After the death of friend and compatriot
the Notorious B.I.G. in early 1997,
Jay-Z made his claim for the title of best rapper on the East Coast (or anywhere) with his sophomore shot,
In My Lifetime, Vol. 1. Though the productions are just a bit flashier and more commercial than on his debut,
Jay-Z remained the tough street rapper, and even improved a bit on his flow, already one of the best in the world of hip-hop. Still showing his roots in the Marcy projects (he's surrounded by a group of kids in a picture on the back cover),
Jay-Z struts the line between project poet and up-and-coming player, and manages to have it both ways. He slings some of the most cutting rhymes heard in hip-hop, brushing off a legion of rappers riding his coattails on "Imaginary Player." For "Streets Is Watching," high-tension background strings and vocal samples from the gangster film Sleeper emphasize the pitfalls of a rapper everyone's gunning for ("If I shoot you, I'm brainless/But if you shoot me, then you famous"). The song leads right into "Friend or Foe '98," the sequel to a track from
Reasonable Doubt that only increases the sense of paranoia. But
Jay-Z plays the ghetto celebrity equally well, and continues his slick, Cristal-sipping image with "I Know What Girls Like" (featuring
Puff Daddy and
Lil' Kim), "(Always Be My) Sunshine" (featuring
Babyface and
Foxy Brown), and "Lucky Me."
Puff Daddy's Bad Boy stable is responsible for almost half the productions, and though they often verge far into pop territory,
Jay-Z usually rescues them from a complete crossover. (Ironically, the most commercial production is actually from
Teddy Riley on "The City Is Mine," with an unfortunate interpolation of
Glenn Frey's "You Belong to the City.") Having one of the toughest producers around (
Premier) as well as one of the slickest (
Puff Daddy) sometimes creates a disconnect between who
Jay-Z really is and who he wants to become, but he balances both personas with the best rapping heard in the rap game since the deaths of
2Pac and
Notorious B.I.G. [Ariola's 1997 vinyl edition included five bonus tracks.] ~ John Bush