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100A magnificent record. [Jan 2004, p.104]
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90It easily stands comparison not just to the stars Jay-Z has been forced to compete with since 1996, but to the all-time greats of hip hop history.
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90There are better storytellers, there are better battle rappers, there are undoubtedly rhymers with more on their minds. But there isn't a better MC around, if you're talking about the art of sheer mic domination.
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90It's monumental because it's a culmination of Jigga's natural thoughtfulness delivered with transcendent skill. [Jan 2004, p.120]
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The Black Album stands up alongside Reasonable Doubt and The Blueprint as Z's most ambitious work.
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Carter's sulky obsession with proving himself against a field that has all but laid down and acknowledged him as its master detracts from the hard-won grandeur wrought by this nostalgic magnum opus of self-regard (to say nothing of the engaging beats and typically nimble rhymes).
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The Black Album's bling-bang reportage mostly rings redundant. [28 Nov 2003, p.121]
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83A streamlined effort that's stylish, cool and has a sense of finality.
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80The Black Album is a spectacular farewell if that's what it turns out to be.
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80Even in falling short of Jay's classics, Reasonable Doubt and 2001's The Blueprint, it manages to eclipse 1999's brilliant Vol. 3: Life and Times of S. Carter as his third-best album-- which in itself still makes it one of the year's best.
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80This is Jay-Z's suicide note and his glowing eulogy rolled into one. [Jan 2004, p.106]
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Impresses on the same level as the best of his career.
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80Excellent, although not quite the epoch-defining triumph its hype suggested it might be. [Jan 2004, p.108]
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Given one last chance to make an impact, Jay-Z has come up with one of the better albums of his career, though perhaps a shade lesser than his very best, Reasonable Doubt and The Blueprint.
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80The Black Album turns out to be... a surprisingly meticulously constructed coda to Jay-Z's extensive and prosperous career.
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It's essentially The Blueprint 3.0.
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80While it probably won't be remembered as his best album, The Black Album is his most personal to date and features some of his most compelling writing.
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Review 1: The Black Album’s failings fall upon Jay-Z’s shoulders as much as his producers. [Score=64] Review 2: The majority of the beats here are mediocre. [Score=38]
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40For all the dark wordplay, the album is an aural equivalent of that old American favourite, the schmaltzy biopic.
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User score distribution:
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Positive: 47 out of 50
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Mixed: 1 out of 50
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Negative: 2 out of 50
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