Jay-Z is a hustler. I could cite dozens of his lyrics self-proclaiming such (especially pertinent to this column's topic, ""I'm more Frank Lucas than Ludacris""), but the more music that comes and goes, the more the evidence supports his claims.
The divide between commercial and critical success has been growing since the late-'90s and the era of the one-hit wonders. You can argue that there's always been a divide hiding talented artists from the general public, and you'd be right, but with the global rise of teen pop and names like Duncan Sheik, Lisa Loeb, OMC and Edwin McCain commercially dominating the likes of Beck, Pavement and personal favorite Elliott Smith, the rift became blaring.
Accordingly, rap and hip-hop fell right in line. Sure, Outkast and Eminem were on the airwaves, but then you were forced to hear Mystikal saying ""I came in wit my dick in my hand"" on the very next song. Nelly, Sisqo and Ja Rule's epic sell-out ""I'm Real,"" seemed to mark a significant shift in gangster rap, but it didn't truly die as Nas feared a few years ago, it just relocated... to anywhere but the radio. Except for one man.
In 2003, The Black Album survived critically and thrived commercially, and it stands as the best embodiment of Jay-Z's ability to hustle the critics, his peers and the general public. Hyped to be an epic retirement gift to the world and his ultimate ‘fade to black' (the name of his DVD documenting the making of and celebration of the album, another easy way to hustle the market), it has been played at a large majority of parties since, and has made residence in iPods everywhere. Ironically, it did not signal the end of his rap career, but instead it seems to have marked the last large crossover success for authentic gangster rap.
Since then, even Jay has been polarized. On 2006's Kingdom Come and the newly leaked Blueprint 3, he leans toward glossy production, dominating hooks and full guest lists he snagged from his 40/40 Club, making more radio-friendly tracks than his old school fans are used to. And on American Gangster, he went old school, letting his lyricism take the lead, which led to no commercial success.
Others have had an even harder time capitalizing. The contenders?
Kanye West has seen success from all sides and he even got his big break by producing most of Jay-Z's Blueprint, but I was already having a hard time calling him a true rapper, especially after his foray into pop on 808's.
Lil' Wayne is a new breed of rapper, and on Tha Carter III, spotting the radio singles is easier to spot than Weezy in a crowd in Madison. And the last two to fall just can't hang with the potency of The Black Album.
T.I.'s King (20 tracks) and Outkast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (39 tracks) each have one song the average person would recognize from commercial play. The Black Album has at the very least three.
Although there are phenomenal albums, some arguably better overall, none of them possess the same crossover novelty of The Black Album. After all, Hova brags more about his ability to hustle than his ability to rap. He puts it best when he says, ""Hustle cane, hustle clothes or hustle music / But hustle hard in any hustle that you pick."" And considering he may be the last musical artist of any genre to do so, I'd say such boasting is warranted.
