“ Truthfully,” I never believed Jay-Z would, then or now, “ rather be Talib Kweli.” “ Is it too early to mourn, is it too late to ride?” The rap game’s then-leader who’d go on to father three with the lead singer from Destiny’s Child knows a thing or two about fate or time. Has it really been twenty damn years since this moment?Īn event reinforcing (pun intended) the takeover of The Blueprint (2001), an NYC album that went on to accidentally define the entire world for a period of time.ĭropping during the height of Jay-Z’s “artistic” prime, on the same day the Twin Towers did, ushering in decades of wartime. It includes his greatest hits, special renditions of popular songs, and an exclusive track.For those getting grown around the time, this live performance first aired on a cable channel still then featuring a somewhat reasonable amount of music in its television, this is a time-capsule catapulting you back into that Fall ‘01 vortex. This album is perfect for a Jay-Z novice (looking to learn about his catalogue) or a hardcore fan. Although it was added as a promotional track, for The Blueprint 2, it served as a great end to an amazing album. This track, called “People Talking” had been previously unreleased and is quite possibly one of Jay-Z’s greatest songs. One special thing about “Unplugged,” was after the last song “Jigga, Jigga” finished, a hidden studio track started to play. Select tracks (like “Izzo (H.O.V.A.),” “Ain’t No,” “Can I Get A,” and “ Jigga, Jigga,”) were vastly shortened, due to the original featured artists not participating in the MTV session. Blige, was altered so that part of her single “Family Affair” was included in the performance. The song “Can’t Knock the Hustle,” featuring Mary J. Wright’s intense vocal riffs (accentuated by Jay-Z) created a more soulful and powerful sound than the original delivered. For “Heart of the City (Ain’t No Love),” the male vocalist, who appeared on the original track, was replaced by the female vocalist Jaguar Wright. There were, however, manifold changes in arrangements of the songs. The song lyrics on “Unplugged” remained largely unchanged (with the exception of explicit content being removed). With live instrumentation backing him (provided by The Roots), each song was precisely replicated (musically) to sound like the studio versions of the tracks. As with all of his releases, there were guest features by prominent and up and coming artists (Mary J. Each song featured either charted in Billboard’s Top 200 or was Grammy nominated. Carter,” “Reasonable Doubt,” and “The Dynasty-Roc La Familia.” This release serves as a greatest hits album, performed live. “Unplugged” contains songs from five of his albums: “The Blueprint,” “Vol.2 Hardknock Life,” “Vol 3. This album has practically none of that, with the exception of when Jay-Z specifically asks for crowd participation. Typically, live albums consist of intense crowd screaming and cheering in between and during songs (which tends to take away from song quality). “Unplugged” is quite different than most live albums. Due to high receptiveness of the performance, by viewers, in 2001 Jay-Z’s “Unplugged” album was released for commercial sale. The featured lyricist was none other than the legendary Jay-Z. In 2000, MTV hosted its 1 st (and only) unplugged session featuring a hip-hop lyricist. In 1989, MTV decided to capitalize on this trend by hosting “Unplugged” sessions, which featured popular artists of the time performing in intimate settings in front of small audiences. Since 1976, countless live albums have been released by a wide variety of artists. In 1976, when Peter Frampton released “Frampton Comes Alive,” (the first commercially successful live album), he demonstrated the substantial demand for that kind of album. A running debate amongst music aficionados is whether studio albums are better than live albums.
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