Jay-Z had nothing left to prove a few years ago when he retired. However, he could not let the rap game go. He had an itch he needed to scratch so he came back last year with "Kingdom Come." It was a surprisingly mature album that was met with a kind of indifference. People did not want to hear someone rap about how life was good and how he hung out with Bono and Gweneth Paltrow. Jay licked his wounds and wasn't sure when he would release another album and then he saw American Gangster. The movie spoke to him and in a matter of weeks he had a whole new album of music ready to be heard. It is a concept album based strongly on the life of Frank Lucas and of course the life of Shawn Carter A.K.A Jay-Z. He promised the album sounded more like his classic Reasonable doubt album and while the drug game can be tiresome to listen to, I like the way Jay tells it, so I was excited for it.
Intro- This is a haunting track that doesn't feature Jay anywhere on it. It fuses audio clips from the movie and a man, a narrator of sorts, talking about what it is to be an "American Gangster." The track comes across harder than I would have expected, but I hate tracks that don't feature any rapping, so it doesn't feel necessary. 2/5
Pray- Beyonce does some talking over the track as the beat builds into a throw back, funky early 70s sounding backdrop for the reemergence of Jay-Z to rap prominence. Jay comes on the track and just tears it apart, beginning the story over an incredible Al Green sample. The main character is a kid getting ready to become a man. He is off to school but all he sees around him are drugs and unhappiness. But on the other side of drugs he sees riches. He is setting the scene for the audio movie but at the same time, starts off with a cautionary tale with jewels like "I'm trying to beat life 'cause I can't cheat death." The song is gem after gem of rap lines, delivered with that usual confidence Jay is a master of the game, pure and simple. 5/5
American Dreamin- Marvin Gay provides the backdrop here as Diddy provides Jay with another deeply soulful instrumental for him to rip apart. This is the next part of the story. A young man dreaming of what he can become in the drug game. This is the dream the young men in the projects have of trying to sell drugs. But at the same time there is a sadness in Jay's voice as he tells his mother "Mama forgive me, should be thinkin 'bout Harvard/ But that's too far away, niggaz are starvin." The marriage of Jay's voice and the track is perfect and Jay really is more comfortable in this kind of song. He recounts his days of a young man perfectly. 4.5/5
Hello Brooklyn- Lil Wayne is on this track and nearly ruins it for me, but the track, the Beastie Boys sample and Jay's swagger save the one bad track on the album. The song is about Jay's home, his first love, the place that raised him. Jay's ability to allow his listeners to visual his lyrics remain amazing as he paints a picture of Brooklyn that includes "Brooklyn we crazy, look how you made me Razor blades in my mouth walkin 'round behavin/ Or demented black hoodies and Timberlanded." The beat has a deep bass and doesn't sound like a typical Jay-z track and it is rumored the song was going to be used on Wayne's album first, but it fit the story of American Gangster. I think Jay could have found a better track to fill this quota for the album, but he saves it mostly, mostly. 3/5
No Hook- This might be the best and most real track on the album. Diddy provides a Barry White sample and Jay-z opens the song with some of the most real stuff ever, "Poor me, dad was gone, finally got my dad back/ Liver bad, he wouldn't live long,/they snatched my dad back/God as I never had that, streets was my second home
Welcomed me with open arms provided a place to crash at". This whole song is a quotable honestly. The track is haunting and Jay is really just letting his heart and soul bleed all over it. It is essentially one extremely long verse. It is a stream of consciousness rap that really messes with rhyme schemes and rap patterns to a great effect. It is one of his most personal tracks to date. And it might be his most interesting track in quite some time. 6/5
Roc Boys- This is the one party type song on the album. it is the only real commercially acceptable track with blaring dope horns accenting Jay living it up as his character just broke through with his first million. When Jay does this kind of song, it is believable because he really does have this kind of money, but he isn't lazy in his verses still dropping punchlines like "think OJ/ I get away with murder when I sling yay." The track is boastful, yes but Jay's swagger is built for this type of song. It is the one real upbeat song on the album and really resonates as the album gets deeper and less happy and celebratory. It is the anomaly on the album and that makes it work so much more. This is the height of it all but it is only track 5 out of 12. 4/5
Sweet- Back to the soul funky sampling here. The drums and horns provide an interesting foundation for Jay-z to spit his life over. He understands that his life is not perfect and that he has been a bad example, but he doesn't make apologies for it because this is the hand he was dealt. It is a fairly basic, straight forward song with Jay not doing too many verbal gymnastics on it. It works in its simplicity though because the words are what matter here. It is hard to hate when he gets real on a track, even if I do not agree with his words. 4/5
I Know- The Neptunes are back with a vengeance here. Jay and Pharrell have always had a great chemistry and the beat here provides the perfect music for Jay to weave a metaphorical tale about drugs. In this song Jay-Z raps as if he is Heroin. It is not the first time a rapper has done this, but it might be the most effective. After spending two songs talking about how drugs are the way to make money, Jay switches it up and starts to talk about how addiction can be harmful. He is speaking of drugs of course, but this could be any addiction and at the end of the track the addict finds strength and the drugs call after him/her "Now your body is shakin' trying to free it of me/ And your soul is in control, trying to lead it from me
/And your heart no longer pledge allegiance to me/Damn, I'm missing the days when you needed the D." Even in an album draped in drugs and drug money, Jay finds the human condition strong. It is a beautiful thing. 5/5
Party Life- This is the most laid back song of the year. Using a sample of a song I had never heard of, Jay-Z switches his flow yet again, adopting a sing song laid back, snoop dogg type flow and it puts the listener in a trance. He also drops some cocky type rhymes and backs up his cocky rhymes with little laughs and arrogant taunts. The second verse is dedicated to Beyonce and how no one can treat her the way he does. This is the kind of song that could make a guy want to smoke a joint, just to catch the feeling of the song. I actually think I get high off the vibe of this disgustingly groovy track. Each verse or couplet is still dope and he still gets some of those dope in rhyme patterns to prove he has not lost a single step. 4/5
Ignorant shit- This track is two years old, but Jay lets Beanie Seigel add a verse and the way it is put int he album it actually fits with his theme, even though he modernizes it to get some present day social commentary. Jay's last verse is new and he is going after the media hardcore in it. But any track that starts with "Yes sir~! Just the sound of his voice is a hit" you know you are in for a treat. He doesn't disappoint with the closing of the song "I missed the part when it stopped bein 'bout Imus/ What do my lyrics got to do with this shit!/ "Scarface" the movie did more than Scarface the rapper to me/ So that ain't to blame for all the shit that's happened to me/ Are you sayin what I'm spittin/ Is worse than these/ celebrataunts showin they kittin, you kiddin!." Just dope beyond words. 5/5
Say Hello- This is the song that really starts the downfall of the character int he story. He is paranoid and a bit crazy. Jay is coming after the lies and rumors about how he is the bad guy. He also infuses some more social commentary for the present day. The song has an old school feel to it, like the rest of the album, but it is very much a present day song. I can picture a character sitting alone in a room with a gun just ranting about this stuff. However, the arrogance is what keeps a man like this going. A man so brash as to boast "I'm an extraordinary nigga." The rhyme schemes are pure dopeness here and Jay comes so raw all over the track but he seems to know how to perfectly close songs with these lines here:
And if Al Sharpton is speakin for me
Somebody, give him the word and tell him I don't approve
Tell him I remove the curses
If you tell me our schools gon' be perfect
When Jena Six don't exist
Tell him that's when I'll stop sayin bitch, BEEEITCH~!6/5
Success- Jay and Nas together on the same track, again. WHOA. This is big baller music. This is clash of the titans music. This is that raw uncut dope chronic shit. This song feels like the beginning of something big, like a Jay-Z and Na album! Taking a page from Eminem's book this is a song about the trappings of success, but at the same time it is celebrating that success. It is a nice juxtaposition. The track is a funky, with some organs sound accenting the severe dopeness being spit by both these legends. Each guy is in top form here and the track just oozes awesome. Both of these guys are at their cocky and arrogant best with this Jay line "I got watches I ain't seen in months Apartment at the Trump; I only slept in once Niggas said Hova was ova, such dummies Even If I fell I'll land on a bunch of money" and this Nas line "Old cribs I sold, y'all drive by like monuments Google Earth Nas, I got flats in other continents." The game is a WRAP! 6/5.
Fallen- Here is the downfall of Shawn Carter the hustler, the collapse of the drug empire. This is the part of the movie where he gets what is coming to him. A dramatics sample is perfectly fused with Jay-z's tale featuring lines like "And ya can't get up/All you do is push-up/ Pull-up sit-up." This presents a picture of a man behind bars working out because he has been caught. This is the morale of the cautionary tale. This is what makes stories like this important. Jay-Z is earnest in his story and he presents albums like this about drugs and drug dealing to hope to show what bad comes out of it. This is a great song to end the story on. 5/5
Blue Magic- The first of two bonus tracks, this is the first thing anyone heard from this album. It opens with a Frankenstein sample and goes into a sparse 80's sounding Neptunes track where Jay-Z strips down his own flow and rips the track 80's style, big time. Jay is getting his Rakim on with a deliberate slow flow, accenting each word. He respects this era of rap and this is his homage. It is a dope track and it would have worked as part of the story, except for the era, I think. The title of the song refers to the drug Frank Lucas was selling because the track can be very addictive. 5/5
American Gangster- This track could be the character's out of prison song. Sampling Curtis Mayfield it fits the funky soul samplings of the rest of the album and it is just one verse. This is a man who will not let go of his grip on the top until he has everything. This is a resolute man who believes he still has tons of accomplish. Jay-Z sounds refreshed here and it makes me think Jay has still got a few great albums up his sleeve. Lyrically it isn't astonishing, but it works because it is about the feeling of the song more than anything else. The album closes perfectly with these lines "Here's to the man that refused to give up, I want the sky!" 5/5
I am admittedly a Jay-Z fan so maybe I am a bit Biased but this is an incredible album. It has a little of everything I love about Jay-Z as an artist. It is musically different form what Jay is doing and it might be his least commercially viable album ever, which makes me happy. Gone are the songs about clothes and girls and just celebrating to celebrate. Each song on this album has a purpose and it furthers a story. It may not be the most complex concept album but it works at every turn. It is not the best album released this year but it is in the top 3 for sure.
Intro- This is a haunting track that doesn't feature Jay anywhere on it. It fuses audio clips from the movie and a man, a narrator of sorts, talking about what it is to be an "American Gangster." The track comes across harder than I would have expected, but I hate tracks that don't feature any rapping, so it doesn't feel necessary. 2/5
Pray- Beyonce does some talking over the track as the beat builds into a throw back, funky early 70s sounding backdrop for the reemergence of Jay-Z to rap prominence. Jay comes on the track and just tears it apart, beginning the story over an incredible Al Green sample. The main character is a kid getting ready to become a man. He is off to school but all he sees around him are drugs and unhappiness. But on the other side of drugs he sees riches. He is setting the scene for the audio movie but at the same time, starts off with a cautionary tale with jewels like "I'm trying to beat life 'cause I can't cheat death." The song is gem after gem of rap lines, delivered with that usual confidence Jay is a master of the game, pure and simple. 5/5
American Dreamin- Marvin Gay provides the backdrop here as Diddy provides Jay with another deeply soulful instrumental for him to rip apart. This is the next part of the story. A young man dreaming of what he can become in the drug game. This is the dream the young men in the projects have of trying to sell drugs. But at the same time there is a sadness in Jay's voice as he tells his mother "Mama forgive me, should be thinkin 'bout Harvard/ But that's too far away, niggaz are starvin." The marriage of Jay's voice and the track is perfect and Jay really is more comfortable in this kind of song. He recounts his days of a young man perfectly. 4.5/5
Hello Brooklyn- Lil Wayne is on this track and nearly ruins it for me, but the track, the Beastie Boys sample and Jay's swagger save the one bad track on the album. The song is about Jay's home, his first love, the place that raised him. Jay's ability to allow his listeners to visual his lyrics remain amazing as he paints a picture of Brooklyn that includes "Brooklyn we crazy, look how you made me Razor blades in my mouth walkin 'round behavin/ Or demented black hoodies and Timberlanded." The beat has a deep bass and doesn't sound like a typical Jay-z track and it is rumored the song was going to be used on Wayne's album first, but it fit the story of American Gangster. I think Jay could have found a better track to fill this quota for the album, but he saves it mostly, mostly. 3/5
No Hook- This might be the best and most real track on the album. Diddy provides a Barry White sample and Jay-z opens the song with some of the most real stuff ever, "Poor me, dad was gone, finally got my dad back/ Liver bad, he wouldn't live long,/they snatched my dad back/God as I never had that, streets was my second home
Welcomed me with open arms provided a place to crash at". This whole song is a quotable honestly. The track is haunting and Jay is really just letting his heart and soul bleed all over it. It is essentially one extremely long verse. It is a stream of consciousness rap that really messes with rhyme schemes and rap patterns to a great effect. It is one of his most personal tracks to date. And it might be his most interesting track in quite some time. 6/5
Roc Boys- This is the one party type song on the album. it is the only real commercially acceptable track with blaring dope horns accenting Jay living it up as his character just broke through with his first million. When Jay does this kind of song, it is believable because he really does have this kind of money, but he isn't lazy in his verses still dropping punchlines like "think OJ/ I get away with murder when I sling yay." The track is boastful, yes but Jay's swagger is built for this type of song. It is the one real upbeat song on the album and really resonates as the album gets deeper and less happy and celebratory. It is the anomaly on the album and that makes it work so much more. This is the height of it all but it is only track 5 out of 12. 4/5
Sweet- Back to the soul funky sampling here. The drums and horns provide an interesting foundation for Jay-z to spit his life over. He understands that his life is not perfect and that he has been a bad example, but he doesn't make apologies for it because this is the hand he was dealt. It is a fairly basic, straight forward song with Jay not doing too many verbal gymnastics on it. It works in its simplicity though because the words are what matter here. It is hard to hate when he gets real on a track, even if I do not agree with his words. 4/5
I Know- The Neptunes are back with a vengeance here. Jay and Pharrell have always had a great chemistry and the beat here provides the perfect music for Jay to weave a metaphorical tale about drugs. In this song Jay-Z raps as if he is Heroin. It is not the first time a rapper has done this, but it might be the most effective. After spending two songs talking about how drugs are the way to make money, Jay switches it up and starts to talk about how addiction can be harmful. He is speaking of drugs of course, but this could be any addiction and at the end of the track the addict finds strength and the drugs call after him/her "Now your body is shakin' trying to free it of me/ And your soul is in control, trying to lead it from me
/And your heart no longer pledge allegiance to me/Damn, I'm missing the days when you needed the D." Even in an album draped in drugs and drug money, Jay finds the human condition strong. It is a beautiful thing. 5/5
Party Life- This is the most laid back song of the year. Using a sample of a song I had never heard of, Jay-Z switches his flow yet again, adopting a sing song laid back, snoop dogg type flow and it puts the listener in a trance. He also drops some cocky type rhymes and backs up his cocky rhymes with little laughs and arrogant taunts. The second verse is dedicated to Beyonce and how no one can treat her the way he does. This is the kind of song that could make a guy want to smoke a joint, just to catch the feeling of the song. I actually think I get high off the vibe of this disgustingly groovy track. Each verse or couplet is still dope and he still gets some of those dope in rhyme patterns to prove he has not lost a single step. 4/5
Ignorant shit- This track is two years old, but Jay lets Beanie Seigel add a verse and the way it is put int he album it actually fits with his theme, even though he modernizes it to get some present day social commentary. Jay's last verse is new and he is going after the media hardcore in it. But any track that starts with "Yes sir~! Just the sound of his voice is a hit" you know you are in for a treat. He doesn't disappoint with the closing of the song "I missed the part when it stopped bein 'bout Imus/ What do my lyrics got to do with this shit!/ "Scarface" the movie did more than Scarface the rapper to me/ So that ain't to blame for all the shit that's happened to me/ Are you sayin what I'm spittin/ Is worse than these/ celebrataunts showin they kittin, you kiddin!." Just dope beyond words. 5/5
Say Hello- This is the song that really starts the downfall of the character int he story. He is paranoid and a bit crazy. Jay is coming after the lies and rumors about how he is the bad guy. He also infuses some more social commentary for the present day. The song has an old school feel to it, like the rest of the album, but it is very much a present day song. I can picture a character sitting alone in a room with a gun just ranting about this stuff. However, the arrogance is what keeps a man like this going. A man so brash as to boast "I'm an extraordinary nigga." The rhyme schemes are pure dopeness here and Jay comes so raw all over the track but he seems to know how to perfectly close songs with these lines here:
And if Al Sharpton is speakin for me
Somebody, give him the word and tell him I don't approve
Tell him I remove the curses
If you tell me our schools gon' be perfect
When Jena Six don't exist
Tell him that's when I'll stop sayin bitch, BEEEITCH~!6/5
Success- Jay and Nas together on the same track, again. WHOA. This is big baller music. This is clash of the titans music. This is that raw uncut dope chronic shit. This song feels like the beginning of something big, like a Jay-Z and Na album! Taking a page from Eminem's book this is a song about the trappings of success, but at the same time it is celebrating that success. It is a nice juxtaposition. The track is a funky, with some organs sound accenting the severe dopeness being spit by both these legends. Each guy is in top form here and the track just oozes awesome. Both of these guys are at their cocky and arrogant best with this Jay line "I got watches I ain't seen in months Apartment at the Trump; I only slept in once Niggas said Hova was ova, such dummies Even If I fell I'll land on a bunch of money" and this Nas line "Old cribs I sold, y'all drive by like monuments Google Earth Nas, I got flats in other continents." The game is a WRAP! 6/5.
Fallen- Here is the downfall of Shawn Carter the hustler, the collapse of the drug empire. This is the part of the movie where he gets what is coming to him. A dramatics sample is perfectly fused with Jay-z's tale featuring lines like "And ya can't get up/All you do is push-up/ Pull-up sit-up." This presents a picture of a man behind bars working out because he has been caught. This is the morale of the cautionary tale. This is what makes stories like this important. Jay-Z is earnest in his story and he presents albums like this about drugs and drug dealing to hope to show what bad comes out of it. This is a great song to end the story on. 5/5
Blue Magic- The first of two bonus tracks, this is the first thing anyone heard from this album. It opens with a Frankenstein sample and goes into a sparse 80's sounding Neptunes track where Jay-Z strips down his own flow and rips the track 80's style, big time. Jay is getting his Rakim on with a deliberate slow flow, accenting each word. He respects this era of rap and this is his homage. It is a dope track and it would have worked as part of the story, except for the era, I think. The title of the song refers to the drug Frank Lucas was selling because the track can be very addictive. 5/5
American Gangster- This track could be the character's out of prison song. Sampling Curtis Mayfield it fits the funky soul samplings of the rest of the album and it is just one verse. This is a man who will not let go of his grip on the top until he has everything. This is a resolute man who believes he still has tons of accomplish. Jay-Z sounds refreshed here and it makes me think Jay has still got a few great albums up his sleeve. Lyrically it isn't astonishing, but it works because it is about the feeling of the song more than anything else. The album closes perfectly with these lines "Here's to the man that refused to give up, I want the sky!" 5/5
I am admittedly a Jay-Z fan so maybe I am a bit Biased but this is an incredible album. It has a little of everything I love about Jay-Z as an artist. It is musically different form what Jay is doing and it might be his least commercially viable album ever, which makes me happy. Gone are the songs about clothes and girls and just celebrating to celebrate. Each song on this album has a purpose and it furthers a story. It may not be the most complex concept album but it works at every turn. It is not the best album released this year but it is in the top 3 for sure.
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