Jay-Z Album: “Unplugged”

Jay to the izA has once again proved himself, with another hot album. He's puttin in work and he's getting closer to the king of New York crown. I know you all might be asking yourslelf, Hip hop and a live unplugged band...hmmm how does that work? Well let me tell you It works out fine. Jay couldn't have picked a better band cuz the Roots Crew is hip hops finest, and those cats are some amazing musicians. Plus with Jaguar singing the hooks and backup, she put it down, she got a chameleon voice cuz she sounded tight on every track. That's a soulful sista.

I never really thought hip hop could sound this good live, but rest assured it can. All the tracks are done by different producers but they all seem to work. Of course they needed a little extra help on percussion for the Crazy incessant Timbaland Hi-Hats on "Jigga What , Jigga Who" but damn quest love puts it down behind the kit. And on "The Takeover" the Roots manage switch the beat to "Shook Ones" and "Oochie Wally" just to ad a little more fire to Prodigy and Nas' pants respectively.

Mary J Blige came in and showed the love on the classic "Cant knock the Hustle" she still sounds damn good on that track after all these years, Mary still cant knock her hustle. But still even more emotionally moving is "Song Cry" I mean I've never cheated on my wifey but for some reason the song still makes me sad, It must be some of the thug love nature in me. Even Jay himself is almost moved to tears by the end of the track.

From there of course tha party gets started once again, and The roots put it down on the wild Neptunes produced "Give it to me" , with a little extra percussion the track bumps like the pores on the back of a shaven neck. Then Questlove smacks the H out his snares on the Trackmasters produced "Jigga Jigga"

After releasing his latest album,"The Blueprint" in September,possibly the best album of the year,Jay-Z releases this masterpiece.Sure,this is an album made up of most of Jay's biggest hits ever,but all of the songs sound new and fresh with help from the awesome band,The Roots,who should get a lot of credit and respect of making both the MTV program,and this cd amazing.I personally think that Jay should have had Jaguar Wright sing the hooks on his newest album instead of just sampling,because it just sounds way better.Every single song on this album is amazing.Even songs that i have become tired of from too much play on radio and tv,like "Hard Knock Life" and "Izzo" sound so much better and have a lot more energy put into them,and i find myself enjoying them again.I have always liked Jay-Z and have always thought of him as a very good lyricist and rap artist,but this cd makes me think of him as the best rapper doing it right now,...all he needs is an awesome band like The Roots to back him up with live instruments.I truly belive that this shows both Jay-Z and The Roots as the best and most creative artists out today in both rap music,and all music in gerneral,...But at the end of the day after listening to all of everyone elses boring music,its nice to be able to put on a great cd like this one and go away on a journey with Shawn Carter through his life story,growing up in a "Hard Knock Life",going to parties and picking up women,"Big Pimpin",confronting haters,"Takeover","Heart Of The City",party anthems,"Izzo","That N---a Jigga","I Just Wana Love You",goin back through life,"Cant Knock The Hustle",relationship and love problems,"Song Cry".This amazing album truly has something for everyone and especially for those people who say that "Rap music never uses bands,and it curses every other word,and all the songs sound the same,so why listen to it?" If those people listen to this cd it should shut them up quick....If you dont have this already,just buy it.It is the first cd that i have purchased in awhile that is worth all of the money that they charge you.Just go get this awesome cd,and enjoy it.

I'm a huge hip-hop fan and I have to say I wasn't the biggest of Jay-Z fans until I heard the Mtv unplugged CD.Now I want it on dvd real bad,is it out?Where can I get it?Please if someone knows please reply.

Hip Hop With Out A Doubt. It's funny how even the tracts that I usually did not like on Jigga's regular albums I liked when he did them live...Go Figure. I like this album because of the fact that I never expected this match up. I mean...The Roots and Jigga...Wow. Also this album is great because even after the enitial schock of it all, I was still pleased with the album. This is what I call taking hip hop to another level. This is the marrige of mainstreem hip hop, Under Ground, Jazz, and big band. This is a classic though it will be highly under-rated. Only thing that stopped me from giving this 5 stars is the fact that I wish he had made all new songs for it. Jigga is on to something, I hope he follows it up. ONE!

Jay Z's unplugged performance is amazing. Backed by the Roots band, Jay-Z's songs sound better than ever backed up by a real live band and live back up vocals. Jay-Z has top notch delivery throughout the show and chooses an excellent song list that is a nice mix from all the way back to his Reasonable Doubt days up to the Blueprint. I was a bit skeptical as to how good a rap unplugged performance would sound, but after hearing this album I now realize its the perfect combination. Even if you dont like Jigga, this album is worth checking out.