Gold Digging (As Sampled By Jay-Z) - Various Artists

Advantages: Top quality hip hop, full of flair and skill,
Disadvantages: Some weaker tracks, adult language

...to the O.V....' with verses which are focused on himself for a change... suppose that's rapping for you most of the time. The start of this track is very well-known now and has become somewhat of a trademark of the album. -7/10- [Track 11 - Justify My Thug] This song has kind of cushioned drum beat on it with a slightly aggressive verse where Jay-Z, now HOV, attempts to Justify his style and his way of business and pleasure. This song is a little dull in the long run, the beat a bit repetetive. Once again, still bearable but not as remarkable as some other tracks. This beat was made by Kanye West, one of Jay-Z's many affiliated artists. -6/10- [Track 12 - Lucifer] A cool, and classy piano score opens the song with a nicely used sample from 'Max Romeo' chorusing the tile of the song every so often when it is needed. The beat... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Jay-Z at his best, fantastic prodcution throughout
Disadvantages: None for me, suppose some people may be offended by the language used at times

...again over his career. This album earned him the rare 5 mic award from the source and XXL magazines, came 5th in Rolling Stones Albums of 2001, and 4th in NME's albums of 2001. The Album (Sample information taken from wikipedia) Track 1 - The Ruler's Back A laid back track to start the album with. Jay-Z sounds ultra relaxed on this track, rapping effortlessly but still with rhythm and style. Good track. Samples 'If' by Jackie Moore 'The Ruler's Back' by Slick Rick 8/10 Track 2 - Takeover An mix of two of my favourite artists of all time - Jay-Z and Jim Morrison/The Doors., as the beats are mainly taken from '5 to 1' by the Doors. Kanye West produced this one (way before he was a platinum selling artist in his own right), I've always liked Kanye's production, he takes chances with his beats and I applaud him... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Deep and Virtuous Lyricism and Storytelling; Production Brilliance; Cinematic and Thought-Provoking Concept
Disadvantages: The fact that Jigga never, ever came close again...

...through music that few artists could hope to capture; instead we were left with a money-hungry CEO who resorted to making every other song on his albums a club song so that he could feast upon the almighty dollar of the foolish mainstream fans who don't know what's good for them. Jay-Z always had one or two great songs on his future albums, but everything else post-Reasonable Doubt has been the exact opposite of the masterpiece he crafted all those years back. Regardless of how much you can love or hate Jay-Z, it's been universally accepted that his masterpiece, his magnum opus, is, and always will be 1996's Reasonable Doubt. On Reasonable Doubt we have a young, charismatic and confident emcee who is blessed with the God-given skills to be unbelievably deep on the microphone, yet spit his lyrics out with the venom and fury of a South... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful