Jay z and Alicia Keys
With advance leaking ramping up the hype, the final instalment in Jay-Z’s Blueprint trilogy arrives. Its title invites us to compare it with its predecessors, even as we struggle to digest it in isolation. On either count, the album is a disappointment. Jay’s incomparably menacing, hustling verbal swagger may give the verses to the opening What We Talkin’ About a characteristic tension, but the lame central hook serves notice of the subsequent tracks’ insistent straining for a crossover, pop-coloured sheen that mires much of the album in insipidness, coating stale braggadocio (without, mostly, any compensating humour). Kanye West, Timbaland and Pharrell Williams join the party to no memorable effect. Only a Star Is Born, Already Home and the Alicia Keys one-two on Empire State of Mind conjure up something like the old magic.
Jay z and alicia keys bio
Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), better known by his stage name, Jay-Z, is an American hip hop artist and businessman. He is the former CEO of Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A-Fella Records. He co-owns The 40/40 Club and the New Jersey Nets. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having sold over 26 million units in the United States and received several Grammy Awards for his musical work.
Along with his financial and musical success, Jay-Z is known for being involved in the feud between him and fellow New York rapper Nas, which was eventually settled in 2005. He is also known for his relationship with Beyoncé Knowles, whom he married on April 4, 2008. MTV named him number one on their list of the greatest MCs of all time.
Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), better known by her stage name Alicia Keys, is an American recording artist, musician and actress. She was raised in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan in New York by her single mother, where Keys made a television appearance on The Cosby Show at the age of four. She attended Professional Performing Arts School and graduated at 16. She later attended Columbia University before dropping out to pursue her music career. Keys released her debut album with J Records, having had previous record deals first with Columbia and then Arista Records.
Keys' debut album, Songs in A Minor, was a commercial success, selling over 12 million copies worldwide. She became the best-selling new artist and best-selling R&B artist of 2001. The album earned Keys five Grammy Awards in 2002, including Best New Artist and Song of the Year for "Fallin'". Her second studio album, The Diary of Alicia Keys, was released in 2003 and was also another success worldwide, selling eight million copies. The album garnered her an additional four Grammy Awards in 2005. Later that year, she released her first live album, Unplugged, which debuted at number one in the United States. She became the first female to have an MTV Unplugged album to debut at number one and the highest since Nirvana in 1994.
Keys made guest appearances in several television series in the following years. She made her film debut in Smokin' Aces and went on to appear in The Nanny Diaries in 2007. Her third studio album, As I Am, was released in the same year and sold six million copies worldwide, earning Keys an additional three Grammy Awards. The following year, she appeared in The Secret Life of Bees, which earned her a nomination at the NAACP Image Awards. Throughout her career, Keys has won numerous awards and has sold over 30 million albums worldwide, establishing herself as one of the best-selling artists of her time.
