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" Jay-Z&amp;#039;s Magna Carta... Holy Grail came out last week to mixed reviews and became the first album ever to go platinum before hitting the shelves (technically, through a deal with Samsung). MCHG is, in other words, just another in a long list of post-retirement accomplishments Jay has amassed over the years. To refresh, remember that it was on November 25, 2003 that he held a charity concert at Madison Square Garden meant to be his &amp;quot;retirement party.&amp;quot; Coming off the release of The Black Album, he decided he had reached the summit \u2014 despite being just 33 years of age. The extravagant sendoff is well covered in the documentary Fade to Black (an apt name to coincide with the fake-retirement album), which combined performances from his star-studded, thought-to-be-final performance with cutaways that went through Jay&amp;#039;s history, and made it seem like his career as an artist was history as well.  It was a few years before he started regretting &amp;quot;the worst retirement in history,&amp;quot; in his words, also saying that he cringed and felt embarrassed while watching footage from Fade to Black. Still, maybe we should have known he was just taking a page out of idol Michael Jordan&amp;#039;s fake-retirement book, as alluded to in The Black Album&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;Encore&amp;quot; (&amp;quot;When I come back like Jordan/Wearing the 4-5&amp;quot;). Jay probably wanted to emulate Jordan&amp;#039;s flair for the dramatic \u2014 leaving the game on top only to reclaim the throne a few years later \u2014 but the fact is, he never really left the spotlight long enough to reemerge in it. Here&amp;#039;s a rundown of Jigga&amp;#039;s most impressive post-retirement accomplishments.      Unfinished Business (released Oct. 26, 2004): To be clear, Jay had only explicitly retired from doing personal studio albums. Hence, going through with his second collaborative album with R. Kelly was fair game, and nothing out of the ordinary for a multi-millionaire retiree counting down the decades until becoming a senior citizen. Reviews were middling for this forgettable effort from two accomplished musicians, but it still debuted at number one on the charts and made it clear Jay wouldn&amp;#039;t be content kicking it in the Caribbean playing &amp;quot;Big Pimpin&amp;#039;&amp;quot; on repeat for the rest of his life.       Collision Course (released Nov. 30, 2004): The brief mash-up EP put together by Jay-Z and Linkin Park was definitely a worthwhile effort in a pre-Girl Talk world, when combining two hit songs in one (let alone dozens of them), was still a novel idea. Despite a thoroughly non-creative title, this six-track piece allowed Jay to continue to stave off the draw of making new music, while allowing Linkin Park to work with the biggest legend in the industry (as was Jay&amp;#039;s request upon being approached by MTV&amp;#039;s Mash-Ups show). Plus, it continued Linkin Park&amp;#039;s moneymaking scheme of putting out a new album and then remixing said album (see: Hybrid Theory and Reanimation) before making fresh material. Most tracks are catchy and pumped new life into the originals (&amp;quot;Numb/Encore&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;Dirt Off Your Shoulder/Lying From You&amp;quot;), while a couple didn&amp;#039;t bring anything of interest to the table (like &amp;quot;Izzo/In the End&amp;quot;).  Named president of Def Jam Records (Dec. 8, 2004): If there was ever a moment when Jay could have truly given up the rap game to become a businessman perpetually puffing Cubans in a corner office, it was his official appointment to president of Def Jam in 2004. In charge of several of rap&amp;#039;s biggest acts at the time, including budding superstar Kanye West, he was basically the bawse. He would eventually step down in late 2007, but was able to jumpstart the careers of stars like Rick Ross, Rihanna, and Ne-Yo, while also overseeing two successful Kanye albums (Late Registration and Graduation), avoiding the Auto-Tuned whining of 808s and Heartbreaks.        Kingdom Come (released Nov. 21, 2006): Yes, this was Jay-Z&amp;#039;s official &amp;quot;comeback&amp;quot; studio album, despite coming just three years after The Black Album \u2014 not a particularly long break at all, especially considering his collaborations and presidency. Jay may never have had a more controversial album, not due to content, but because several Def Jam artists voiced their disapproval at Jay&amp;#039;s decision to create and promote his own material instead of working for them. So while a few foolish fans heralded his comeback as being Jordan-esque, as though they didn&amp;#039;t know it would happen all along, some of his artists looked at him more as a Little League dad batting himself in the cleanup spot. Regardless of all that, the album proved he still had the skills and an eager audience, churning out hits like &amp;quot;Show Me What You Got&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;Lost One,&amp;quot; the latter of which gave us some insight into how being with Beyonce has probably kept him from settling down in his work life (&amp;quot;&amp;#039;Cause what she prefers over me, is work... So I have to give her free time even if it hurts&amp;quot;).      American Gangster (released Nov. 6, 2007): Just before the official end to his Def Jam tenure, Jay came back strong with his tenth studio album. American Gangster debuted at number one on the Billboard charts and received acclaim from the vast majority of music critics \u2014 the first time he had done that since The Black Album. With the retirement firmly in the rearview, Jay went all-out, basically segueing into his full-time return to being an artist by sampling classic, soulful music to create tracks like &amp;quot;American Dreamin&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)...&amp;quot;  Jay-Z vs. Oasis (Feb. 2, 2008): Oasis lead singer Noel Gallagher dissed the organizers of England&amp;#039;s Glastonbury Festival for snagging Jay-Z as a headliner, sparking a bit of a feud between the two parties. Gallagher, who, by the way, didn&amp;#039;t play at Glastonbury that year, nudged himself into the spotlight to criticize the choice, telling media that having hip-hop at the generally rock-based Glastonbury was just wrong and &amp;quot;he wouldn&amp;#039;t have it.&amp;quot; Jay took the moral high ground, saying, &amp;quot;We have to respect each other&amp;#039;s genre of music and move forward,&amp;quot; before putting Gallagher and his nasal vocals in their place by opening up his Glastonbury performance with &amp;quot;Wonderwall,&amp;quot; singing along with the audience while imitating Gallagher&amp;#039;s stage presence, before moving into &amp;quot;99 Problems.&amp;quot;       The Blueprint 3 (released Sept. 8, 2009): As successful as American Gangster was, The Blueprint 3 churned out some of the classic monster hits fans have gotten used to with Jay. This one included tracks like &amp;quot;Empire State of Mind,&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Run This Town,&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Young Forever,&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;On to the Next One,&amp;quot; among others. We can&amp;#039;t say he broke much new ground on this album, but fans and critics generally favored Jay&amp;#039;s choice to stick with what works for him \u2014 solid rapping (even without many new topics), great production/sampling, and a talented supporting cast. The Blueprint 3 was popular rap at its finest. On to the next one.       Watch the Throne (Aug. 8, 2011): After an appearance on Kanye&amp;#039;s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Jay and Kanye brought their massive egos together for a full record with Watch the Throne. The result was an album with plenty of swagger, tempered with a little self-consciousness here and there. Lyrics and message aside, the album had its share of hits, like &amp;quot;Otis,&amp;quot; &amp;quot;No Church in the Wild&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;Ni**as in Paris,&amp;quot; the last of which can take credit for making &amp;quot;cray&amp;quot; a thing, and also for bringing back random audio clips from Blades of Glory. By the way, this was his twelfth album to reach number one.      Opening up the Barclays Center (Sept. 28-Oct. 6, 2012): Jay-Z single-handedly opened up the Barclays Center in Brooklyn as the hometown hero, selling out a ridiculous eight straight shows, we assume to help put a dent in the crazy construction costs (he does own a small percentage of the building, as well as the team it houses). Several reviews actually noted Jay and the audience being a little stiffer than usual for one of his shows, but the main point driven home (eight times over) was that Jay was chosen to represent his home borough on a world&amp;#039;s stage.  Roc Nation Agency started for pro athletes (June 20, 2013): Even with the new album coming out, Jay has decided now is the time to foray into the world of sports agency. He&amp;#039;s already grabbed a couple stars in Robinson Cano (MLB, Yankees) and Kevin Durant (NBA, Thunder), and more are likely on their way \u2014 as you might imagine with the popularity of Jay&amp;#039;s music throughout pro sports. After teaming up with Durant, this could mean the end to Jay&amp;#039;s lyrical LeBron references, which he&amp;#039;s snuck into a number of songs in recent years. Well, of course, LeBron might join his ranks soon as well, as the two have been friends for a while \u2014 we&amp;#039;ll see how this thing goes.  Follow The Culture Blog on RSS and on Twitter at @ESQCulture. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/music/a23426/jay-z-post-retirement/>