Album Review: Jay-Z chronicles ‘gangster’ past
Jay-Z’s second album since returning to hip-hop, “American Gangster,” is his real comeback album. Last year’s “Kingdom Come” was hyped as such, but “American Gangster” is his first unqualified success since “The Black Album.”
The album is tied to the big budget Ridley Scott film of the same name. However, Jay-Z doesn’t so much soundtrack the film as use it as a means to narrate his own gangster past.
He returns to rawer lyrical content on “American Gangster” proves to be electrifying. Not since 2001’s “The Blueprint” has he sounded so invigorated. By the album’s second track, “Pray,” he’s already outdone the better raps from “Kingdom Come.” The lyrics of “Pray” outline the album’s story and criticize the culture that gave birth to the “American Gangster” in two bars: “This is the genesis of a nemesis/ mother America’s not witnessing/ the Harlem renaissance birthed black businesses/ This is the tale of lost innocences.”
Production-wise, “American Gangster” couldn’t be more removed from the limp leftovers of “Kingdom Come.” Diddy proves throughout the album that he’s more than an empty public personality and produces some of his best work since Notorious B.I.G. He infuses the album with equal shots of soul and funk.
“American Dreamin’” rides high on a beautifully executed Marvin Gaye sample while Jay-Z narrates his young dreams of a hustler life. The style accompanies the album’s movie-like progression perfectly, with the horns in “Roc Boys” sounding as though they were pulled directly from a blaxploitation film.
The Neptunes, after a long rest in mediocrity, continue their meteoric rise back to production excellence with “Blue Magic,” which has all the magic minimalism of Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot” and the Clipse’s “Hell Hath No Fury.”
Ultimately, though, it’s former-common-collaborator No I.D.’s “Success” that most embodies the album’s achievement both in name and sound. Over a spare, funky Rhodes piano riff, Jay-Z attacks his “Kingdom Come” persona: “I used to give a shit, now I don’t give a shit more/ truth be told, I had more fun when I was piss poor.” Jay-Z actually sounds like he’s having fun analyzing his past on “American Gangster,” and the resulting album is just as enjoyable.
Jay-Z
“American Gangster”
Released: Nov. 6
Rating: A
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on Sunday, November 18th, 2007 at 11:19 pm and is filed under Album Reviews, Arts & Entertainment.
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