Def Jam (label)
08 November 2010 (released)
16 November 2010
Jay-Z’s latest album The Hits Collection: Volume 1 seems a good point to release a retrospective look at his career, so far. Whilst overlooking some of his very early material, the Hits Collection does exactly that, looking at his hits to date, from 1998’s ‘Hard Knock Life’ through to this years ‘Run This Town’ and ‘Empire State of Mind’. In between you get his big hits like Bonnie & Clyde and 99 Problems.
The album is interspersed with lesser UK hits like Show Me What You Got which only just scrapped into the Top 40, and Roc Boys but failed to chart in the Top 100. It made 63 in the Billboard 100 Stateside.
There are some omissions, including collaborations with Linkin Park, Mr Hudson and Kanye west, but perhaps he wanted to concentrate on his more solo stuff (although saying that Beyonce and Rihanna made the cut!)
This is a good retrospective look back at a career spanning 14 years and 11 albums. Squeezing this into a single CD was always going to be tricky, but he has made a fair stab at it.
1. Public Service Announcement (Interlude)
2. Run This Town
3. 03' Bonnie & Clyde
4. Encore
5. I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)
6. Izzo (H.O.V.A.)
7. D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-Tune)
8. 99 Problems
9. Empire State Of Mind
10. Dirt Off Your Shoulder
11. Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)
12. Show Me What You Got
13. Roc Boys (And The Winner Is)...
14. Big Pimpin'
