Nastiest American Gangster

Listen, I was about as harsh as anyone on Jay-Z for his efforts in Kingdom Comes. and a year later, I realize I was more than a little hypocritical on him for his efforts. The more I listened to the album, the more I loved a few of the hooks, the more I wanted to dissect his lyrics verse by verse and the more I wanted to smoke a blunt to most of the tracks. I realize I never wrote a retraction to my original diagnosis, but I felt it held up as an original piece of work and a noteworthy first impression of an artist that was allegedly going to blow me away with his newest album in three years.

Before even listening to American Gangster, I can tell you that my expectations were lowered than they were a year ago. I knew that Jay-Z threw this album together in just three short weeks after seeing a private screening of Denzel's newest work. I didn't expect a whole lot, other than a piece of work thrown together to release on the same date as a Hollywood motion picture made solely to reap the profits of yet another Aftrican-American's struggle to survive in a period that our nation shouldn't be proud of. Anyway, this isn't a discourse on our nation's history, but on one rapper's interpretation of that period.

I've got to say, this album is fantastic front to back, track to track, and high to high. Each work is filled with the tunes to get you through, and not a single one lets you down. You can tell that each track is made for Jay-Z's pleasure and not because some corporate exec said that he had to pump out an album within a certain time frame. The entire thing ebbs and flows with his life's story and lets the listener follow along like he's living the dream.

Not only that, but the guest appearances are fit in sublimely within the context of the album. Pharrel and Nas don't stand out as guest appearances on this album, but rather, they seem to fit Jay-Z's discourse to how an entire album should fit together. Did I mention that this year's hottest artist, Lil Wayne, makes an appearance?? He also fits into the background and takes his place below the KING of hip-hop. He doesn't stand out, and really, when held side-by-side to the Jigga Man, falls far short of this century's most prolific artist.