Jay-Z’s long overdue for a greatest hits collection. Actually, he’s one of those artists whose hitmaking proficiency has been so prolific that one disc isn’t gonna be able to contain all of his worthwhile material.
Well, the track listing for Jigga’s long-overdue “The Hits Collection Vol. 1” surfaced on amazon.com yesterday, and as a Jay-Z fan, I’m kinda nonplussed. If you think about it, though, the track listing kinda makes sense from a “truth in advertising” perspective. Let’s split hairs-this is a “greatest hits” collection and not a “best of” collection. The tracks included are Jay’s biggest hits-even despite a stream of top-selling albums, his success on the pop chart has been spotty. While a “best of” collection should (and probably would) include more songs that appeal to his core fan base, this compilation appears to have been made more to satisfy the casual pop fans. That said, the second disc (containing several tracks that have not been commercially available previously) might cause me to drop coin on this album, even though I own every one of Jay’s studio albums. Sigh.
Track listing after the jump…
Jay-Z “The Hits Collection, Vol. 1”: Disc One
| 1. Public Service Announcement (Interlude) |
| 2. Run This Town featuring Rihanna & Kanye West |
| 3. ’03 Bonnie & Clyde featuring Beyoncé |
| 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 featuring Alicia Keys |
| 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’ |
| Disc: 2 |
|---|
| 1. Young Gifted and Black |
| 2. Pump It Up (Freestyle) |
| 3. My President Is Black (Remix) |
| 4. Go Hard Remix – Jay-Z, Kanye West & T-Pain |
| 5. Most Kings feat. Green Lantern |
5 comments
GG says:
Oct 19, 2010
I was trying to figure this out. But if Def Jam is putting this out, it would make sense that there’s nothing from his first album right, since he owns the masters?
I don’t think this CD set is for us. It’s for much more casual fans, or fans who just started recently listening. Why else would there be three tracks from the album he just dropped?
blerd says:
Oct 19, 2010
Well, again, it’s a “hits” collection, not a “best of” collection. Semantics, yes. If you were to compile an album strictly based on Jay’s top 40 hits (under his own name), the track listing would be…
Can I Get A…
Hard Knock Life
Jigga (from the Ruff Ryders album)
Big Pimpin’
I Just Wanna Love You (Give it 2 Me)
Girls Girls Girls
Izzo (H.O.V.A.)
’03 Bonnie & Clyde
Excuse Me Miss
99 Problems
Change Clothes
Dirt Off Your Shoulder
Show Me What You Got
Run This Town
Empire State of Mind
Young Forever
On to the Next One
So…if you’re looking for an album of Jay’s biggest hits, it could be argued that the actual track listing actually gets it right.
Definitely sounds like the album was made for the more casual Jay fans, but they’re throwing in the second disc to see if the diehards bite on it.
I was wondering why the songs from BP3 are on the comp, since they were released on a new label, but including these songs on any compilation was probably part of the terms regarding Jay’s release from Def Jam.
GG says:
Oct 20, 2010
Yep, that makes sense. Didn’t he release something like this already overseas a few years ago?
blerd says:
Oct 20, 2010
He did, but I think it was right after “Hard Knock Life” or “Vol. 3”. I think it was more of a catch-up kind of thing. I don’t think his first couple of albums were released overseas.
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