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Posts Tagged Jay-Z

Archive

March 12, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

The 1001 Albums Challenge # 132: Jeru The Damaja – “The Sun Rises In The East”

Now I knew about this album – maybe not quite at the time, but sometime shortly after, and I just never quite made it through to it. A shame. And good to be there now. Because not only is Jeru The Damaja great, and certainly career-best here on this debut, but also I was into all the stuff that came up around this time […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged 1001, 1001 Albums, 1001 Albums To Hear Before You Die, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, 1994, DJ Premier, Hip-Hop, Jay-Z, Jeru, Jeru The Damaja, Jeru The Damaja - “The Sun Rises In The East”, Nas, Nineties, Rap, The 1001 Albums Challenge, The 1001 Albums Challenge # 132, The 1001 Albums Challenge # 132: Jeru The Damaja - “The Sun Rises In The East”, The Sun Rises In The East, Wu Tang Clan, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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June 27, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

Got Live Cos I Want It: 10 Important Live-in-Concert Albums In My Life of Listening

I know I’ve written about live albums before – several times, and I always will, I love live albums! – but I thought I’d give you a list of the ten live albums that I consider the most important. That is to say important to me, these lists are a chance for me to remind […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged 10 Important Live-in-Concert Albums In My Life of Listening, Absolutely Live, B.B. King, Big Swing Face, Bill Withers, Buddy Rich, Concert, Cook County Jail, Erykah Badu, Frampton Comes Alive, Got Live Cos I Want It, Got Live Cos I Want It: 10 Important Live-in-Concert Albums In My Life of Listening, Jay-Z, Live, Live Album, Live At Carnegie Hall, Live At Leeds, Live At The Regal, Live At The Village Vanguard, Live In Concert, Live In Cook County Jail, Live Magic, Peter Frampton, Queen, The Buddy Rich Big Band, The Doors, The Roots, The Who, Wynton Marsalis ·

Archive

April 25, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

Taking The Power Back: Ten of the Most Important Hip-Hop Albums in my Life

We all know that lists are subjective – that is the point of them. So I’ve decided to do a series of top ten albums across genres. They’ll appear sporadically. And rather than call them “Top Ten” I will call them ten of the most important – sorry if that sounds pretentious. It’s not meant […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged 36 Chambers, Alphabethead, Antipop Consortium, Beastie Boys, Beats, De La Soul, DJ, DJ Shadow, Dr. Dre, Electricity, Fear Of A Black Planet, Genius/GZA, Hip-Hop, Ice Cube, Illmatic, Jay-Z, Licensed to Ill, Liquid Swords, Lyrics, Madvillany, Madvillian, Matthew Shipp, N.W.A., Nas, Public Enemy, Rap, Samples, Taking The Power Back: Ten of the Most Important Hip-Hop Albums in my Life, Ten of the Most Important Hip-Hop Albums in my Life, The Roots, Wu Tang Clan ·

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September 13, 2015 by Simon Sweetman

Prince: HITnRUN phase one

Prince HITnRUN phase one NPG/Tidal A new Prince album – again! –  means headlines, particularly as this one follows swiftly after the last pair and in a gimmick-move it’s available exclusively on the Tidal streaming platform (at least  for a couple more days and then it’ll be a CD since people concerned with owning every […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Album Review, Hit N Run, HITnRUN, HITnRUN phase one, Jay-Z, Judith Hill, Phase One, Prince, Rita Ora, Streaming, Tidal ·

Archive

September 30, 2014 by Simon Sweetman

Charles Fairchild: Danger Mouse’s Grey Album (33 1/3)

Danger Mouse’s The Grey Album (33 1/3) Charles Fairchild Bloomsbury Academic Charles Fairchild is a Senior Lecturer in Popular Music at the University of Sydney in Australia and here, with his entry into the 33 1/3 series he looks at The Grey Album by Danger Mouse, an exercise in collage and contrast, in the melding […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged "The White Album", 33 1/3, 33 1/3 Series, Bloomsbury, Book, Book Review, Brian Burton, Charles Fairchild, Danger Mouse, Danger Mouse's Grey Album, Hip-Hop, Jay-Z, Mash-Up, Sample, The Beatles, The Black Album, White Album ·

Archive

July 19, 2013 by Simon Sweetman

Jay-Z: Magna Carta Holy Grail

Jay-Z Magna Carta Holy Grail Universal Music It’s good. You know, I think a lot of people decided it couldn’t be because this billionaire didn’t deserve even more success; didn’t deserve to make money by cynically distributing the album with a new (clever) deal that could only work for one or two names in music. […]
Posted in Blog · Tagged Album Review, Beyonce, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Magna Carta Holy Grail, Universal ·

Archive

June 9, 2013 by Simon Sweetman

The Great Gatsby: Film

The Great Gatsby Director: Baz Luhrmann Village Roadshow Pictures Baz Luhrmann’s version of The Great Gatsby is likely the stupidest film I’ll ever see. And how fitting for it to be in 3D – the same issues with that gimmick apply to Luhrmann’s creative angle: you’re put right in the film and for that to […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged 3D, Baz Luhrmann, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Film Review, Great Gatsby, Jay-Z, Movie ·

Archive

December 20, 2011 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 1709

Jay-Z, The Blueprint (2001) I always liked this album. I like a couple of other Jay-Z albums too but this is the one I play the most. Listening to it now – I bought the double-LP very recently – it plays like a greatest hits. Izzo (H.O.V.A.), Girls, Girls, Girls, Jigga That Nigga, so many […]
Posted in The Vinyl Countdown · Tagged 2001, Girls, Izzo (H.O.V.A.), Jay-Z, Jigga That Nigga, MTV Unplugged, Takeover, The Blueprint, The Roots, Vinyl ·

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December 17, 2011 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 1713

Kanye West, The College Dropout (2004) I didn’t like that silly vocoder album at all and made my feelings pretty clear regarding its absurd shark-jumping follow-up but the first three Kanye West albums were all pretty easy to like. And they flow on well from one to the next – he’s slowly but surely turning […]
Posted in The Vinyl Countdown · Tagged 2004, 808s & Heartbreak, Alicia Keys, All Falls Down, Blog On The Tracks, Jay-Z, Jesus Walks, Kanye West, Last Call, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Through The Wire, Vinyl ·

Archive

July 24, 2011 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 1917

Jaydiohead, Jay-Z X Radiohead (2009) The Jaydiohead project is one of many mash-ups to use Jay-Z’s record, The Black Album against a contrasting/incongruous musical background. Here it’s Radiohead. I picked it up for $15 on vinyl; call it a curiosity – but it works (most of it). It’s a fun thing to have in the […]
Posted in The Vinyl Countdown · Tagged 99 Anthems, Dirt Off Your Android, Jay-Z, Jay-Z X Radiohead, Jaydiohead, Max Tannone, Minty Fresh Beats, Radiohead, The Black Album, The Grey Album, Vinyl ·

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