Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam Recordings Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam Recordings While the album was criticized at ... The Annie-sampling title track, "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)," is often considered one ...

According to Jonathan Mannion, the album cover’s photographer ... crossover success of the pop-friendly hit single “Hard Knock Life." His ascent up the charts officially began with Vol.

Recorded in some of NYC’s most coveted studio spaces, Vol. 2…Hard Knock Life featured some of the games best producers, including Jermaine Dupri, Swizz Beatz, and Timbaland, Hov’s third ...

When did Jay Z become Jay Z? For some, the answer is as simple as when he took his name. For others, he emerged fully-formed on his tough-talking debut, Reasonable Doubt, or on his glossier Bad ...

That song, as well as its parent album, Vol.2 … Hard Knock Life, which turns 20 today (Sept. 29), marked a point of inflection for Jay-Z’s career as he transformed from respected New York MC ...

Although Hov had prior successes with “Dead Presidents” and “Can’t Knock the Hustle,” “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)” widely became accepted as the song that erupted Jay-Z into ...