It is a cruel, unfathomable world that allows Hilary Duff to release a greatest hits album before Jay-Z, but fear not; Hova’s got his own collection in the pipeline—and now, after months of speculation, we have a track list.
It may surprise you.
The Hits Collection Volume 1, set for November 22 release, is a pretty pop-heavy compilation from Mr. Carter; it’s chock full of post-Blueprint period crossover hits, including “Empire State of Mind,” of course, but also such dubious entries as “Run This Town” and “’03 Bonnie & Clyde.” Jay-Z eschews some seemingly shoo-in picks, such as his first single, “Dead Presidents” (off 1996's Reasonable Doubt) and the still-ubiquitous club crawler “Jigga What, Jigga Who,” for this top-40 fare. A second planned disc will include his remixes of DJ Khaled's "Go Hard" and Young Jeezy's "My President."
Of course, the Roc-a-Fella business guru would never release just one effort when a full-scale media blitz is possible; November 16 also sees the release of his memoir, Decoded, which surely will be fascinating. For his literary release, he’s teamed up with Microsoft search engine Bing for an interactive scavenger hunt in which passages and pages of the book will be reprinted on unusual spaces and then also online. We don’t totally understand this concept yet, but we don’t have Jay-Z’s $150 million Live Nation contract, either, so more power to everyone involved.
Full tracklist for The Hits Collection Volume 1:
01 Public Service Announcement (Interlude)
02 Run This Town [ft. Rihanna and Kanye West]
03 '03 Bonnie & Clyde [ft. Beyoncé]
04 Encore
05 I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)
06 Izzo (H.O.V.A.)
07 D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)
08 99 Problems
09 Empire State of Mind [ft. Alicia Keys]
10 Dirt Off Your Shoulder
11 Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)
12 Show Me What You Got
13 Roc Boys (And the Winner Is...)
14 Big Pimpin'
