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Although he's still quite young, Jay-Z is a hip-hop veteran with roots in the music dating back to the late '80s, when he was a protégé of Big Jaz and a friend of Big Daddy Kane. Seeing how label troubles hampered Kane's career, Jay (née Shawn Carter) started his own imprint, Roc-a-Fella, and began working his way up the platinum-Rolex-and-diamond-bracelet encrusted ladder. On VOL. 2:HARD KNOCK LIFE, he expands on the methods -- and successes -- of its predecessors, REASONABLE DOUBT and IN MY LIFETIME, VOL. 1. Jay-Z brings superior rhyme skills to the table, and though his lyrical playing field of gangstas, shorties, and playa hatas is hardly groundbreaking, his tales feature rare depth. In his stories of crime and violence, the shady characters aren't stereotypes but thinking, breathing, almost sympathetic personae, and his take on a hard-knock childhood in the title track is poignant cinema verité. Musically, Jay-Z boldly pushes the envelope into areas that would make a lesser rapper seem soft, with the title track sampling a song from the Broadway play "Annie" (leapin' lizards!) and the hit "Can I Get A..." wearing the cheerful veneer of a '60s packaged-food commercial. This recording won a Grammy in 1999. Jay-Z, however, boycotted the ceremony, citing a lack of hip-hop representation among the featured performers.
Condition:NEW.
TRACK LISTINGS
Side A:
1. Intro - Hand It Down
2. Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)
3. If I Should Die
4. Ride Or Die
Side B:
1. Nigga What, Nigga Who (Originator 99)
2. Money, Cash, Hoes
3. A Week Ago
Side C:
1. Coming Of Age (The Sequel)
2. Can I Get A...
3. Paper Chase
Side D:
1. Reservoir Dogs
2. It's Like That
3. It's Alright
4. Money Ain't A Thang
ROC-A-FELLA Records
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