Discography:
Streets Is Watchin' Soundtrack (1998)
Volume 3...The Life And Times Of Shawn Carter (1999)
In 1990, he entered the hip hop game, featuring on tracks for Big Jaz ("The Originator's") and Original Flavor ("Can I Get Open"). But after Jaz's troubles with his record label and Jay Z himself struggling for a deal, he decided to be independent. Jay Z went into business with Damon Dash and Kareem "Biggs" Burke. What followed was the creation of Roc-A-Fella Records in 1996. The first album to emerge was Jay Z’s own ‘Reasonable Doubt’, which featured "Ain't No N***a, " featuring Foxy Brown (certified gold in the U.S.). With ‘Reasonable Doubt’ Jay Z moved to the top of the game. Further releases from ‘Reasonable Doubt’ included "Can't Knock the Hustle" featuring Mary J Blige and "Brooklyn’s Finest" featuring Notorious B.I.G. ‘Reasonable Doubt’ went Gold in the U.S.
"In My Lifetime was very emotional to me because there were a lot of things going on at that time," explains Jay-Z. "That album . . .that was me. That was Jay-Z right there."
Following ‘In My Lifetime’, in 1998, Jay-Z played himself in the semi-autobiographical straight to video flick, ‘Streets Is Watching’. Jay Z wrote, produced, and directed it with Damon Dash.Along with the film came the release of ‘Streets Is Watching: The Soundtrack’, which introduced Roc-a-Fella's new cats, including Memphis Bleek, Rell, Diamonds in the Rough, and the Ranjahz.
Volume 2. . .Hard Knock Life took only a month to record, but went four times platinum, surpassing Volume 1 (which went platinum). On this album Jay-Z switched his usual production team of Ski and DJ Premier in favour of Timbaland, and Swiss Beats (Ruff Ryders). "With this album, I was in a real zone creatively," says Jay-Z of Hard Knock Life, "I was so happy making this album, I was like, 'Feed me beats!"
The variation in Tim and Swiss flavas created a challenge for Jay-Z. "I can change up my flow depending on the beat," he says. "If it's hot, I'll rhyme over it. If you notice, I rhyme differently on each track."
NEWS
In February 1999, Jay-Z in the running for 3 Grammy Awards (of which he won 1) but boycotted the event "...because too many major rap artists continue to be overlooked... Rappers deserve more attention from the Grammy committee and from the whole world. If it's got a gun everybody knows about it, but if we go on a world tour, no one knows." A spokesperson for Jay-Z said "If they want to give us awards, we'll take them. But we aren't going to drop everything and run to the show to get a small pat on the head when they don't even air the award he won."
Jay-Z and DMX donated concert profits for the Denver date of the Hard Knock Life tour to help the families of the Columbine victims, in April 1999. Jay-Z told MTV: "We decided to donate the proceeds from this show as soon as we saw the date on the schedule."
Jay-Z ends 1999 with ‘The Life & Times Of Shawn Carter: Volume 3’ which is due for release in December.
AWARDS
In August, Jay-Z was named Solo Lyricist of the Year, at the Source Hip-Hop Music Awards.
1999 Grammy Awards nominations include: Best Rap Album (Volume 2... Hard Knock Life), Best Rap Solo Performance ("Hard Knock Life"), and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group ("Money Ain't A Thang" with Jermaine Dupri), of which he went home with the Best Rap Album award.
At the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards Jay Z was nominated for Best Rap Video ("Can I Get A...") and Best Video from a Film and Viewer's Choice ("Can I Get A..."). Of these, Jay Z won the Best Rap Video.
Listen to 'Keep It Real' (Jon B, Jay Z, Coko) in zip format
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