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Jay-Z - American Gangster
- You feel that crispness in the air? That can only mean two things:
1) Autumn has truly arrived
2) It’s time for a new Jay-Z cd.
Serving as somewhat of a companion piece to the movie of the same name, Hove’s “American Gangster” is a triumphant return to form for one of the best who’s ever done it. After the inconsistent “Kingdom Come” album last year Jay found the needed inspiration to create his best album since the first Blueprint CD.
Clips from the movie play throughout the CD to create the mood, and the 70’s samples that lay across the beats keep you in the mindset of a hustler. Diddy's (p-diddy, puff, puff daddy, diddly-pop, poppa…whatever his name is this week) production crew The Hitmen reassembled like Voltron to help in that department, while contributing producers such as Pharrell Williams and Jermaine Dupri keep the flow going with their contributions.
But the lyrics, right? Think of Jay like everybody does the Halloween movie franchise. It goes 1, 2 then 4, because 3 had nothing to do with Micheal Myers or Jamie Lee Curtis. So lyrically, take out “Kingdom Come” and you have Hove giving you the insight/thought process of a "self-made man," but done in story-book fashion. Yes, this is a concept album, opening with “Pray,” where our soon to be hustler is about to make a decision that will change his life forever: do I stay broke or do I get dough. From here on out you ride with him on his rise (American Dreamin), his success at the top (Roc Boys) and eventual downfall (Falling), and other concept songs in between (the Neptunes produced “I Know” has Jay speaking as if he’s the heroin that he sells). You throw in the incredible "Success" featuring Nas and the cooler than cool "Party Life" and you have a brilliant, brilliant album from the man many thought was done last year.
Any missteps? One. The lead single "Blue Magic" (featured here as a bonus track) doesn’t have the same vibe of the rest of the album (thank goodness it’s right at the end). But other than that, this is an excellent album that, no matter how you feel about him, needs to be in your collection, right beside "Reasonable Doubt", "Blueprint 1", and the "Black" album as Jay-Z’s finest hour(s).
Reviewer: ray anderson
new
Reviewer's Rating: 9.5
Reader's Rating: 0
Reader's Votes: 0
Added: 23-Nov-2007
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