Sold Date: December 11, 2017
Start Date: August 22, 2017
Final Price: $19.90 (USD)
Seller Feedback: 47324
Buyer Feedback: 11

DOS - PR5U1V3A87-2MM-731453639218   New! Jacket with Minor Shop Wear. ----- from New York's Largest Selection of Entertainment Media Since 1976! 

After the death of friend and compatriot the Notorious B.I.G. in early 1997, Jay-Z made his claim for the title of best rapper on the East Coast (or anywhere) with his sophomore shot, In My Lifetime, Vol. 1. Though the productions are just a bit flashier and more commercial than on his debut, Jay-Z remained the tough street rapper, and even improved a bit on his flow, already one of the best in the world of hip-hop. Still showing his roots in the Marcy projects (he's surrounded by a group of kids in a picture on the back cover), Jay-Z struts the line between project poet and up-and-coming player, and manages to have it both ways. He slings some of the most cutting rhymes heard in hip-hop, brushing off a legion of rappers riding his coattails on "Imaginary Player." For "Streets Is Watching," high-tension background strings and vocal samples from the gangster film Sleeper emphasize the pitfalls of a rapper everyone's gunning for ("If I shoot you, I'm brainless/But if you shoot me, then you famous"). The song leads right into "Friend or Foe '98," the sequel to a track from Reasonable Doubt that only increases the sense of paranoia. But Jay-Z plays the ghetto celebrity equally well, and continues his slick, Cristal-sipping image with "I Know What Girls Like" (featuring Puff Daddy and Lil' Kim), "(Always Be My) Sunshine" (featuring Babyface and Foxy Brown), and "Lucky Me." Puff Daddy's Bad Boy stable is responsible for almost half the productions, and though they often verge far into pop territory, Jay-Z usually rescues them from a complete crossover. (Ironically, the most commercial production is actually from Teddy Riley on "The City Is Mine," with an unfortunate interpolation of Glenn Frey's "You Belong to the City.") Having one of the toughest producers around (Premier) as well as one of the slickest (Puff Daddy) sometimes creates a disconnect between who Jay-Z really is and who he wants to become, but he balances both personas with the best rapping heard in the rap game since the deaths of 2Pac and Notorious B.I.G. 

Condition:NEW. 
Record: Mint Condition 
Sleeve/ Jacket: Minor Shop Wear. 


TRACK LISTINGS

Record ONE 
Side 1: 
1. Intro/ A Million And One Questions/ Rhyme No More 
2. The City Is Mine (featuring BlackStreet) 
3. I Know What Girls Like (featuring Puff Daddy & Lil' Kim) 

Side 2: 
1. Imaginary Player 
2. Streets Is Watching 
3. Friends Or Foe '98 
4. Lucky Me 

Record TWO 
Side 1: 
1. (Always Be My) Sunshine (featuring Babyface & Foxy Brown) 
2. Who You Wit II 
3. Face Off (featuring Sauce Money) 

Side 2: 
1. Real Niggaz (featuring Too Short) 
2. Rap Game/ Crack Game 
3. Where I'm From 
4. You Must Love Me 

Roc-A-Fella Records 
314 536 392-1 


Powered by SixBit's eCommerce Solution