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Vol. 3… Life and Times of S. Carter is the fourth studio release by East Coast hip hop artist Jay-Z. It is, for the most part, his return to a more street-oriented sound. However, it did manage to produce some very successful radio-friendly singles. Vol. 3 topped the billboard charts with nearly half a million sold in its first few days of release. To date, the album has sold over 3 million copies, the most successful single from the album and arguably Jay-Z's career is the now-infamous Big Pimpin'. This album is also noted for insulting the rapper 50 Cent (before his rise to fame) on the song "It's Hot (Some Like It Hot)". It was a response to "How To Rob", a song from 50 Cent's unreleased first LP "Power of the Dollar" where he comically explains robbing numerous mainstream rappers, including Jay-Z. In the song, Jay-Z raps "I'm about a dollar/What the fuck is 50 cents." This was also the last time Jay-Z worked with DJ Premier; this album was their fourth straight album in a row.

Jay-Z was able to beat many odds with the release, and critical/commercial success of this album. He was able to regain much "street cred" with lyrics on songs such as, NYMP, Come and Get Me, It's Hot, There's Been a Murder, and Jigga my Nigga. He also won the applause of the young culture at the time with the Big Pimpin' video, which at the time was blasted by news corporations for being overly-misogynistic.

Track listing

(*) Indicates bonus tracks

Bonus tracks

The regular album includes two bonus tracks at the end of the album, "Jigga My Nigga" and "Girl's Best Friend". Both tracks are inserted following a minute of silence at the end of "Hova Song (Outro)". The bonus tracks are unlisted and do not have track numbers as they are a part of "Hova Song". "Hova Song (Outro)" by itself is 1:26, the track as a whole is 11:01.

The Japanese release of the album also contained another additional bonus track at the end (as track 16) called Anything. The Japanese version also came with a bonus CD that had two tracks, a "Mr. Drunk Mix", which is remixed by Mr. Drunk (a.k.a. Mummy-D), a Japanese MC/producer from a Japanese hip hop group Rhymester. It also includes an "Instrumental Remix" of the above track "Anything".

The UK/Europe version of the album (which was released several weeks before the US version) features a track called "Hova Interlude" in place of "Watch Me" and "Is That Yo Bitch" (which features Missy Elliot and Twista) in place of "There's Been a Murder", it also has "Anything" as the closing song (track 16) before the 2 hidden bonus tracks. This version is how the album was really intended to sound but due to heavy bootlegging of the promotional copy Jay-Z went back and changed the US tracklisting in last minute.

Samples

Hova Song (Intro)

• "Burning the Midnight Lamp" - Rotary Connection

So Ghetto

• "Crop Dustin'" by Steve Cropper
• "Library" by Bossey and Hawkes
• "Sporco Ma Distinto" by Ennio Morricone

Do It Again (Put Ya Hands Up)

• "Overnight Scenario" by Rare Essence (DC Go-Go Band)

Big Pimpin'

• "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime" by Korgis
• "Khusara Khusara" by Hossam Ramzy*

There's Been A Murder

• "Murder" by Alana Davis

Come and Get Me

• "The Contract Man" by Bullet (Alan Tew)

NYMP

• "Life Can Be So Grand" by Brian and Brenda Russell

Girl's Best Friend

• "Keep It Comin' Love" by KC & The Sunshine Band

* Due to legal reason's a re-recording and not an actual sample was used.

Chart positions

Album

Singles

• Pages with empty short description
• Jay-Z albums
• 1999 albums
• Albums produced by Timbaland
• Albums produced by Irv Gotti
• Albums produced by Swizz Beatz
• Albums produced by DJ Premier
• Hip hop albums
• Roc-A-Fella Records albums
• Albums produced by Rockwilder
• Concept album series