If hip-hop was a high school, Jim Jones would be the well dressed juvenile who never comes to class because he's too busy running the streets. He's one of raps' most polarizing figures: you either feel him or you don't. Now what happens when he has a falling out with a fellow set member and attempts to prove he can hold his own weight by dissin' one of the most popular guys in school? Will he face expulsion? Two years after the whole country walked around shooting 3-pointers to "We Fly High," Jim Jones comes to us with his second Koch Records release, Harlem's American Gangster. Now we all know that it has always been Jimmy's swag and not his rapping skills that have made him the success he is today, but pretty much, the entire album is a waste of classic Dipset beats.
The saying goes "save the best for last," but Jimmy implements it too literally by putting a bunch of bad songs in the beginning of the album. He makes you think twice about even making it to the "best" songs, especially when the "best" songs are somewhat mediocre. If you do make it past the disappointments and those horrible Damon Dash skits in between -- congratulations! Now, sit back and enjoy some of the more memorable tracks that exist on this album. "Lifestyle" and "Lookin' At The Game," which features the late Stack Bundles, are perfect examples of the swagger-filled Dipset music that could invoke charisma into the most insipid soul. "Rockefeller Laws" is another good song, and Jones displays his underrated introspection by rapping about the now amended laws and their affects on Blacks and Latinos.
There are many sonically supreme beats throughout Harlem's American Gangster, so it's hard to ignore the times when Jimmy fails to ride the beat seamlessly. Even when what he is saying is hot, it's hard to appreciate the lyrics when Jimmy suffers from a clumsy cadence. What's even more unfortunate is that the title track, "American Gangster," is one of the worst tracks on the album. Not a good look, to say the least. In the case of the aforementioned track, it isn't even about the Dipset capo riding the beat horribly, more so, it's that the beat seriously sounds like a CD skipping. On your first listen, you may be compelled to check your CD for scratches.
Ironically, the entire concept of the album is to prove that -- in Jimmy's own words -- "some people do soundtracks to the movies about Harlem, we do soundtracks to the streets of Harlem," yet NOE, who sounds like a Hova impersonator on "Saturday Night Live," is all over this joint. But it's just such a sad attempt at beef that even with today's hunger for celebrity drama no one bites on this. I guess Jim didn't get the memo that Jay Z doesn't "...argue with fools, because people from a distance can't tell who is who."
As a whole, Dipset could have taken over the rap world. Harlem has a huge impact on hip-hop, and we're just lucky it was wallet chains and not Hello Kitty t-shirts that they had half of NYC rockin'. But Jim Jones falls short of producing the infectious music that made him a star. Perhaps he was too ambitious in trying to offset a concept album by one of the greatest MCs of all-time, though, he does manage to muster a handful of respectable tracks.
So, Jimmy you're not expelled, but you're definitely suspended until further notice. Perhaps you can make it up in summer school, when your next album is supposed to be released.
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