Customer Reviews

MTV Unplugged: Jay-Z

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

How could you not give this album 5 stars? Roots backing him, amazing newcomer Jaguar Wright on backup vocals, guest appearances by Mary J. Blige and Neptunes, and all the hits!! This is how a hip-hop show should be done.
For me, the live band (especially being The Roots) sold me. No pre-recorded music or djs spinning records. REAL music, and it makes even Jay's oldest songs sound fresh!
Jay Z has an amazing gift, that has always been evident to me on his albums. I have always wondered, however, if he could pull it off live. I have seen too many hip-hop acts who were not able to pull off thier studio majic when they hit the stage. Jay Z does it almost better than he does in a studio.
The entire album amazed me. Some do stand out better than others though. Take Over is one of the better battle tracks ever, and sounds even better with a live band (appropriate since it heavily samples The Doors). Jigga What's crowd participation makes it even better than the album version, and the flow into Big Pimpin was perfect. Ain't No Love is amazing because of the powerful chorus sung by Jaguar Wright - who I have seen open for Maxwell, and was impressive there as well. Can't Knock the Hussle was great also because of the chorus, sung by the Queen of R&B/Hip-Hop/Whatever... hey, she's the Queen!
There were some things that I would have liked changed. Big Pimpin sounded great with a live band, and he was right on - however, with only the two verses it seemed to be over too quickly. I know he only did those two verses on the song, but he's an artist - Freestyle! The medelys were great, but I would have liked a trak break, so that I could listen to them individually more easily.
Aside from those two SMALL complaints, this album is definately worth buying whether you are a Jay Z fan, only like a few of his songs, or if you just like live hip-hop, Roots style.

Jay to the izA has once again proved himself, with another hot album. He's puttin in work and he's getting closer to the king of New York crown. I know you all might be asking yourslelf, Hip hop and a live unplugged band...hmmm how does that work? Well let me tell you It works out fine. Jay couldn't have picked a better band cuz the Roots Crew is hip hops finest, and those cats are some amazing musicians. Plus with Jaguar singing the hooks and backup, she put it down, she got a chameleon voice cuz she sounded tight on every track. That's a soulful sista.

I never really thought hip hop could sound this good live, but rest assured it can. All the tracks are done by different producers but they all seem to work. Of course they needed a little extra help on percussion for the Crazy incessant Timbaland Hi-Hats on "Jigga What , Jigga Who" but damn quest love puts it down behind the kit. And on "The Takeover" the Roots manage switch the beat to "Shook Ones" and "Oochie Wally" just to ad a little more fire to Prodigy and Nas' pants respectively.

Mary J Blige came in and showed the love on the classic "Cant knock the Hustle" she still sounds damn good on that track after all these years, Mary still cant knock her hustle. But still even more emotionally moving is "Song Cry" I mean I've never cheated on my wifey but for some reason the song still makes me sad, It must be some of the thug love nature in me. Even Jay himself is almost moved to tears by the end of the track.

From there of course tha party gets started once again, and The roots put it down on the wild Neptunes produced "Give it to me" , with a little extra percussion the track bumps like the pores on the back of a shaven neck. Then Questlove smacks the H out his snares on the Trackmasters produced "Jigga Jigga"
Overall this album is a Jay-Z greatest Hits album , and I mean on that John Forte level. Peace and check the album ,all the songs have a little salt added, meaning they got a lil more flava.

This album... is sweet. Ever since MTV debuted it's "Unplugged" series, I'd been waiting for a hip-hop group to take the stage. Once the Roots started getting popular, I figured they might be the ones to break the mold. I was close.

While the full Roots crew would probably have been a much more exhilarating show, it's hard to complain about having Jay-Z sit in with the band, and banging through newbies and classics like it's nothin'. The diversity of instruments the Roots band plays made covering Jay's tunes pretty simple, and the sounds they couldn't replicate, they simply ad-libbed.

Jay admitted in an interview that he was really feeling the dynamic between himself, the band and the crowd during the sessions, and a good deal of that energy is captured on the album. It's been said that Jigga had to read from a teleprompter during a lot of the set, and you can kind of hear that as well, most noticeably when he stumbles during some of the more rapid-fire lines in "N***a What N***a Who." But oh well. The quality of the jams makes up for it, I suppose.

The whole disc plays in under an hour, and most of the older, better songs are cut short. But the centerpiece of the album is it's best moment, a medley including "Can I Get A...," "Hard Knock Life," "Ain't No N***a," and finally, the Big Willie classic "Can't Knock Da Hustle," featuring none other than the guest on that track, Ms. Mary J. Blige.

But Jay-Hova was clearly the main attraction, commanding the crowd, barking orders and laying rhymes like few can. Playa-hater or not, this is a solid slice of hip-hop pie anyone can sink their fork into.

After releasing his latest album,"The Blueprint" in September,possibly the best album of the year,Jay-Z releases this masterpiece.Sure,this is an album made up of most of Jay's biggest hits ever,but all of the songs sound new and fresh with help from the awesome band,The Roots,who should get a lot of credit and respect of making both the MTV program,and this cd amazing.I personally think that Jay should have had Jaguar Wright sing the hooks on his newest album instead of just sampling,because it just sounds way better.Every single song on this album is amazing.Even songs that i have become tired of from too much play on radio and tv,like "Hard Knock Life" and "Izzo" sound so much better and have a lot more energy put into them,and i find myself enjoying them again.I have always liked Jay-Z and have always thought of him as a very good lyricist and rap artist,but this cd makes me think of him as the best rapper doing it right now,...all he needs is an awesome band like The Roots to back him up with live instruments.I truly belive that this shows both Jay-Z and The Roots as the best and most creative artists out today in both rap music,and all music in gerneral,...But at the end of the day after listening to all of everyone elses boring music,its nice to be able to put on a great cd like this one and go away on a journey with Shawn Carter through his life story,growing up in a "Hard Knock Life",going to parties and picking up women,"Big Pimpin",confronting haters,"Takeover","Heart Of The City",party anthems,"Izzo","That N---a Jigga","I Just Wana Love You",goin back through life,"Cant Knock The Hustle",relationship and love problems,"Song Cry".This amazing album truly has something for everyone and especially for those people who say that "Rap music never uses bands,and it curses every other word,and all the songs sound the same,so why listen to it?" If those people listen to this cd it should shut them up quick....If you dont have this already,just buy it.It is the first cd that i have purchased in awhile that is worth all of the money that they charge you.Just go get this awesome cd,and enjoy it.

If you're a fan of The Roots, this is a must because it shows how much they can make someone else's music shine. If you're a fan of Jay-Z, this is a must because you see things in him you don't normally see. If you're anyone else, it's worth a listen at the least. Jay-Z is a good lyricist and his delivery is generally strong, but I have to say that what makes this record shine is The Roots and the bonus performance by Mary J. Blige. It's amazing that The Roots haven't gotten more attention given the way they make things sound. A few of my friends who have no appreciation at all for Rap or Hip-Hop watched this on MTV and were out buying the record the day it was released (today). It sounds that good.

Just a warning - if you really hate rap, this probably won't convert you.

I'm a huge hip-hop fan and I have to say I wasn't the biggest of Jay-Z fans until I heard the Mtv unplugged CD.Now I want it on dvd real bad,is it out?Where can I get it?Please if someone knows please reply.

It has a remake of some Jigga's best songs of all time including "Big Pimpin'" with his rare second verse added onto it, and the hidden bonus track, "People Talkin'". With beats played by the incredible Roots band, Jay-Z surprises the audience by switching beats during his songs. One switch in particular takes place during Takeover, when he swtiches from its normal beat to Nas's Oochie Wally beat as Jay-Z continues his sick flow. Definitely something that should be done more often in hip-hop, Jay-Z once again astonishes the hip-hop community by giving us yet another must-have CD.

Hip Hop With Out A Doubt. It's funny how even the tracts that I usually did not like on Jigga's regular albums I liked when he did them live...Go Figure. I like this album because of the fact that I never expected this match up. I mean...The Roots and Jigga...Wow. Also this album is great because even after the enitial schock of it all, I was still pleased with the album. This is what I call taking hip hop to another level. This is the marrige of mainstreem hip hop, Under Ground, Jazz, and big band. This is a classic though it will be highly under-rated. Only thing that stopped me from giving this 5 stars is the fact that I wish he had made all new songs for it. Jigga is on to something, I hope he follows it up. ONE!

i didnt get a chance to c the tv performance but i went out and got the record anyway just out of curiousity since i have all the other jay-z cds. when i started listening to it i was amazed at what the roots were doing wit the usually crisp clean beats jay-z and roc-a-fella are known for. the big pimpin beat was improved so much, i wasnt really a fan of that song till i heard the roots version. i also was a fan of the roots in theory before but after this record i am a fan of them as well. if your hip-hop fan this record will probably not make you 1 but if you are you will love this record

Jay Z's unplugged performance is amazing. Backed by the Roots band, Jay-Z's songs sound better than ever backed up by a real live band and live back up vocals. Jay-Z has top notch delivery throughout the show and chooses an excellent song list that is a nice mix from all the way back to his Reasonable Doubt days up to the Blueprint. I was a bit skeptical as to how good a rap unplugged performance would sound, but after hearing this album I now realize its the perfect combination. Even if you dont like Jigga, this album is worth checking out.