The Black Album is the eighth studio album by American rapper Jay-Z. It was released on November 14, 2003, through Roc-A-Fella Records and Def Jam Recordings. It was advertised as his final album before retiring, which is also a recurring theme throughout the songs, although Jay-Z resumed his recording career in 2006. For the album, Jay-Z wanted to enlist a different producer for each song, working with Just Blaze, Kanye West, The Neptunes, Eminem, DJ Quik, Timbaland, 9th Wonder and Rick Rubin, among others. The album also features a guest appearance by Pharrell Williams.
Jermaine Dupri Mauldin is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, record executive, entrepreneur, and DJ.
Melvins is the debut EP by the American rock band Melvins, released in May 1986 through C/Z Records. The original release was a vinyl 7", commonly referred to as Six Songs. A later edition, taken from an earlier recording session, was released as 10 Songs in 1991 on CD with an equivalent 12" vinyl EP called 8 Songs, which leaves off the last two tracks from the CD.
Malik Deshawn Cox, known by his stage name Memphis Bleek, is an American rapper who was a protégé of fellow New York rapper Jay-Z. Cox started his own labels: Get Low Records in 1998, and Warehouse Music Group in 2016. He has released four albums, the first two certified Gold.
Young Gunz is an American hip hop duo from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, composed of rappers Young Chris and Neef Buck. The group is part of Beanie Sigel's State Property collective and was signed to Roc-A-Fella Records. Young Gunz' debut single, "Can't Stop, Won't Stop", made the top 15 on the Billboard charts in 2003.
C/Z Records was a Seattle-based punk rock record label that was established in early 1985 by Chris Hanzsek and Tina Casale. It started with the release of Deep Six which collected the earliest recordings of what later came to be known as grunge. The label was acquired by Daniel House, to whom Hanzsek and Casale sold it after Deep Six proved commercially unsuccessful.
Jack Endino is an American producer and musician based in Seattle, Washington. Long associated with Seattle label Sub Pop and the grunge movement, Endino worked on seminal albums from bands including Mudhoney, Soundgarden and Nirvana. He was also the guitarist for Seattle band Skin Yard, which was active between 1985 and 1992. Endino currently manages a studio in Seattle called Soundhouse Recording.
"Yo " is a song recorded by American singer Chris Brown. It served as the second single from Brown's debut album Chris Brown (2005) and was released in November 2005 in the US and February 2006 worldwide. "Yo ", produced by Dre & Vidal, became Brown's second top ten single in the United States, peaking at number seven on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Murder Inc. was an American hip hop supergroup formed by American music executive Irv Gotti, in 1995. The trio was composed of three of the most prominent rappers in the music industry at the time, East Coast hip hop artists Jay-Z, DMX, and Ja Rule. The trio first appeared on fellow New York-based rapper Mic Geronimo's song "Time to Build". The trio even went on to appear on the cover of the June 1999 issue of American hip-hop magazine XXL. "Murder Inc." was rebranded by Irv Gotti in the namesake record label he co-founded in 1998, in which Ja Rule was signed.
Daniel House is an American business owner and he was president and owner of C/Z Records, a Seattle-based independent record label that released music by many bands including 7 Year Bitch, Built to Spill, Coffin Break, Engine Kid, The Gits, Hammerbox, Love Battery, The Melvins, The Presidents of the United States of America, Silkworm, and Skin Yard. In 2003 he moved from Seattle to Los Angeles where he oversaw the development and creation of the now-defunct www.DownloadPunk.com as well as the music-centric online dating website, RocknRollDating.com.
American Gangster is the tenth studio album by American rapper Jay-Z. It was conceived as a concept album—inspired by the 2007 film of the same name—and was released on November 6 of that year through Roc-A-Fella Records. The album features production from Diddy & the Hitmen, Just Blaze, and the Neptunes, among others. It also includes guest appearances by Beanie Sigel, Lil Wayne, Pharrell, and Nas. The album's production is built around 1970s soul and funk, with instruments featured on the album played by professional musicians including, horns, string arrangements, drummers, and unconventional percussion created with bottles. The album's theme is based around the gangster lifestyle, the American Dream, and Jay-Z's memories of growing up in Brooklyn, New York's Marcy.
Deep Six is a 1986 compilation album featuring six Seattle-based rock bands. It was the first release by C/Z Records, with a catalogue number of CZ01 for 2,000 copies. The album was reissued as a joint C/Z Records/A&M Records release on April 5, 1994.
Rik Simpson is a multi Grammy Award-winning British record producer, sound engineer, musician, and songwriter. He is most recently recognised for his production work with Coldplay on Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008), Mylo Xyloto (2011), Ghost Stories (2014), A Head Full of Dreams (2015), Kaleidoscope EP (2017) and Everyday Life (2019). He has also gained critical acclaim for his work with Jay-Z, Portishead, Kasabian, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and PJ Harvey. In addition to the technical sides of recording and mixing, he often contributes musically, playing and singing on many of his productions.
Sei is the seventh album by Brazilian band Nando Reis e os Infernais. It was recorded in Seattle, Washington, with the help of producer Jack Endino, who had already produced four studio albums for Titãs, Nando Reis' ex-band. According to Nando, Endino is the "right guy" to record Os Infernais' sound.
Jordan D. C. Evans is a Canadian record producer, songwriter, and talent manager from Toronto. His production resume includes working with major recording artists like Jay-Z, Eminem, Drake, John Legend, Ellie Goulding, and his own protégé, Daniel Caesar. He is a co founder of the record label Golden Child Recordings.
6 Songs for Bruce, also commonly known as the 4-Track Demo, is an early single-sided demo cassette tape by American rock band Soundgarden.
Ultimatum is the second studio album by SMP, released on May 12, 1998 by Catastrophe Records. The album peaked at #19 on the CMJ RPM charts.
Terminal is the third studio album by SMP, released in 2000 by Catastrophe Records. A critic at Last Sigh Magazine gave the album a positive review and called it "reminiscent of early nineties raves, in that it is intensely danceable with addictive hooks and crafted lyrics."
Tina Marie Bell was an American singer, songwriter and front woman of the Seattle-based band Bam Bam. The band with Bell was considered one of the founders of the grunge music scene. Bell is considered an early grunge pioneer and dubbed as "the Godmother of Grunge" and "queen of Grunge".
