| Product Summary | | Label: Uni/def Jam | | UPC: 00731454820325 | | Release Date: 10/31/2000 | | Buy.com Sku: 60445419 | | Item#: MJSWRM | Format:  CD |
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(P) 2000 Roc-A-Fella Records, LLC
(C) 2000 Mercury Records Limited
| The Brooklyn bred superstar is known best for compiling words and turning them into world renown phrases. The first single "Parking Lot Pimpin" is sure to find the nest at the top and also features Memphis Bleek and Beanie Sigel. Other titles include "Daddy Where You Been" and "Street Is Talkin".
| | Album Notes and Credits |
Notes & Personnel Info |  | Personnel: Jay-Z, Scarface, Memphis Bleek, Beanie Sigel, Snoop Dogg (rap vocals); R. Kelly, Freeway (vocals); Just Blaze (vinyl scratches); Lil Mo, DJ Clue, L. Dionne, Rell, Pharrell Williams, Static (background vocals). | | Producers: Just Blaze, Rick Rock, Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo, Kanye West. | | Engineers: Chauncey Mahan, Duro, Shane "Bermy" Woodley. | | Recorded at Baseline, New York, New York and Enterprise Studios, Los Angeles, California. | | "Change The Game" was nominated for the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group. | | Personnel: Jay-Z (vocals); DJ Clue?, L. Dionne, Rell, Static (vocals); Chauncey Mahan (programming); Just Blaze (scratches). | | Audio Mixers: Greg Smith ; Duro. | | Recording information: Baseline Studios, New York, NY; Enterprise Studios, LA. | | Photographer: Jonathan Mannion. | | At the time of The Dynasty Roc la Familia's release, Jay-Z had already established himself as a towering figure in the rap world. His previous two albums -- Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life and Vol. 3: Life and Times of S. Carter -- spawned numerous gigantic hits and were filled the brim with the biggest hitmakers in rap: producers like Timbaland and Swizz Beatz; rappers like Juvenile and DMX. So rather than try to one-up these albums with yet more super-producers and big-name rappers, Jay-Z took a different approach on The Dynasty. He brought in a stable of up-and-coming producers (the Neptunes, Just Blaze, Kanye West) and handed the mic to his in-house roster of Roc-a-Fella rappers (Beanie Sigel, Memphis Bleek, Freeway) with the intention of bolstering his rap "dynasty" (i.e., Roc-a-Fella). The approach works well. The Dynasty Roc la Familia still sounds like a Jay-Z album, but it's different enough from his past work to make it exciting and unique. In particular, the productions set Jigga apart from his peers in 2000, especially "I Just Wanna Love You (Give It 2 Me)" by the Neptunes, a fun, playful song a world apart from the rugged Ruff Ryder beats Swizz Beatz had been offering Jay-Z a year earlier. In terms of rapping, the omnipresence of Beanie Sigel and Memphis Bleek spices up "Parking Lot Pimpin'," another album highlight, but is a drag on other songs, where Jay-Z seems like a guest on his own album. Guest appearances by Snoop Dogg and Scarface are much more welcome, two of only three non-Roc-a-Fella guest features here. The Dynasty plays overall like a Roc-a-Fella mixtape rather than a Jay-Z album, which means you'll have to endure a lot of promotional posse tracks, particularly toward the end of the album. Still, the few standout tracks here are career highlights for Jay-Z and well worth wading through the occasional filler to find. ~ Jason Birchmeier | | Jay-Z released REASONABLE DOUBT, his solo debut, in 1996. Only four years later, he dropped his fifth album, THE DYNASTY. Matching his unique off-beat delivery with hip-hop's most impressive lyrics, the Brooklyn-native reinforces the idea that he is one of rap's most profound MCs. Once again, Jay-Z shows us he knows about "big pimpin'" with tracks like "I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)" and "Parking Lot Pimpin'," tales about the fast life, women, and money. | | Still, the rapper doesn't abandon the street ethics that have made him famous, as evident on the hustler's anthem "Streets Is Talking." Limiting the guest appearances to a minimum, besides his Roc-a-fella camp, he is joined by heavy hitters such as Snoop Dogg on "Get Your Mind Right Mami" and R. Kelly on "Guilty Until Proven Innocent." Inspiring other rappers to think deeply before they put their pen to the pad, Jay-Z keeps getting better, and despite multi-platinum status, he hasn't lost his street credibility. |
Musical Guests | | Memphis Bleek | | Scarface | | DJ Clue | | Beanie Sigel | | Snoop Dogg | | R. Kelly | | Lil' Mo |
| | Compilation Appearances |
| | Associated Artists and Works |
| | Technical Info | | Release Date : 10/31/2000 | | Original Release Date : 2000 | | Catalog ID : 548203 | | Label : Roc-A-Fella Records (USA) | | Number of Discs : 1 | | Studio/Live : Studio | | Mono/Stereo : Stereo | | SPAR Code : n/a | | UPC : 00731454820325 |
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| | Professional Reviews | | Rolling Stone (1/4/01, p.110)
- Included in Rolling Stone's "Top 50 Albums of 2000".Rolling Stone (12/7/00, pp.109-10)
- 4 stars out of 5 - "...Jay confronts the new, unfamiliar demands of being a father figure with the same determined egoism and intelligence that he used while hustling in Brooklyn...adding another dimension to an already intriguing figure..." Q (1/01, p.111)
- 3 out of 5 stars - "...He impresses most when bypassing the guns/ho's/Gucci shtick for some inventive musical twists...or commenting on ghetto life and absconding fathers..." Q (p.136)
- 3 stars out of 5 - "THE DYNASTY is solid enough. Aside from his obvious lyrical dexterity, it's all high-octane street dreaming and emergent family obsessions..." The Source (1/01, p.188)
- 4.5 mics out of 5 - "...[His] most collectively spiritual and introspective LP to date - a flurry of party frolickin' and honest, compelling notes...sprinkled with Brooklyn gunfight mentality..." NME (Magazine)
(11/25/00, p.35)
- 8 stars out of 10 - "...A showcase for the up-and-coming rappers on Roc-A-Fella...16 hard-knock ghetto fables....All the Jay-Z trademarks - quality, consistency, slamming beats and lyrical prowess - are here..." |
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| | Bio | | Longtime rap fans may remember Jay-Z as an associate of the Jaz, who had a minor hit in 1988 with "Hawaiian Sophie." Before that, he was Shawn Carter, a young man from Brooklyn's Marcy Projects. Though Carter was a promising student, his wild behavior led him to a vocational high school in Brooklyn, where he met future stars Christopher Wallace (the Notorious B.I.G.) and Trevor Smith (Busta Rhymes). As a young MC, Jay-Z appeared on several underground mix tapes, and his work with the Jaz appeared promising. But with bills to pay, Jay-Z increasingly found himself mired in the criminal underworld, a life he had known since the age of 16. It wasn't until 1992 that he found the courage to leave the life of a drug dealer behind him. After his retirement from crime, Jay-Z began to look for a record deal as a solo artist, but only had a guest appearance on long-forgotten rap group Original Flavor's 1993 single "Can I Get Open" to show for his efforts. It wasn't until a friend, Roc-A-Fella Records CEO Damon Dash, convinced him to form a record company with him that Jay-Z's career finally got off the ground. Jay-Z released his first single through Roc-A-Fella in 1995, "In My Lifetime." It proved to be a hit in New York's fickle hip-hop scene, and helped Dash and Jay-Z secure a distribution deal for Jay-Z's debut album, Reasonable Doubt. Though it wasn't a huge seller, Reasonable Doubt confirmed Jay-Z's status as one of the most promising lyricists in years, a rapper who vividly portrayed the highs and lows of being a black gangster. More importantly, it earned the admiration of veteran rap stars as varied as Ice Cube and the Notorious B.I.G. The next year, Jay-Z and Dash negotiated a new distribution deal with Def Jam Records for Roc-A-Fella. The ascendant rapper had promised that Reasonable Doubt would be his only album, but he followed it up in 1997 with In My Lifetime, Vol. 1, a somber effort partly influenced by the murder of the Notorious B.I.G. Two subsequent albums (Vol. 2 Hard Knock Life and The Life And Times Of S. Carter) followed. With his latest--Dynasty--Roc La Familia--released in October 2000, the only one thing to be said is you know what to expect from the God MC the Jay-Hova. He never fails. Do you believe? All Shawn Carter wanted to do is reach his people. So all Jay-Hova witnesses keep believing.
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