Happy 20th Anniversary to Jay-Z’s fourth studio album Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter, originally released December 28, 1999.
As the 2010s come to a close, Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter is in a rarified air. Few, if any, rappers have achieved the level of success, fame, and wealth that he has earned.
Jay-Z has recorded an impressive catalogue, both artistically and commercially. He’s spent time as a minority owner of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets franchise. He’s helped push TIDAL, one of the major music streaming services available. He founded Roc Nation, a major entertainment umbrella that operates a record label and has its arms in music management, sports management, film, and concert promotion. In August, the NFL announced a deal with Roc Nation to “enhance the NFL's live game experiences and to amplify the league's social justice efforts.” And yes, he’s married to arguably the biggest pop star of the current millennium. Jay-Z is indeed a business, man.
But even now, as one of hip-hop’s first billionaires, Jay-Z makes efforts to remind everyone that he’s still the same guy that grew up in Brooklyn’s Marcy Projects. He’s rarely photographed without wearing a Yankee hat over his mop of short dreads. He signed current East Coast hip-hop heroes Griselda to Roc Nation management. Just last month he was photographed with another underground superstar, the elusive Mach-Hommy. The message is always clear: even if he’s not on the corners in Brooklyn pushing weight, he’s never forgotten where he came from.
Jay-Z found himself at a similar crossroads two decades ago, in the wake of In My Lifetime Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life (1998), which is still the most successful album of his career. The album is certified five times platinum and “Hard Knock Life” and “Can I Get a…” remain two of his most iconic singles.
But with all the success that Vol. 2 brought him, it was clearly important for Jay to remind people that he wasn’t going to let his fame change him. His fourth full-length, Vol. 3… Life and Times of S. Carter represents these sentiments. Released 20 years ago, Jay used the album to show that while his music might be played on the radio and in the clubs, his success was still defined on his own terms.
Even with early bootlegging of the album (more on that later), Vol. 3 was a massive commercial success, ultimately garnering a triple platinum certification. Its release was part of and end-of-year/decade/century/millennium push by Def Jam Records. In back-to-back weeks, they dropped DMX’s …And Then There Was X and Vol. 3. Word has it that this was a coordinated effort by the label to end the 20th century and begin the 21st with #1 charting albums. The plan paid off, and Jay’s release remains one of the strongest of his career.
Jay-Z is arguably the best at finding a way to walk the line between street hip-hop champion and widespread accessibility. He found a way to navigate his career in such a way that he was able to make his core audience and the wider population enjoy his music. He had the ability to bring out the best in commercially friendly producers and “real” hip-hop icons with his rhymes.
For the most part, Vol. 3 is at its strongest when Jigga keeps things grimy. “So Ghetto” functions as Jay-Z’s mission statement for the album. Produced by DJ Premier, it’s Jay’s dissertation on how he’ll remain “street” to the end of his days, rocking a doo-rag, talking shit, and “bringing guns to the GRAMMY’s.” Hova oozes confidence here, as his cadence mimics the stuttering piano and guitar sample from Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack to Le Ruffian. He raps, “I spit that murder-murder-murderous every time a verbalist / Iller than Verbal Kint is or O-Dog in Menace / I’m ill, start to finish, I rip apart contenders.” Sadly, to this day, this is the last time a Preemo-produced track appeared on one of Jay’s albums.
Jay flexes his true school bona fides by working with the legendary DJ Clue on a pair of tracks. Clue had gone from mixtape DJ to producer in the late ’90s, and had recently released his first official album, The Professional (1998). Here he produces “Dope Man,” an underrated track where Jigga is put on “trial” for spearheading the Roc-A-Fella movement.
Clue also puts together “Pop 4 Roc,” a catchy posse cut where Jay is joined by Beanie Sigel, Amil, and Memphis Bleek. All four emcees brag about their flashy lifestyles over an infectious electric guitar sample. The track would serve as a preview to The Dynasty: Roc La Familia (2000) which Jay would release the following year as a way to showcases the talents of emcees and producers under the Roc-A-Fella umbrella.
Sigel and Amil join Jay on Vol. 3’s first single, “Do It Again.” It’s one of Jigga’s best club tracks, a bouncy yet rugged anthem produced by Rockwilder. Sigel first explains how he rolls into the club, soaking up attention, and holding court. Hova shines on his verse, where he lambasts studio gangsters and unoriginal rappers. “Don't talk to me about ‘Emcees got skills,’” he proclaims. “He's all right, but he’s not real.”
The album’s more overtly commercial tracks are also winners. Jay-Z helped put Swizz Beatz on the map with “Money, Cash, Hoes,” a single on Vol. 2. The beat-maker, who spent his late ’90/early ’00s heyday associated with the Ruff Ryders collective, joins Jay-Z to produce three tracks on Vol. 3. The best of the trio is “Things That You Do” featuring Mariah Carey. The track should and could have been easily-digestible commercial pap, but instead, Jay flows smooth over low-key flute and string simples, while Carey contributes subdued vocals that complement the beat.
Although not released as an official single, “Watch Me” seems like it could have been another of the album’s more radio-friendly tracks, as Jay teams up with Dr. Dre, who appears on the song’s chorus. Produced by DJ Irv, “Watch Me” definitely channels Dre’s late ’90s musical aesthetic, with its dirge-like keys and haunting strings. Much like Dre on “The Watcher” from his own 2001 (released just weeks earlier), Jay rhymes from the perspective of an O.G. who’s already seen and done it all, pledging to remain true to himself for the rest of his career. “Still with the same soldiers,” he raps. “Still getting brain and it’s plain ain’t a thing gonna change Hova.”
Vol. 3 also features extensive production from Timbaland, who was in his prime during the late ’90s. The Virginia producer has always been best producing for R&B artists (such as Aaliyah and Ginuwine), but he created some of his masterpieces for Jay-Z on Vol. 3.
“Big Pimpin’,” Vol. 3’s most successful single, samples liberally from Hossam Ramzy’s version of the belly-dance standard “Khosara Khosara.” The song is also notable for introducing the hip-hop audience at large to Bun-B and Pimp-C of U.G.K. Although the Port Arthur, Texas duo had already built a strong following in the south and was signed to Jive Records, “Big Pimpin’” helped turn them into household names, earning them acclaim for their distinct and memorable styles and deliveries.
Timbaland provides the “East Coast” sounding track with “Come and Get Me,” one of the best songs on Vol. 3. For a song released in the winter, Jay-Z transforms the track into a six-minute ode to late summer grittiness, as he reminds anyone who wants to test him to not be fooled by the platinum chain because “S Dot Carter turn rappers into martyrs.” After a well-executed beat switch, the track adopts the tone of a ’70s Blaxsploitation flick, as Jay details his upbringing. “Imagine being skinny growing up around brolic cats,” he raps. “The quiet assassin, demeanor of them college cats.”
Jay overtly wrestles with who he started off as versus who he’s become on the soulful “There’s Been a Murder.” Jigga is at his most contemplative here, as he considers how to properly honor his roots, with the Shawn Carter side of his personality considering “killing” his Jay-Z persona so he can get back to a life of hustling. He raps, “See my life is like a see-saw / And until I move this weight it’s going to keep me to the floor / Travel with me through my deep thoughts / Y’all can't learn Jigga by the shit y’all be reading in The Source.”
Vol. 3. is one of the last albums where Jay-Z details his street credibility. Much of this may have to do with events that took place just weeks before Vol. 3’s release. Much to Jay’s chagrin, a bootleg version of the album became available nearly a month before its official release date. The story goes that Jay was told that his friend and colleague Lance “Un” Rivera was the source of the leak.
On November 30 he went to the Kit Kat Club, which was playing host to the album release party of Q-Tip’s debut solo LP Amplified (1999), to confront Rivera. A melee ensued, and Jay stabbed him, resulting in his arrest and felony assault charge. There was a distinct possibility that he would face up to ten years in prison. Thanks to astute maneuvering by his attorney, Jay ended up taking a plea deal and was sentenced to three years of probation.
In the episode’s aftermath, a presumably changed Jay-Z spent most of the next two decades rapping primarily about his fame and status. There are a few exceptions, like the American Gangster (2007) concept album, but Vol. 3 arguably represents the end of his tales as a street soldier, as Jay-Z ended up killing Shawn Carter the hustler.
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