Jay-Z: Kingdom Come

Kingdom Come is the ninth studio album from Jay-Z released on November 21, 2006. This is considered a “comeback album” for the established rapper as 2003′s The Black Album was slated to be his final release. The album was a big commercial success, selling about 680,000 copies in its first week, making it Jay-Z’s highest selling album within a one-week period, although the album received mixed reviews.

Kingdom Come was the first Jay-Z album released since 2003′s The Black Album, which had been widely hyped as Jay-Z’s “retirement” album. The video for that album’s hit single “99 Problems” had ended with Jay-Z going down in a hail of gunfire. Jay-Z stated in interviews that that scene represented the “death” of Jay-Z and the “rebirth” of Shawn Carter. Because of this, Jay-Z had originally planned to release Kingdom Come under the name of Shawn Carter, but decided in the end to release it under his more-famous stage name. Jay-Z’s second single, “Lost One” (produced by Dr. Dre) addresses Jay’s split with Roc-A-Fella co-founder Damon Dash, the death of his nephew, and supposedly his relationship with actress Rosario Dawson.

Past collaborators Kanye West and particularly Just Blaze made significant contributions to the album’s production. This is the first time Dr. Dre has played a substantial role in a Jay-Z album, as he produced four beats and mixed every song on the album. Relatively unknown newcomers B-Money, Scyience, and DJ Khalil also contributed to the album’s production, as well as Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin. Kingdom Come‘s opening track “The Prelude” features the additional vocals and the return of Pain in da Ass who often featured on some of Jay-Z’s earlier album introductions impersonating characters from movies such as Scarface, GoodFellas, and Carlito’s Way.

Singles

1. “Show Me What You Got”
   • Released: October 10, 2006
2. “Lost One”
   • Released: December 4, 2006
3. “30 Something”
   • Released: January 9, 2007
4. “Hollywood”
   • Released: March 20, 2007

U.S. Billboard Charts

#1 on Billboard 200
#1 on Billboard Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums

- The above information was taken from Wikipedia