THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

636-Jay-Z-Girls, Girls, Girls.

2002-Number 11 single.

Best Bit-At 0.02. Even if only 1% of what he brags about is true, he must still have a very understanding wife.

Jay-Z (see also best songs 477-267 and 23) was born Shawn Corey Carter, on December 4th, 1969, in New York City, United States, with record sales in excess of 140 million worldwide, he is one of the best selling artists of all time. Jay-Z is also an entrepreneur, and through his business ventures, he has become the first ‘Hip-Hop’ billionaire. His portfolio includes ‘Rocawear,’ which is a clothing retailer, the ’40/40 Club,’ which is a luxury bar chain, ‘Roc Nation,’ which is a multi-disciplinary entertainment agency, ‘Aspiro,’ which is a technology company, and ‘Tidal,’ which is a media streaming service. As of 2024, he is the wealthiest musical artist in the world, with a net worth of US$2.5 billion. Jay-Z was the first Rapper to be inducted into the ‘Songwriters Hall of Fame,’ and the first solo living Rapper inducted in to the ‘Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.’

The discography of Jay-Z, who took his stage name in honour of the fellow New York Rapper, songwriter, and producer, ‘Jaz-O,’ who was an early influence on the young Jay-Z, includes 13 studio Albums released between 1996-2017, and 119 singles, released between 1989-2024, there are also a further five collaborative Albums, released between 2002-2018, as well as one official compilation Album, and two live Albums available. In America on Billboard, Jay-Z has sold in excess of 29 million Albums, and holds the record for the most Number 1 Albums of any solo artist, with a total of 14, which includes 11 of his studio Albums, and three of his collaborative Albums. His singles discography consists of 68 singles as the lead artist, and 51 singles as the featured artist, as well as a further 14 promotional singles. As the lead artist, Jay-Z has achieved 29 top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, with ‘Empire State of Mind,’ featuring Alicia Keys, reaching Number 1 in 2009, while ‘Girls, Girls, Girls,’ peaked at Number 17. As the featured artist, Jay-Z has made the top 40 on Billboard on 16 occasions, with three of those tracks reaching Number 1. In the UK, Jay-Z has had 30 top 40 hits as the lead artist, with ‘Run This Town,’ featuring Kanye West, and Rihanna, making the Number 1 spot in 2009, and he has also achieved a further 14 top 40 hits as the featured artist, with three of those tracks also reaching Number 1.

‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ was the second of four singles released from ‘The Blueprint,’ which was the sixth studio Album released by Jay-Z, from September 2001 , the songs writing is credited to Jay-Z, Tom Brock, (1942-2002) and Justin Smith, who also produced the track, working under his stage name of ‘Just Blaze.’ ‘The Blueprint’ was unfortunately released on September 11th, the same day as the ‘9/11’ tragedy in 2001, but that didn’t stop the sales of the Album topping 427,000 in it’s first week, it has since gone on to sell in excess of 3 million copies in America. ‘The Blueprint’ has been critically acclaimed, and is widely considered to be the best work of Jay-Z. In 2018, the Album was selected by the ‘Library of Congress,’ for preservation in the ‘United States National Recording Registry,’ for being ‘culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant,’ the Album was the first to be selected, that had been created in the 21st Century. ‘The Blueprint’ was a major influence in the world of ‘Hip-Hop,’ at that time, as it featured many vintage Soul based sampled songs, with vocal samples from artists such as Al Green, and David Ruffin being used. Prior to ‘The Blueprint,’ ‘Hip-Hop’ producers mainly used synthesizers and keyboards to recreate their samples, this was due to the financial and legal issues associated with copyright laws.

‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ samples the 1974 song ‘There’s Nothing In This World That Can Stop Me From Loving You,’ by the American Soul singer Tom Brock, which had been produced by Barry White, (1944-2003) and is the reason why Brock receives co-writing credit. The songs chorus of ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ was inspired by the 1980 ‘Old School’ ‘Hip-Hop’ track, ‘High Power Rap,’ by the New York based the ‘Crash Crew.’ ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ also has additional vocals provided by Q-Tip, Slick Rick, and Biz Markie (1964-2021.) There is also a remix of ‘Girls, Girls, Girls,’ produced by Kanye West, (see also best songs 1049-636-477 and 267) which can be found as a hidden track on ‘The Blueprint,’ with unaccredited vocals from Michael Jackson (1958-2009.)

‘I got this young chick, she so immature, she like, ‘Why you don’t buy me Reeboks no more?’ Like to show out in public, throw tantrums on the floor, gotta toss a couple dollars, just to shut up her holla.’