Fade to Black

if you're not a fan of hip hop, or can't see it as an art form this movie should change that for you. the conception of the black album and concert are documented to perfection. i will say that this movie is for fans, and there are things (ie his "rainman" ability to write songs) that will not translate well to people who aren't seriously into music. the movie will surely be judged as a concert film and not as the documentary that it is. fans of jay-z/hip hop will love it and will be able to respect what it takes for a hip hop show to sell out the garden in an hour. muchless, deliver one of the greatest performances in recent memory. overall an excellent documentary!

If you're a Jay Z fan this registration is a trip down memory lane. The concert and the backgrounds behind the songs off the Black Album are portrayed and during one last concert at Madison Square Garden the roof is blown off by one of rap's most talented mc's. Starring everyone from Mary J Blige, Beyonce to R. Kelly as guest performers this show has it all. One hell of a concert will give you insights into his music and if you weren't a fan yet, you will be after the credits roll.

Most hiphop or concert videos are done poorly. A few takes behind the scenes of bored band members and screaming groupies tell you nothing your imagination couldn't have figured out for itself. This movie however shows new insights into the way the collaboration with different artists works and yet doesn't distract from it's main purpose: show you the music, send you the vibe people must have had at the concert at Madison Square Garden.

Top notch!

Concert films by definition are boring. After 30 minutes you always start looking at your watch. Fade to Black somehow stays fresh for almost two hours. Although the film is far from perfect it is swollen personality and charisma. At points, it's down right hilarious. It breathes life into an almost dead genre of film. I like the way it hops back and fourth between the legendary concert and now historic Black Album studio sessions. Also, I've never heard a concert film sound that good ever! I thought my face was going to melt once Jay-Z took the stage. Fade to Black rewrites the definition of concert film and as time goes on will eventually be called a classic.

Rapper Jay-Z records The Black Album and performs his farewell concert at Madison Square Garden in November 2003. I'm not a big fun of his music other than a few big hits. I'm more impressed with his command, his producing, and his business skills. The man is a mogul and a genius. There is real energy at his concert. I love the audience. As for Jay-Z with his boys, there is too much fawning going on. I can't really expect different but it would be nice to see him in more varied situations. While I don't care that much about his recording, it's fascinating to see him spitting his rhymes. This is for his fans. For his non-fans, this may get a bit repetitive and they may not care about being at his concert.

This documentary is part making of THE BLACK ALBUM and part his retirement concert in Madison Square Guarden intertwined with each other.

Throughout the documentary there is constant talk of Jay-Z's retirement with fans and friends talking about how they can't believe the Jigga man is retiring.

But of course that all turned out to be nothing more than a publicity stunt because 2 years later he released a new album and have made countless albums since.

So it definitely loses it's value from that fact, although tbh I and many others never believed him when he said he was retiring and there are enough good performances and insight on the making of the album that it makes worth watching regardless (if you're a fan).

Even if Jay-Z's performance on MTV's UNPLUGGED was a lot better though.

So yeah nothing amazing, and the retirement was just another hustle for Hov to put on his resumé and as he said 'you can't knock the hustle' so I guess we can't knock it too hard, and it's a hard knock life after all so knock knock on.