Jay Z – Vol.2…Hard Knock Life

Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, songwriter, record executive, businessman, and record producer. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential hip-hop artists in history, and often cited as one of the greatest rappers of all time. Jay-Z says his earliest exposure to music was through his parents’ record collection, which was mostly of soul artists such as Marvin Gaye and Donny Hathaway. Royce da 5’9″ and Fredro Starr of Onyx both describe Jay-Z’s emphasis on flow in the book How to Rap—Starr: Jay-Z uses ‘rests’ to provide structure to a verse and how he uses ‘partial linking’ to add more rhymes to a verse. Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life is his third studio album, released on September 29, 1998, by Roc-A-Fella Records and Def Jam Recordings. It went on to become his most commercially successful album, selling over 5 million copies in the United States. The album won Grammy Award for Best Rap Album at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards. Though he won the nomination Jay-Z boycotted the ceremony, citing what he sees as the Grammys’ continuing disrespect of hip hop because they were not going to broadcast the rap nominations. The album features some great guests on production and vocals, among them Timbaland, DMX, DJ Premier and more.

Record Label: Def Jam
Cat.# 314 558 902-1
2 x LP