Kim Miller
November 2, 2007
Professor Hamilton
Assignment 1

The Black Album is a 2003 hip hop music album by rapper Jay-Z. It was supposedly his last studio album until Jay-Z announced a return to solo recording in 2006. The album was very well received by critics and was also a huge commercial success debuting at #1 with about 463,000 sold in its first week and more than 3.5 million to date. The album has one notable guest appearance (Pharrell Williams in “Change Clothes”) along with some background singers and Jay-Z’s mother, who talks about his childhood on “December 4th.”

I found this music to be listen-able, but wouldn’t call it deeply enjoyable just yet. I had difficulty following the narrative of many of the songs, and had trouble distinguishing the verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus progression that I usually enjoy. I found the beat to be the most pleasant part of this music, and wished the vocals were a little less wordy. But overall, it was better than I was expecting.

The End.

I deserve an A.