2003年11月14日，Jay-Z发行了号称是最后一张专辑的第十张专辑《The Black Album》。这张专辑在发行短短四天之后就卖出了46万3千张，成为了Jay-Z的第六张冠军专辑，不过对于Jay-Z这样的说唱歌手来说，即便没有这样的宣传也照样会卖出这样的成绩出来。　　假如这真是Jay-Z的最后一张专辑的话，那么对于歌迷来说也完全没有什么遗憾了，因为这的确是一张非常出色的专辑。在这张专辑中，Jay-Z没有邀请任何其他歌手与他合作，所以，从专辑的制作角度来讲，这张专辑比《The Blueprint》甚至还要能体现出Jay-Z的个人风格。虽然没有大牌歌星合唱，但是却拥有超豪华的制作阵容，单曲的几名制作人分别是 Timbaland，Eminem，The Neptunes，Kanye West，Just Blaze这些声名显赫的金牌制作人。音乐方面，整张专辑都营造出了告别的氛围，《December 4th》是Jay-Z献给他的母亲的歌曲，把这首深情的单曲作为专辑的第一支单曲，不免会让人有所联想，这可能的确是Jay-Z的告别专辑了，而更让人体会深刻的则是在《Moment of Clarity》中，Jay-Z居然回忆了他的父亲，并且在单曲最后还表示出了原谅已经去世的父亲的想法，这足以让人深陷到这张专辑的告别氛围中去，值得一提的是《Moment of Clarity》的制作人和混音是和Jay-Z有着相似经历的Eminem。整张专辑的最后一首歌名字是“My 1st Song(我的第一首歌)”，看到他就会让人莫名的产生出一中离别时的伤感。这张专辑也许不是Jay-Z最经典的专辑，但也绝对是前三位的，以这张专辑作为Jay-Z的谢幕大作也足以答谢歌迷了，不过可能绝大多数的歌迷都在等待Jay-Z的加演曲目。 　　 　　by John Bush 　　If The Black Album is Jay-Z's last, as he publicly stated it will be, it illustrates an artist going out in top form. For years Shawn Carter has been the best rapper and the most popular, a man who can strut the player lifestyle with one track and become the eloquent hip-hop everyman with the next, an artist for whom modesty is often a sin, and yet, one who still sounds sincere when he's discussing his humble origins or his recurring doubts. After the immediate classic The Blueprint found him at the peak of his powers, and The Blueprint²: The Gift & the Curse came as the most deflating sequel since Star Wars: Episode I, his follow-up (and possible siren song) impresses on the same level as the best of his career. As he has in the past, Jay-Z balances the boasting with extensive meditations on his life and his career. The back history begins with the first song, "December 4" (his birthday), on which Carter traces his life from birth day to present day, riding a mock fanfare and the heart-tugging strings of producer Just Blaze, along with frequent remembrances from his mother in This Is Your Life fashion. The other top track, "What More Can I Say," opens with Russell Crowe's defiant "Are you not entertained!?" speech from Gladiator, then finds Jay-Z capping his career with another proof that he's one of the best of all time, and a look into what made him that way: "God forgive me for my brash delivery, but I remember vividly what these streets did to me." He also goes out with a few words for underground fans who think he's sold too many records for his own good. On "Moment of Clarity," he lays it out with an excellent rhyme: "If skills sold, truth be told, I'd probably be lyrically Talib Kweli/Truthfully I want to rhyme like Common Sense/But I did five mil, I ain't been rhyming like Common since." The first single, "Change Clothes," is much more interesting than the lightweight club hit it sounds like, a keyboard-heavy pop sequel to the Neptunes' "Frontin'" (the anthem that rocked the summer of 2003, and his last collaboration with professional beat-maker and amateurish falsetto Pharrell Williams). And he can rock with the best as well, working with Rick Rubin on a cowbell-heavy stormer named "99 Problems" that samples Billy Squier and outrocks Kid Rock. The only issue that's puzzling about The Black Album is why one of the best rappers needs to say goodbye -- unless, of course, he's simply afraid of being taken for granted and wants listeners to imagine a rap world without him.