Can Jay-Z's New Music Live Up To The Hype Of His Comeback?
Published: Monday - November 27, 2006
Words by Lauren Carter
Jay-Z (Photo: AP)
Few people can rap over a sample of "Superfreak" by Rick James and make it work. Especially considering it's already been done by MC Hammer. Apparently, Jay-Z is not one of those people.
Nevertheless, that's exactly what he does on his newest unveiling of wackness, the song "Kingdom Come" off the album by the same name, the one he's dropping after a pseudo-retirement we all knew he was going to come out of in a slim matter of years.
Now, the problem with this song -- and the three songs I've heard off the album -- is that Jay-Z can't really rap anymore. That might be what happens when you leave the game for four-ish years and spend most of your time in corner offices and on yachts.
So, when he returns to the game proclaiming that he's rap's savior, as he does numerous time on this new, wack record, well, to quote a Hov line from back when he was still a tight rapper, "We don't believe you, you need more people."
Bragadoccio goes a long way, but you actually have to back up the savior hyperbole with skills.
That includes the type of rhymes reminiscent of Jay's lethal flow on "Threat" off The Black Album, the last album he released, which should have been his last: "Like castor oil / I'll Castor Troy you / change your face, or let the bullets change all that for you / y'all n----s is targets, y'all garages for bullets / please don't make me park it in your upper level / valet a couple strays from the 38 special / n----, God bless you"
Now, we're left with this off "Kingdom Come": "Now I'm so enlightened I'm like glow in the dark / I've been up in the office you might know him as Clark / but just when you thought the whole world fell apart / I take off the blazer, loosen up my tie / step inside the booth, Superman is alive."
Ummm, no. Nevermind that the beat on "Kingdom Come" samples one of the tightest funk songs ever released and basically wrecks it.
Way to go, Just Blaze. You seem to have an incredible knack for ruining sh--.
Such as, the beat on Jay-Z's first single, "Show Me What You Got," which takes the sax riff from "Rumpshaker" by Wreckx-n-Effect, who jacked it from Public Enemy, and backs it with a lot of cymbals crashing, horns wailing, and strings that are trying to sound intense just sounding stupid.
It ends up sounding like a K-Mart ripoff of Kanye West's epic masterpiece "We Major" featuring Nas. Not hot.
Meanwhile Jay-Z is inviting ladies to "wave, and wave, and wave, and wave." No thanks, Jay. I'm busy looking for your "Unplugged" CD to throw in the changer.
A third single off the new CD, "Lost One," makes a case that maybe Jay-Z has retained some semblance of his former skill. The melancholy, piano-driven beat is bordering on heat with a pretty hook from Chrisette Michele, but still not close to the level of fire you'd expect from a track produced by Dr. Dre.
Meanwhile, Jay-Z sounds a lot like someone with questionable skills until the second verse, which seems to indirectly discuss Jay's relationship difficulties with girlfriend and singer/actress Beyonce, and is the most interesting part of the song.
Still, the overall level of mediocrity on these three tracks raises a couple of key questions.
Question number one: Jay-Z has money coming out of every orifice, he can put any producer in the world on his full-time payroll, and he chooses Just Blaze to hook up the first two singles that are basically ushering in his return from a four-year absence? Why?
Even on albums that have virtually no wack beats, the one or two beats that suck are inevitably produced by this guy: Witness his two duds on The Documentary by The Game (think "Church For Thugs"), an album that by most accounts features some of the tightest production this side of 1998.
Question number two: Has Jay-Z's absence from the game equated to an absence from reality, said reality including a number of hot beats being produced by a number of talented producers who are NOT Just Blaze?
Question three: Where did Jay-Z's lyrical prowess go? Has the business world blunted his street swagger? And will he ever get it back?
The bottom line is that Jay-Z can liken himself to as many superheroes as he wants. It doesn't make the metaphors true, and sometimes, it only adds to the laugh factor. Especially when he's coming at us with nonsense like this off "Show Me What You Got": "I am the Mike Jordan of recordin' / y'all may want to fall back from recordin'"
That may fool the bandwagon rap fans that don't know much about Jay-Z's past and can't differentiate quality songs from dumpster material. But, for anyone who knows Jigga's history that just won't work, because we remember when he spit this on "Encore": "When I come back like Jordan, wearin' the 4-5 / it ain't to play games with you / it's to aim at you, probably maim you."
Personally, I wish he'd just left it at that.
The views expressed inside this editorial aren't necessarily the views of BallerStatus.net or staff.
Editorials & Columns Hustle Harder: Travel Arrangements Recently I traveled down to Washington D.C. to participate in an event called the "Million DJ March," and I realized ... full story
Digg It
Del.icio.us
