the country for an alleged action,
while this guy has confirmed he
made this tape. Yet his face isn’t
blasted on everyone’s television
screen.
Although, I’m outraged, I’m not
surprised that none of the black
rappers have said anything. Why?
Because most of hip-hop’s heavy
weights gave Eminem their stamp.
of approval when he first released*
his debut album on Aftermath
Records, which is owned by Dr. Dre
formerly of N.W.A.
Where’s Missy Elliot now that we
need her opinion on Eminem?
When her opinion was unsolicited
Please see SILENCE/3D
Endowment honors America’s jazz greats
By Verena Dobnik
THE ASSOCIATEDPRESS
NEW YORK - Count
Basie. Miles Davis. Ella
Fitzgerald. Dizzy Gillespie.
Sarah Vaughan.
These are some of the
names that have been previ
ously honored as America’s
“Jazz Masters” by the
National Endowment for the
Arts.
Last week at Manhattan’s
LaGuardia High School for
Music and Art, the title of
NEA Jazz Master was
expanded to include a jazz
advocate — music critic Nat
Hentoff*.
The others awarded were
guitarist Jim Hall, rhythm
instrumentalist Chico
Hamilton, pianist Herbie
Hancock, arranger-composer
Luther Henderson and
vocalist Nancy Wilson.
“America is filled with
underutilized, underem
ployed artists,” NEA Chair
man Dana Gioia told an
audience that included
LaGuardia high school stu
dents.
Established in 1982, the
NEA Jazz Masters program
adds more great jazz names
to its roster each year. The
goal is to select living artists
who have made exceptional
contributions to the
advancement of jazz. Each
“Jazz Master” is to receive
$25,000.
The NEA is working with
the Verve Music Group on a
commemorative double CD
set of recordings by 28 "Jazz
Masters” to be released in
January. In' addition to a
nationvride tour that will
bring jazz to all 50 states,
hour-long audio profiles of
the winners will be aired.
Those awarded are chosen
through nominations sub
mitted by the public, then
reviewed by a panel of jazz
experts. To date, 73 jazz
artists have been named
“Jazz Masters.”
HaU, this year’s winner as
guitarist, turned profession
al when he was 13. He has
recorded nine CDs in the
past decade.
Hamilton, a bandleader,
began as a teenage sideman
with Lionel Hampton, Duke
Ellington and Ella Fitzger
ald.
Hancock performed as a
solo pianist vrith the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra when
he was 11 and by 1998, won
three Grammys for his
recording • "Gershwin’s
World.”
Magazine:
Eminem a
lyrical racist
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - Editors of
the hip-hop magazine The
Source have accused the
rapper Eminem of racism
because of lyrics on a tape
they said dates from 1993.
The recording, which
David Mays and Raymond
Scott played Tuesday at a
press conference in midtown
Manhattan, allegedly fea
tures Eminem, who is white,
rapping about a breakup
with a black girlfnend.
The rapper says in part,
“Black girls are dumb, and
white girls are good chicks.”
The Source said in a press
release that the tape was
provided to the magazine by
“three white hip-hop fans
from Detroit who were peers
of Eminem in the early 90s,
at the time of the recording.”
Eminem acknowledged
last week that he was the
rapper on the tape.
“The tape they played
today was something I made
out of anger, stupidity and
frustration when I was a
teenager,” Eminem said in a
statement through a
spokesman.
“I’d just broken up with
my girlfriend, who was
African-American, and I
reacted hke the angry, stu
pid kid I was. I hope people
will take it for the fooHsh-
ness that it was, not for
what somebody is trying to
make it into today.”
Mays and Scott, who is
known as Benzino, have
clashed with Eminem in the
past. The Source pubhshed
a poster in February 2002
featuring Scott holding
Eminem’s decapitated head.
In his statement, Eminem
said Mays, Scott and the
magazine “have had a
vendetta” against him, liis
record company and its
artists “for a long time.”
Eminem, whose legal
name is Marshall Bruce
Mathers III, won a Grammy
for best rap album for “The
Shm Shady LP” in 2000.
PHOTO/LEE STEWART
Beenie Man, international reggae star performed in Char
lotte last week along with Tanto and Metro.
Isley-Bacharach a grand mix
Jay-Z
The Black Album
Various producers
RockafeUa Records
The quickest way to get my
attention on a hip hop or rap
record is to effectively use an
oi’ school sample. Jay-Z has
this down to an art form. He
doesn’t jack beats, he makes
them his own and gives credit
where credit is due. Could you
ask for better?
Sure. This is Hova’s swan
song, so an immediate classic
was in order. That’s not what
this is, but it also doesn’t have
to be. “The Blue Print,” “Hard
Knock Life” and his
“Unplugged” CDs would
make any rapper’s career a
huge success and are what
other rap albums can be
judged against.
So is “The Black Album”
good? Without question. Jay-
Z, like Dr. Dre, has the ability
to make rap sound musical,
which is something a lot of
artists stiU can’t do. Even
when the songs degrade into
chest-pounding bravado, none
are ever boring. “Change
Clothes” is silly but it’s the
kind of thing the Neptunes do
well. The song’s hook is catchy
and irresistible, thanks to
Pharell. “Moment of Clarity”
is edgy and intense, but what
song involving Eminem isn’t?
There are times when Jay-Z
gets gansta and starts to hate.
“99 Problems” seems to be
directed at law enforcement,
but on another level it’s proba
bly directed at someone specif
ic. “Threat” is a response to
the many who say Jay-Z has
gone commercial and soft. He
hasn’t. He just knows how to
extend a career.
Vdth nearly 500,0(X) copies
moved the first week, “The
Black Album” is a great way
to close a career. At 33, Jay-Z
is getting long in the tooth for
the rap game (according to
fans’ buying habits, not my
personal assessment). The old
man is going out with a siz
able bang.
Ratings
Classic; ^
Excellent; ^ ^ ^
Good
Fair ^
Why?
No stars — A mess