JAY-Z

From the Source

The Dynasty: Roc La Familia, Jay-Z's fifth studio LP, took a very different line to its predecessor, Vol. 3: Life and Times of S. Carter, on which Jay-Z enlisted the services of just about every big time hip hop producer he knew. Dynasty, by contrast, features a mixture of Roc-A-Fella stablemates on the mic (Amil, Beanie Sigel, Scarface, Freeway), just three established big names (Snoop Dogg, R. Kelly and Scarface) and a clutch of emerging star producers, including Just Blaze, Kanye West and The Neptunes.

The Dynasty: Roc La Familia' is packed with fresh-sounding vocals and a soulful musical groove, and provided significant exposure and impetus for the stars-in-the-making at Roc-A-Fella who worked on it. For Jay-Z, the record was an opportunity to acknowledge and explore some new aspects of his superstar, figurehead status, especially the vexing question of what success means and feels like, as exemplified on standout track 'This Can't Be Life'."