Jay-Z - American Gangster
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Free Music Notes for American Gangster
Free Music Review: A new start? nah..back to the roots of the game.
Hit: 5 Stars
Jay-Z is one of the greatest rap artists that have been. There are many reasons to say this, of course he has money, and is CEO of Def Jam, ok cool. The real reasons I say this and what American Gangster represents is raw, gritty, in the roots of the street. Jay captured this flow that was embodied by the movie, and what really happened to Frank Lucas, and of course Jay himself.
Overall the tracks on this album tell a story. They tell a story of what happened in Jay's life, and how he sees things. You can really feel that in the Intro, Brooklyn 2.0, and many others. What does a real gangster do? There was a quote from the movie: "The loudest in the room is the weakest in the room." Jay is all about the action, not loud, or boasting. Quiet, and sniped you with the bottom line, and brings the real hip-hop and grit back to the bottom line. He does this so eloquently, and challenges anyone to prove him wrong.
Enough already, pick this album up and embark on the story of an Original Gangster. Jay-Z.
Free Music Review: Gansta, Gansta
Hit: 4 Stars
Jay-Z is on his game with the sound track to American Gangster. Everyone loves a good anthem and there are enough like that to keep everyone happy.. It seems like he's grown a bit and that's good for all.
it's an album you can play in your ride and not feel like you had to hit advance button.
Free Music Review: Tight Work
Hit: 4 Stars
This Album is amazing! I fell in love with Party Life and Fallin. However, I agree with many it isn't a Blue Print 2.0 or Resonable Doubt, yet I must say that it still can hold its own. Jay-Z never fails at how he keeps coming back and letting people know he isn't going anywhere.
Diana
Free Music Review: A very good album ends a not so good year
Hit: 5 Stars
It must be nice to be Jay-Z these days. With a couple of classic 5 star albums under his belt, his rep as one of the greatest MCs of our time is safe and secure. Given the amount of garbage that keeps coming out masquerading as hip-hop, it'll be secure for the foreseeable future.
He's made more money than he'll ever be able to spend. He's got a fun, challenging and rewarding job as President at Def Jam and he's very good at it - 26 2008 Grammy nominations; 5 for himself including one for his Kingdom Come album (best rap album) and one for his appearance on prot?g? Rihanna's Umbrella (song/record of the year). He seems equally successful running his 40/40 clubs - a third is due to open soon - so he can hardly claim to be bored. And to crown it all his wifey and wife-to-be (she hopes) is none other than Ms Beyonc? Knowles.
So one wonders why he still chooses to put out albums, especially in the wake of his well-publicised retirement a few years back? The only conclusion I can come to is that he does it for the love of the art, which is something I can only admire. More to the point though, he does it because he can.
"American Gangster" is a coherent set of solid, no gimmick hip-hop tunes. It may not sell as many copies as "Kingdom Come" but I definitely think it's a better product. "Kingdom Come" had its moments but it wasn't the monumental comeback I was expecting. This album, listened to as a concept album as opposed to a collection of songs, is actually quite good. There are no jump-out-at-you contenders for hit singles here but maybe that's the point. This is Jay-Z after all, not Soulja Boy or - with all due respect to him - Kanye West. Using clever samples from music by people like Marvin Gaye, Barry White, The Menahan Street Band and Ruby Love & The Love Family, the music is soulful and brilliantly produced. The beats are solid. And using Idris Elba, aka Stringer Bell (from HBO's "The Wire") on the intro is a nice touch indeed. If anyone - aside from Frank Lucas - epitomises the single-minded entrepreneurship and cold-blooded ruthlessness of the modern American gangster, surely it's Stringer.
As for the lyrics, well, they're contemporary but hardly revolutionary. The inspiration for the album aside, the man seems stuck in a particular mindset even after all these years. But it works for him, so he probably figures, why fix what's not broken? My favourite tracks, musically at least, are "American Dreamin'", "Hello Brooklyn 2.0" featuring Lil Wayne (which is interesting as I really cannot stand him), "Roc Boys (And The Winner Is)...", "Sweet", "I Know", "Party Life", "Ignorant Sh*t" featuring Beanie Sigel (also interesting; I don't like him much either), "Say Hello" (my overall favourite), "Fallin'" and the bonus tracks, the Neptunes produced "Blue Magic" and the Just Blaze track "American Gangster". Actually, that's every song on the album more or less, except for the Diddy-produced "Pray" (does Beyonc? have to appear on all his albums now?) and "Success" featuring Nas. I can't stand either song.
So the good news: It's a very good album and personally, I'm just glad he didn't follow the crowd and invite Akon into the studio. 2007 has not been a particularly good year for hip-hop as far as I'm concerned and while I do love 9th Wonder, in the final analysis this album and Common's Finding Forever are the only two must-haves of the year.
On the downside, it's not quite near the brilliance of Reasonable Doubt, The Blueprint or The Black Album so I'm still waiting for the next five star/five mic classic I'm sure he's capable of delivering.
My one other criticism is that Jay still feels that "hip-hop is a young man's sport". The man is almost 40 (he turned 38 just a week or so ago) and it would be nice if his lyrics started to reflect the age-appropriate maturity that he so obviously posesses. The music is already there. His younger fans might need some persuading but ultimately, I think they'll go with him. 4.5 stars.
Free Music Review: Cash-In-Cop-Out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hit: 2 Stars
What Jay Z needed was an Album Produced by Dr. Dre but instead he got P-Diddy. So what we have here is an album that will soon be forgotten in the Annals of hip-hop history and for good reason.
Jay Z's energy-less raps sound monotonous and listless. The lyrics harp back to Reasonable Doubt but don't match the inspiration of that Album.
The Production is so highly compressed that any rawness is simply faded out. The use of tacky digital keyboard sounds are terrible. The Marvin Gaye track borders on sacrilege.
Sorry but Hip-Hop needs a new leader, someone who is not lured away from reality by the excesses of Hollywood and sycophancy.