A new compilation for rapper Jay-Z will be on store shelves very soon from Island Def Jam.
The influential hip-hop artist/businessman has never had a compilation released stateside, outside of a bonus CD packed with special copies of last year's DJ Hero video game. So this is quite a monument; the man born Shawn Carter is arguably the most pre-eminent figure in rap since the end of the 1990s. His career has weathered retirements, comebacks, feuds, reconciliations and the jump from Roc-a-Fella Records - the label he co-created - to new venture Roc Nation (distributed by Warner's Atlantic Records).
Now, on November 23 - six days after his lyrical memoir Decoded hits stores and the same week Island Def Jam releases both a new studio album from Jay protegee/collaborator Kanye West and a collaborative EP between West and Jay-Z - the label will drop The Hits Collection Vol. 1. It's been confirmed for a variety of formats (Amazon lists standard and deluxe editions alongside a deluxe box set version) and, as first reported by Billboard, will include five unreleased tracks. (Also interesting: the track list includes not only Hov's hits on Roc-a-Fella, but threel hits licensed from his latest record, 2009's The Blueprint 3.)
Amazon now has a track list, which you can read after the jump.
Jay-Z, The Hits Collection Volume 1 (Roc-a-Fella/Def Jam B0014277-02, 2010)
Disc 1
- Public Service Announcement (Interlude)
- Run This Town (feat. Rihanna and Kanye West)
- '03 Bonnie and Clyde (feat. Beyonce)
- Encore
- I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)
- Izzo (H.O.V.A.)
- D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)
- 99 Problems
- Empire State of Mind (feat. Alicia Keys)
- Dirt Off Your Shoulder
- Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)
- Show Me What You Got
- Roc Boys (And the Winner is...)
- Big Pimpin'
Disc 2
- Young, Gifted and Black
- Pump It Up (Freestyle)
- My President is Black (Remix)
- Go Hard (Remix feat. T-Pain and Kanye West)
- Most Kings (feat. Green Lantern)
Disc 1, Tracks 1, 4, 8 and 10 from The Black Album (Roc-a-Fella/Def Jam, 2003)
Disc 1, Tracks 2, 7 and 9 from The Blueprint 3 (Roc Nation/Atlantic, 2009)
Disc 1, Track 3 from The Blueprint 2: The Gift & the Curse (Roc-a-Fella/Def Jam, 2002)
Disc 1, Track 5 from The Dynasty: Roc La Familia (Roc-a-Fella/Def Jam, 2000)
Disc 1, Track 6 from The Blueprint (Roc-a-Fella/Def Jam, 2001)
Disc 1, Track 11 from Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life (Roc-a-Fella/Def Jam, 1998)
Disc 1, Track 12 from Kingdom Come (Roc-a-Fella/Def Jam, 2006)
Disc 1, Track 13 from American Gangster (Roc-a-Fella/Def Jam, 2007)
Disc 1, Track 14 from Vol. 3...Life and Times of S. Carter (Roc-a-Fella/Def Jam, 1999)
All tracks on Disc 2 previously unreleased
RoyalScam says
Well, it's easy to see which two albums he clearly prefers.
Eric Luecking says
I wonder how much he really had to do with the track selection. It could have been a licensing thing and previously issued reissues such as Reasonable Doubt, which many hip hop fans consider his best album. In My Lifetime Vol 1 had a couple singles that got air/video play such as The City Is Mine (ft. Blackstreet) and Sunshine (ft. Babyface) as well as one of his best tracks (and beats by Primo) in A Million And One Questions.
And The Blueprint, which might just be better than RD and which also skyrocketed Kanye West to fame, is only represented by one track? It's just an odd collection to call a Hits collection.