Jay z the black album cover series#

Last weekвЂ™s chart topper, Britney SpearsвЂ™ вЂњIn the Zone,вЂќ falls 1-3. The bandвЂ™s current cover of Talk TalkвЂ™s вЂњItвЂ™s My LifeвЂќ is up 9-7 on the Top 40 Mainstream Chart published by Billboard sister publication Airplay Monitor. Sales were just short of the 255,000 opening week copies posted by No DoubtвЂ™s 2001 studio album, вЂњRock Steady,вЂќ which debuted at No. The California groupвЂ™s Interscope compilation вЂњThe Singles 1992-2003вЂќ sold 253,000 copies to bow at No. In a week that saw new releases from Missy Elliott, Nelly, Enrique Iglesias and Nelly Furtado, only No Doubt came close to challenging the rap superstar for No. In its third week, sales of the Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam set declined just 10% to 260,000 copies, bringing the to-date sales total of вЂњThe Black AlbumвЂќ above the 1 million mark. 4 last week, Jay-ZвЂ™s вЂњThe Black AlbumвЂќ is back on top of The Billboard 200. They were working collectively to reimagine a system that, for too many, dispenses prosperity by the thimble and punishment by the jug.After falling to No. Last summer, as a global Black Lives Matter movement flowered in response to the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, I saw millions of people taking to the streets to demand changes to the rules. In all my efforts to master the rules of the game, I never dreamed it would be possible to change them. In my rush to beat the odds as a teenager, I never really examined how my family - and the other Black and brown families I knew - had come under such extreme pressure in the first place. Somewhere along the way, though, my thoughts on the meaning of the mission changed.

(The house and car, as my parents sometimes remind me, are still works in progress.) I was lucky to get scholarships to the schools of my choice, and to find my way into a career that suited me.

My mission in high school was ultimately successful, if not exactly in the way that IвЂ™d imagined. By the time the last of them fades, you feel pity for the prosecution. The songs range from astute autobiography (вЂњDecember 4th,вЂќ вЂњMoment of ClarityвЂќ) to hair-raising pyrotechnics (вЂњWhat More Can I SayвЂќ вЂњPublic Service Announcement (Interlude)вЂќ), with several performing both functions at once (вЂњ99 Problems,вЂќ вЂњEncoreвЂќ).

Jay z the black album cover series#

On вЂњThe Black Album,вЂќ he uses their finest offerings - grand canvases built from reupholstered soul, rock and gospel - to corroborate what is effectively a series of arguments, in which Jay, like a defendant representing himself in court, presents his case for rap supremacy. To seize the top spot, Jay assembled a dream team that included many of hip-hopвЂ™s greatest producers: the Neptunes, Kanye West, Timbaland, Just Blaze and Rick Rubin. And the apotheosis of Biggie and Tupac - only six and seven years dead - left virtually all remaining aspirants vying for third place. Dre, was at the time the most popular rap artist on the planet. 50 Cent, riding on the shoulders of Eminem and Dr. He didnвЂ™t only want to retire (itself a stunt in a genre that tends to leave you before you can leave it), he wanted to retire as the Greatest of All Time, hip-hopвЂ™s holy grail. вЂњThe Black AlbumвЂќ represented JayвЂ™s biggest gambit yet. His teammates and even some teachers were stunned. I remember when one quit varsity football to better focus on his A.P. In the hallways after one activity or another, I would see other Black and brown kids on similar tracks and nod. I played basketball and trained for the 200-meter relay. I took dual-credit courses at the local community college and drove downtown for SAT prep. I joined the National Honor Society, Peer Assistance Leadership and Service and the French club. Like my older sister, who was then two years into a finance degree and on a gravity-defying trajectory of her own, I had spent most of high school on a mission to make something respectable of myself.

My parents, born in agrarian villages in colonized Nigeria, had settled there in the mid-1990s as middle-class academics. My family lived in the suburbs of Houston. Half amused, they would scribble their verdict in the margins: вЂњShameless but hungry.вЂќД«y that time, the fall of 2003, I had already plotted the next 10 years of my life - the graduate school, the job, the house, the car. I imagined eagle-eyed college admissions officers poring over my file, spotting any latent passions discovered in the heat of application season. I knew that it might look fishy - adding on another extracurricular so late in the game - but I figured making the effort could also work in my favor. In my senior year of high school, I joined the student council.