On This Day: “American Gangster”

On this day 13 years ago, Jay-Z released “American Gangster”, his 10th studio album. American Gangster is an album inspired by the film of the same name starring Denzel Washington, Hov was so amazed at the performance, he had to live vicariously though 70’s gangster Frank Lucas. His story is a whole other story in itself. With this Album, Jay-Z tied Elvis Presley for the 2nd most number one albums on the charts. Selling over 425,000 units first week, the Album went certified platinum only a month later, receiving widespread acclaim throughout 2007 such as best album of the year. The songs “Blue Magic”, “Roc Boys (And the Winner Is...) & ”I Know” were it’s thee singles & featured 70’s inspired soulful, funky production from heavy hitters like The Neptunes & Kanye West & other produced by Just Blaze, P.Diddy & more. Hov’s previous album “Kingdom Come” was critically received as a disappointment after coming back from retirement, but “American Gangster” reassured his status as a top MC. They said Hov was over, such dummies.

November 6th, 2007