In My Lifetime Vol. 1

1997年Jay-z发行第二张专辑《In My Lifetime, Vol. 1》，不得不佩服Jay-Z敏锐的眼光和聪明的商业头脑，当时的绑匪说唱界由于斗争的激烈，以及2Pac死了之后鲜有优秀作品出现而稍微显得有些不红火，于是Jay-Z在这张专辑中为了吸引更多的听众以及扩大知名度和专辑的购买群，把专辑的音乐风格从偏激的帮匪说唱转变为了更加易于各方面听众接受的流行说唱，同时在专辑中邀请吹牛老爹Sean "Puffy" Combs这样的大牌歌星助阵，虽然可以说音乐已经走上了商业化的道路，不过拥有多首单曲打榜，销量迅速超过了《Reasonable Doubt》，杀进了Billboard 200排行榜的前三名，不能不说明Jay-Z的成功。在1998年度第41届格莱美颁奖典礼上Jay-Z获得了到目前为止他个人唯一的一尊格莱美奖杯。 After the death of friend and compatriot the Notorious B.I.G. in early 1997, Jay-Z made his claim for the title of best rapper on the East Coast (or anywhere) with his sophomore shot, In My Lifetime, Vol. 1. Though the productions are just a bit flashier and more commercial than on his debut, Jay-Z remained the tough street rapper, and even improved a bit on his flow, already one of the best in the world of hip-hop. Still showing his roots in the Marcy projects (he's surrounded by a group of kids in a picture on the back cover), Jay-Z struts the line between project poet and up-and-coming player, and manages to have it both ways. He slings some of the most cutting rhymes heard in hip-hop, brushing off a legion of rappers riding his coattails on "Imaginary Player." For "Streets Is Watching," high-tension background strings and vocal samples from the gangster film Sleeper emphasize the pitfalls of a rapper everyone's gunning for ("If I shoot you, I'm brainless/But if you shoot me, then you famous"). The song leads right into "Friend or Foe '98," the sequel to a track from Reasonable Doubt that only increases the sense of paranoia. But Jay-Z plays the ghetto celebrity equally well, and continues his slick, Cristal-sipping image with "I Know What Girls Like" (featuring Puff Daddy and Lil' Kim), "(Always Be My) Sunshine" (featuring Babyface and Foxy Brown), and "Lucky Me." Puff Daddy's Bad Boy stable is responsible for almost half the productions, and though they often verge far into pop territory, Jay-Z usually rescues them from a complete crossover. (Ironically, the most commercial production is actually from Teddy Riley on "The City Is Mine," with an unfortunate interpolation of Glenn Frey's "You Belong to the City.") Having one of the toughest producers around (Premier) as well as one of the slickest (Puff Daddy) sometimes creates a disconnect between who Jay-Z really is and who he wants to become, but he balances both personas with the best rapping heard in the rap game since the deaths of 2Pac and Notorious B.I.G.