So this, we're told, is the final cut. Jay-Z has long talked about retiring from the game, but after nine years and nine albums, the rapper who more than any other dominated the landscape in the wake of the Twin Towers of Biggie and Tupac, is set to pass the mic for good. At a playback at his Manhattan Baseline Studios last month, the man of many pseudonyms was defiant: this is his last outing. The original plan was a dozen tracks from a dozen producers, and though this ultimately proved too ambitious even for J-Hova, the impressive roll call - Timbaland, Neptunes, Eminem, Just Blaze, Kanye West - includes most of the heavyweights.
The opening interlude sets the scene, declaring, 'All things must come to an end, all things must conclude,' depicting Jay-Z as a Brooklyn tree ready to 'pass on its legacy through its seeds that drop to the ground'. From then on in, it's self-celebratory biopic, from Ma Carter reminiscing about her 'special child' over Just Blaze's panoramic string-laden epic 'December 4', to the rhetorical 'What More Can I Say' on which Jay-Z declares, 'Pound to pound I'm the best to ever come around here, excluding nobody,' then, as the track fades, he spits, in full dextrous a cappella: 'I suppos'd to be number one on everybody's list, we'll see what happens when I no longer exist.'
As he knows better than anyone, Jigga's also number one on a few player haters' lists. Most of them will admit he rhymes and flows freer than anyone but diss him for being more concerned with record sales than pushing hip hop's boundaries. I mean, imagine - hip hop chasing the dollar. Whatever next? Undercurrents of misogyny and gang violence? As Jay-Z spells out on 'Moment of Clarity', he 'built the dynasty by being one of the realest niggas out' before 'I dumbed down for my audience to double my dollars'. He admits, 'Truthfully, I want to rhyme like common sense, but I did five mill, I ain't been rhyming like common since.'
Overall, The Black Album is much more focused than its wandering, epic predecessor The Blueprint 2. Following up the brilliance of 'Frontin", the Neptunes bring the bounce back for 'Change Clothes', before 'Threat' sees J shrug off those he receives ('I been tellin you niggas nine albums, stop fucking wit' me'). If there's one to skip, it's the Rick Rubin-produced '99 Problems', but Just Blaze brings it straight back up with 'Public Service Announcement', before the more obvious 'Justify My Thug' (yes, that's the chorus) and classic closer 'My First Song', which brings us full circle, linking back to Jay-Z's debut single of 1996.
So, fade to black, or encore? Well, even if we assume this is the last album proper, it's hard not to see him peeking round the final curtain occasionally_
