For the American Gangster music, Denzel Washington campaigned producer Brian Grazer to get native New Yorker, former corner boy and brilliant rapper Jay-Z to do the soundtrack. The producers decided to use period music (Bobby Womack, The Staple Singers) as well as vintage sounding Anthony Hamilton and instrumentals by former Bomb Squad producer Hank Shocklee. However, never one to be deterred once he’s set his mind to something, Jay-Z decided to make an American Gangster album featuring production by Diddy, The Neptunes and Just Blaze was, at least to me, one of the best albums of his career. Although the Neptunes produced “Blue Magic” was the first single released, some of the album’s best tracks were constructed by Harlem’s own P. Diddy and his Hitmen crew including the hypnotic “Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)…” The track was a cool party song as well as an autobiographical gaze at his own fast times on the street. “In the 1980s, being a gangster changed from a gentleman's game to a vicious young man’s game,” Jay explained. “There were no more rules—-teenagers had automatic weapons, the money was bigger and it just got out of control. There was no hiding it, no shame. There wasn’t even shame from the addicts. People were just standing around smoking crack outside like it was normal; that’s not normal. Some people in those communities just lost control.” https://crimereads.com/am...crime-epic

[Edited 7/6/21 20:52pm]

Great album. For me, it was the last "great" Jay-Z album even though, in 2021, he's still a top tier rapper.

CoolMF said:

CoolMF said:

Great album. For me, it was the last "great" Jay-Z album even though, in 2021, he's still a top tier rapper.

I agree. It wasn't the same afterwards.