Jay-Z’s 10th album, American Gangster, came out this past Tuesday. This blog at fastcompany.com recognizes Jigga’s marketing acumen with tying his release to a potential blockbuster movie. The album, originally available on iTunes, was pulled, even though it was initially offered as a pre-order on Apple’s mp3 site. A sly Rocafella excuse for the removal was issued, citing Jay’s desire to sell the work in it’s entirety, and not as thin-sliced individual tracks. iTunes sales are included in SoundScan numbers, so Jay-Z might be missing out on some numbers; and why couldn’t iTunes offer the sale of American Gangster as an entire album only? I’m not sure. In any case, I haven’t copped it yet, but expect to soon. Whatever.

But in honor of all this, I present the top 10 Jay-Z songs of all time.

First, the last 5 that didn’t make the cut:

15. Excuse Me Miss
album: The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse, year: 2002, producer: The Neptunes

14. December 4th
album: Black Album, year: 2003, producer: Just Blaze

13. Cashmere Thoughts
album: Reasonable Doubt, year: 1996, producer: Clark Kent

12. Streets Is Watching
album: In My Lifetime – Vol. 1, year: 1997, producer: Ski

11. Takeover
album: The Blueprint, year: 2001, producer: Kanye West

And now the Top 10…..

10. Lucifer
album: Black Album, year: 2003, producer: Kanye West

9. Blueprint 2
album: The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse, year: 2002, producer: Charlemagne

8. Public Service Announcement
album: Black Album, year: 2003, producer: Just Blaze

7. Politics As Usual
album: Reasonable Doubt, year: 1996, producer: Ski

6. Imaginary Player
album: In My Lifetime – Vol. 1, year: 1997, producer: Daven Vanderpool

5. Heart of the City (Ain’t No Love)
album: The Blueprint, year: 2001, producer: Kanye West

4. Where I’m From
album: In My Lifetime – Vol. 1, year: 1997, producer: Ron “Amen-Ra” Lawrence & Deric “D-Dot” Angelettie

3. Can I Live
album: Reasonable Doubt, year: 1996, producer: DJ Irv

2. Encore
album: Black Album, year: 2003, producer: Kanye West

1. This Can’t Be Life featuring Beanie Sigel & Scarface
album: Dynasty, year: 2000, producer: Kanye West

As a bonus, here is the top 7 tracks of other artists whose songs include the rhymes of J-Hova as a guest.

7. Why We Die – Busta Rhymes, also ft. DMX
album: Anarchy, year: 2000, producer: P. Killer Trackz

6. Think It’s A Game – Beanie Sigel, also ft. Freeway & Lil’ Chris
album: The Reason, year: 2001, producer: Bernard “Big Demi” Parker

5. Is That Your Chick? – Memphis Bleek, also ft. Twista & Missy Elliot
album: The Understanding, year: 2000, producer: Timbaland

4. Still Got Love For You – Beanie Sigel, also ft. Rell
album: The Reason, year: 2001, producer: Just Blaze

3. Guess Who’s Back – Scarface, also ft. Beanie Sigel
album: The Fix, year: 2002, producer: Kanye West

2. What We Do – Freeway, also ft. Beanie Sigel
album: Philadelphia Freeway, year: 2003, producer: Bink & Just Blaze

1. Dear Summer – Memphis Bleek
album: 534, year: 2005, producer: Just Blaze
(actually, this is technically a Jay-Z song since Bleek, or anyone else, doesn’t rap)

Thoughts? Comments? Your Top 10?