On This Day: “In My Lifetime Vol.1”

On this day 23 years ago, Jay-Z released “In My Lifetime Vol. 1”, his 2nd studio album. Selling 138,000 units first week, “Vol. 1” would debut at #3 on the Billboard 200 charts & later became certified platinum. Due to “Reasonable Doubt” not being well received at the time, Jay tried a different approach with “Vol. 1”& decided to go for that main stream appeal. “Vol.1” became known as Jay’s “Pop album”, due to the flashy production & videos that was adopted from Puff Daddy’s Bad Boy Lifestyle. With tracks like “Where I’m From”, “Streets is Watchin’” & “Friend or For ‘98”, Hov stuck to his gritty street persona that we knew him for, but songs like “Sunshine”, “I Know What Girls Like” & “The City Is Mine”, just wasn’t who he was. The “Throw your Rollies’ in the sky”, shiny suit & shades gimmick wasn’t Jay at his core, he & his fans knew that well. During it’s initial run, “Vol 1.” Had many mixed reviews, more negative than positive & it is even said by Jay-Z himself that this album is the only album of his that he doesn’t listen to because he was “trying to chase a radio hit”. Something interesting to think about.

November 4th, 1997