Jay-Z Dropped ‘The Black Album’ 21 Years Ago [Video]

On this day in Hip-Hop history, Brooklyn’s own Jay-Z released his would-be retirement album, The Black Album. Although there was virtually no pause between The Black Album and new Jay-Z music (collaboration albums with R. Kelly and Linkin Park were released the following year), this album is easily the greatest retirement project of all time.

This album sounds more like a greatest hits album than the eighth project of an illustrious career. Starting with the first track, “December 4th”, this album takes the listener on a nostalgic journey. This opening tale of Hov’s origin sets the album’s tone and properly introduces Jay to an industry he feels has taken him for granted. This album is an opus to Jay’s distaste for the rap game. On numerous tracks, specifically “Encore” and “What More Can I Say”, Hov can be heard stating his frustration with being the one-punch man (a fictional superhero who can defeat …