Jay-Z is one of the most popular and financially successful artists in the world. His success has come from hugely successful albums like Vol.2...Hard Knock Life, his third studio album. Not only is Vol. 2 Jay-Z's best-selling album, it also won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album in 1999. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 and also went to #1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, marking it the first of nine consecutive chart-topping albums on both charts to date from Jay-Z. Without a doubt this is the album that brought Jay-Z into the mainstream circuit.

Originally issued on Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam in 1998, Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life is omnipresent 19-time Grammy award winning rapper/producer/entrepreneur Jay-Z's third studio album following Reasonable Doubt (1996) and In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 (1997). Hard Knock Life marked the first of Jay-Z's nine consecutive chart-topping albums and at 5-times platinum it stands as his biggest selling record to date. The 1999 Grammy-winner for Best Rap Album is home to the singles "Can I Get A...," "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)," "Money, Cash, Hoes" and "Nigga What, Nigga Who (Originator 99)" and features guest appearances by Too $hort, DMX, Ja Rule, Foxy Brown and Jermaine Dupri along with production work from DJ Premier, Timbaland and Erick Sermon. In 2013, Jay-Z ranked Hard Knock Lifeas a classic and his fourth best behind Reasonable Doubt, The Blueprint and The Black Album.