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(Transcription of original review at talk page) ^shipments figures based on certification alone *sales figures based on certification alone

Soren Baker was less impressed in the Los Angeles Times, writing that the record lacks the 'biting humor and spectacular wordplay' of his previous albums. 3… 'the quintessential 2000-model hip hop album'. Fellow Voice critic Miles Marshall Lewis called Jay-Z 'the best MC in hip hop' and Vol. In The Village Voice, Robert Christgau argued that Jay-Z has too much at stake commercially to depart from 'playing the now-a-rapper-now-a-thug 'reality' game with his customers, thugs and fantasists both', but he impresses with 'a rugged, expansive vigor, nailing both come-fly-with-me cosmopolitanism and the hunger for excitement that's turned gangster hangouts into musical hotbeds from Buenos Aires to Kansas City'. Reviewing the album in Entertainment Weekly, Anthony DeCurtis said it reconnects with Jay-Z's urban demographic, 'with flair', while Steve Jones of USA Today was particularly impressed by his lyrics and flow, finding both to be 'razor-sharp as ever'.

Richard Harrington from The Washington Post found the record to be 'full of reputation-building swagger, cataloguing of lyrical skills and autobiographical perspective'. as 'his strongest album to date, with music that's filled with catchy hooks, rump-shaking beats and lyrics fueled by Jay's hustler's vigilance'. In a contemporary review, Rolling Stone critic Kris Ex wrote that Jay-Z 'has become a better architect of songs' while hailing Vol.