Jay-Z, if not the greatest rapper ever, is at least the most celebrated street-hustler-turned-Def-Jam-CEO alive. His new album, "Kingdom Come," released on November 21, is a strange animal. It is a grown-up, tuned-down and very corporate perspective on life, appearing three years after Hova's retirement from the game in 2003. I would not call it bad, but is still unworthy of the status that "Reasonable Doubt," "The Black Album," and "The Blueprint" achieved.
The record is full of grand names?it was produced by Dr. Dre, Kanye West, The Neptunes, and Just Blaze. It even features Coldplay's Chris Martin. You know an album is still not enough if it features Chris Martin. The title track, "Kingdom Come," uses a sample by funk legend Rick James and is maybe the most polished track of the album.
Let's first discuss the lyrics. Jay-Z throws a sharp line here and there, but the content is generally very uninspired and pretentious. This is an album that is not only boring; amidst all the grand CEO-equals-God posturing, Jay-Z seems to be very bored with rapping. He seems more concerned with branching out in his business ventures.
In one of the tracks, he claims that he is still hustler gangster at heart. But let's face it, this was Jay in the early '90s, 14 years ago. He does not quite know what to think of himself either. In the track "30 Something," he proclaims that "30's the new 20."
Shawn Carter is having a severe mid-life identity crisis. He is confused that he is making an album when he is 36 years old with nothing left to prove. "Kingdom Come" comes at a point in Jay-Z's life when he is very comfortable with himself. He has no battles, no harsh realities. It's just him contemplating about how grown and great and grand he is. It's not an album about dreams, or the future, or energy; it is an album of laid-back comfort. And, again, it features Chris Martin.
No track shines through?the album is a sequence of one lackluster posturing after another. Some tracks that are especially bad are the Neptunes-produced "Anything," Dr. Dre's-produced "Trouble," and Just Blaze's 'Show Me What You Got."
At the end of the album, Jay almost reluctantly admits that there is something wrong with this album: "If the prophecy's correct, then the child should have to pay / For the sins of the father / So I bartered my tomorrow's against my yesterdays... / I'm both saint and sinner... / I'm on permanent vacay / Life is but a beach chair / This song's like a Hallmark card until you reach here."
It is all about meditation and growing old, sitting on the beach and watching your bank account bulge and the New Jersey Nets scoring again and again, while you are contemplating the meaning of life. And this comes from a man who used to be known for gangsta hymns like "Hard Knock Life" and even "99 Problems." It is a shame.