"Y'all n*ggas got me really confused out there.
I make 'Big Pimpin' or 'Give It to Me,' one of those -- that had me as the greatest writer of the 21st century.
I make some thought-provoking sh*t -- y'all question whether he fallin' off." When you've built up a back catalog of eight studio albums and walk the earth as one of the biggest, most high-profile artists of the '90s and 2000s, you're bound to get some mixed signals from those who pay attention to you.
However, the jury did not take long to reach a verdict on 2006's Kingdom Come: the consensus on it (as a major fall-off) was as swift and strong as the consensus on Reasonable Doubt (as a classic).
Once used copies of Kingdom Come became easily attainable for less than two dollars, it was apparent the next Jay-Z album might not be so anticipated.
He'd need to get some fresh inspiration and make some corrective maneuvers.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pray | Jay-Z | Play | 04:24 | 10 MB | 31 MB |
| 2 | American Dreamin' | Jay-Z | Play | 04:47 | 10 MB | 35 MB |
| 3 | Hello Brooklyn 2.0 | Jay-Z, Lil Wayne | Play | 03:56 | 9 MB | 27 MB |
| 4 | No Hook | Jay-Z | Play | 03:13 | 7 MB | 21 MB |
| 5 | Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)... | Jay-Z | Play | 04:12 | 9 MB | 31 MB |
| 6 | Sweet | Jay-Z | Play | 03:26 | 7 MB | 25 MB |
| 7 | I Know | Jay-Z | Play | 03:42 | 8 MB | 26 MB |
| 8 | Party Life | Jay-Z | Play | 04:29 | 10 MB | 31 MB |
| 9 | Say Hello | Jay-Z | Play | 05:26 | 12 MB | 39 MB |
| 10 | Success | Jay-Z, Nas | Play | 03:30 | 8 MB | 21 MB |
| 11 | Fallin' | Jay-Z | Play | 04:06 | 9 MB | 27 MB |
| 12 | Blue Magic | Jay-Z | Play | 04:10 | 9 MB | 26 MB |
| 13 | American Gangster | Jay-Z | Play | 03:41 | 8 MB | 27 MB |
| 14 | Intro: American Gangster | Jay-Z | Play | 02:00 | 4 MB | 15 MB |
| 15 | Ignorant Shit | Jay-Z, Beanie Sigel | Play | 03:41 | 8 MB | 27 MB |
| 58 mins | 135 MB | |||||
| 58 mins | 416 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Victor Abijaudi | Engineer, Mixing |
| 2 | Timon Abuptah | Strings |
| 3 | Arden Altino | Bass, Fender Rhodes, Keyboards, Piano, Strings |
| 4 | June Ambrose | Stylist |
| 5 | Angelo Aponte | Engineer |
| 6 | Carline Balan | A&R |
| 7 | Heather Boyden | Assistant Engineer |
| 8 | Keon Bryce | Vocals (Background) |
| 9 | Carter Administration | A&R |
| 10 | Shawn Carter | Art Direction, Design, Executive Producer, Producer |
| 11 | Minyoung Chang | Violin |
| 12 | Andrew Coleman | Engineer |
| 13 | Mike David | Trombone |
| 14 | Tony Dawsey | Mastering |
| 15 | Hector Delgado | Arranger |
| 16 | Cheri Dennis | Vocals |
| 17 | Steve "Rock Star" Dickey | Assistant Engineer, Engineer |
| 18 | Diddy | Associate Producer, Producer |
| 19 | Jermaine Dupri | Mixing, Producer |
| 20 | Ken "Supa Engineer" Duro | Mixing |
| 21 | Arthur Elgort | Photography |
| 22 | Seth Firkins | Engineer |
| 23 | Chris Flame | Producer |
| 24 | Andy Geel | Assistant Engineer |
| 25 | Ed Goldson | Bass, Guitar |
| 26 | Hart Gunther | Assistant |
| 27 | Dawn Hannay | Viola |
| 28 | Keyon Harrold | Trumpet |
| 29 | Hector Helgado | Editing, Mixing |
| 30 | Cedric Hollywood Jr. | Engineer |
| 31 | Drew Hollywood | Programming |
| 32 | Josh Houghkirk | Assistant |
| 33 | Chad Hugo | Mixing |
| 34 | Ken "Duro" Ifill | Mixing |
| 35 | Ernie Isley | Composer |
| 36 | Chris Jasper | Composer |
| 37 | Jay-Z | Primary Artist |
| 38 | Bashiri Johnson | Percussion |
| 39 | Leisa Johnson | Vocals |
| 40 | Shannon Jones | Vocals |
| 41 | Terese Joseph | A&R |
| 42 | Just Blaze | Producer |
| 43 | Gimel "Young Guru" Keaton | Engineer, Mixing |
| 44 | Jeff Kievit | Trumpet |
| 45 | Lisa Kim | Violin |
| 46 | L.V. | Producer |
| 47 | Jeanne LeBlanc | Cello |
| 48 | Matthew Lehmann | Violin |
| 49 | James Lewis | Bass, Guitar |
| 50 | Lil Wayne | Primary Artist |
| 51 | Elizabeth Lim | Violin |
| 52 | Jayms Madison | Vocals |
| 53 | Eileen Moon | Cello |
| 54 | Nas | Primary Artist |
| 55 | The Neptunes | Producer |
| 56 | No I.D. | Producer |
| 57 | Sarah O'Boyle | Violin |
| 58 | Anthony Palazzole | Assistant |
| 59 | Sandra Park | String Contractor, Violin |
| 60 | Juan Carlos Perez | Vocals (Background) |
| 61 | Charles Pillow | Sax (Tenor) |
| 62 | Sue Pray | Viola |
| 63 | L.A. Reid | Executive Producer |
| 64 | Marty Reid | Guitar |
| 65 | J. Peter Robinson | Art Direction, Design, Photography |
| 66 | Derrick Selby | Engineer |
| 67 | Saunders Sermons | Trombone |
| 68 | Beanie Sigel | Primary Artist |
| 69 | Darin Smith | Engineer |
| 70 | Andy Snitzer | Sax (Alto) |
| 71 | Still Phil | Drums |
| 72 | Adonis Stropshire | Vocals |
| 73 | Phil Tan | Mixing |
| 74 | Matthew Testa | Assistant Engineer |
| 75 | A.J. Walker | Vocals |
| 76 | Eric Weissman | Sample Clearance |
| 77 | Kanye West | Vocals |
| 78 | Ryan West | Engineer |
| 79 | Kenneth Whalum III | Arranger, Sax (Tenor) |
| 80 | Hype Williams | Photography |
| 81 | Mario Winans | Drums, Producer, Strings |
| 82 | Angela Wood | Vocals |
| 83 | Andrew Wright | Assistant, Engineer |
| 84 | Jeanine Wynton | Violin |
| 85 | Sharon Yamada | Violin |
| 86 | Jordan "DJ Swivel" Young | Assistant, Engineer |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |