The Black Album was met with widespread critical acclaim. At
Metacritic, which assigns a
normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, it received an
average score of 84, based on 19 reviews.[2]AllMusic's John Bush claimed Jay-Z was retiring at his peak with the album.[3]Vibe magazine said it was remarkable as an apotheosis of his genuinely thoughtful songwriting and lyrics "delivered with transcendent skill",[13] while Steve Jones from USA Today said even with "top-shelf work" from elite producers, the album was elevated by Jay-Z's uniquely deft and diverse rapping style.[12] Writing for The A.V. Club,
Nathan Rabin felt Jay-Z returned to "brevity and consistency" on an album that demonstrated his lyrical abilities and, more importantly, hip hop's best producers.[14] Jon Caramanica wrote in The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004) that The Black Album was both "old-school and utterly modern", showcasing Jay-Z "at the top of his game, able to reinvent himself as a rap classicist at the right time, as if to cement his place in hip-hop's legacy for generations to come".[15]
Some reviewers were less enthusiastic. In Rolling Stone,
Touré determined that The Black Album was slightly inferior to Jay-Z's best records, namely Reasonable Doubt (1996) and The Blueprint (2001).[11] Dave Simpson from The Guardian was more critical, dismissing the music as "an aural equivalent of that old American favourite, the schmaltzy biopic."[5] In The Village Voice,
Robert Christgau gave the record a back-handed compliment: "[Jay-Z] raps like a legend in his own time—namely,
Elvis in Vegas".[16] Nonetheless, in a retrospective review in 2011, Christgau stated that he was impressed by the stretch of songs from "Encore" to "Justify My Thug" and thought "the fanfares, ovations, maternal reminiscences, and
vamp-till-ready
shout-outs were overblown at best" at the time of its release, but they came to sound "prophetic" because of the entrepreneurial success and fame he continued to achieve afterwards. "He's got a right to celebrate his autobiography in rhyme because he's on track to become a personage who dwarfs any mere rapper," Christgau wrote, "and not only can he hire the best help dark green can buy, he can make it sing."[7]
The Black Album debuted at number one on the US
Billboard 200 chart, selling 463,000 copies in its first week, according to
Nielsen Soundscan.[24] This became Jay-Z's sixth US number one album.[24] Another note on the alter was that the Black Album also blocked the
soundtrack to the
Tupac Shakur documentary, Tupac: Resurrection, and the
G-Unit debut album, Beg for Mercy, from the top position. Both albums charted at numbers two and three respectively.[25] In its second week, the album dropped to number four on the chart, selling an additional 288,000 copies.[26] In its third week, the album climbed to number one on the chart, selling 288,000 more copies.[27] In its fourth week, the album dropped to number ten on the chart, selling 124,000 copies.[28] On August 16, 2005, the album was certified
RIAA Certificationtriple platinum by the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of over three million copies.[29] As of July 2013, the album had sold 3,516,000 copies in the US.[30] According to Billboard, it became Jay-Z's top selling record of the 2000s and the 136th highest selling record of the decade in the United States.[31]
Three singles were released from the album and appeared on the
Billboard charts. "Change Clothes" and "Dirt off Your Shoulder" both reached the top 10 of the
Hot 100, while "99 Problems" peaked at number 30.[32]
Remixes
In December 2004, Roc-A-Fella Records released The Black Album on vinyl with no beats underneath Jay-Z's lyrics, spurring producers and DJs to rework his farewell disc into creations such as The Brown Album and even The Grey Album, by Los Angeles producer
Danger Mouse, which combines Jay's words with music from the Beatles'
self-titled album (also known as the "White Album"), breaking with the Roc-A-Fella's tradition of not releasing acappella 12-inches, so producers could "remix the hell out of it."[33]
Several notable reworkings were released but of all the remixed albums, The Grey Album was the most popular. The hype around The Grey Album gained notoriety when
EMI attempted to halt its distribution despite approval from Jay-Z and the two surviving Beatles,
Paul McCartney and
Ringo Starr.[34] EMI ordered Danger Mouse and retailers carrying the album to cease distribution.[35] Music industry activist group
Downhill Battle responded by coordinating Grey Tuesday, an
electronic civil disobedience event held on February 24, 2004. Participating websites posted copies of The Grey Album for free download for a 24-hour period in protest of EMI's attempts to prevent distribution of the mashup on the grounds that sampling is
fair use and that a
statutory license should be provided in the same manner as if an artist were to perform or record a
cover version of a song. Hundreds of
websites publicized the event with 170 hosting the album for download. Over 100,000 copies were downloaded on that day alone.[36] The legal repercussions of the protest were minimal; a number of the participants received
cease and desist letters from EMI, but no charges were filed in connection with the event.
Track listing
All song samples, writing and production credits are according to the album booklet.
"Justify My Thug" features additional vocals by Sharlotte Gibson
"Lucifer" features additional vocals by
Kanye West
Sample credits
"December 4th" contains a sample of "That's How Long" written by Walter Boyd and Elijah Powell Jr., and performed by
The Chi-Lites.
"What More Can I Say" contains samples of "Something for Nothing" written by
Thom Bell,
Kenneth Gamble and Roland Chambers, and performed by
MFSB, and "Keep Your Hands High" written by Tracey Lee and
Christopher Wallace, and performed by Tracey Lee featuring
The Notorious B.I.G.
"Threat" contains a sample from "A Woman's Threat" written and performed by
R. Kelly.
"99 Problems" contains samples of "
Long Red" written by Norman Landsberg,
Felix Pappalardi, John Ventura and Leslie Weinstein, and performed by
Mountain, "Get Me Back on Time, Engine Number 9" performed by
Wilson Pickett, "The Big Beat" written and performed by
Billy Squier, elements of "99 Problems" written by
Tracy Marrow and Alphonso Henderson, and performed by
Ice-T, interpolations of "Touched" written by
Chad Butler and
Bernard Freeman, and performed by
UGK, and portions of "
Children's Story" written and performed by
Slick Rick.
"Public Service Announcement (Interlude)" contains a portion of "No One Can Do It Better" written by
Tracy Curry and
Andre Young, and performed by
The D.O.C., and a sample of "Seed of Love" written by Raymond Levin, and performed by Little Boy Blues.
"Lucifer" contains a sample of "
Chase the Devil" written by Hugh Perry and Maxie Smith, and performed by
Max Romeo.
"My 1st Song" contains a sample of "Tu y Tu Mirar...Yo y Mi Canción" written by Germain de La Fuente, and performed by
Los Angeles Negros, and a vocal portion of
The Notorious B.I.G.'s 1996 interview for
MTV.