youngchinq's Full Review: The Black Album [PA] by Jay-Z
I would never claim I'm the most objective person on Earth, so let me start off by explaining why I hate Jay-Z – or as people here in Canada call him, Jay-Zed. I started listening to hip-hop because of Tupac Shakur, but right when I was really getting into it, along with the whole East vs. West beef, Pac died. And then Biggie, Jay-Z, and the whole of Brooklyn started saying, "Too bad; we’ll miss him," when they were enemies with Tupac when he was still alive. It got to the point where I breathed a sigh of relief when Biggie died. That's a horrible thing to say, but I just wanted everyone to shut the fuck up – it's bad enough Pac got killed without his detractors feeling sorry for him.
After the two tragedies, I didn't mind Jay-Z. Reasonable Doubt was okay and he actually caught my attention with The Blueprint, which I felt completely outdid Nas's reply, Stillmatic. But then he had to hook up with Beyoncé and do "Bonnie and Clyde '03", which is a rip-off of one of my favourite Pac songs, "Me and My Girlfriend". The fact Jay-Z had Beyoncé as his girlfriend in his version is a complete disgrace. I mean, have you heard the original Pac version? Beyoncé has zero thug in her. In fact, since I last saw her in a performance at the NBA All-Star game, I’d say if she got a tan and dyed her hair black, she’d look exactly like Ashanti. Barkley and Kenny Smith are whack – why aren’t they in love with a woman who’s actually black? But the music video for "Bonnie and Clyde '03" was just the final straw, which features Jay-Z and Beyoncé singing and dancing in front of a Pac painting. It would’ve been okay if Jay-Z danced on Biggie's grave – I don’t care, they were down with each other, whatever – but because of one big disrespectful act against my favourite rapper of all time, I will forever have an aversion for Jay-Z and Beyoncé. So thank God at least one of them is packing things up.
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1: Interlude – 1:21 (**)
2: December 4th – 4:33 (**)
3: What More Can I Say – 4:55 (*)
4: Encore – 4:10 (**)
5: Change Clothes – 4:18 (***)
6: Dirt Off Your Shoulder – 4:05 (***)
7: Threat - 4:06 (**)
8: Moment of Clarity – 4:24 (**)
9: 99 Problems – 3:54 (*****)
10: Public Service Announcement - 2:53 (*)
11: Justify My Thug – 4:17 (****)
12: Lucifer – 3:12 (*)
13: Allure – 4:52 (**)
14: My 1st Song – 4:44 (****)
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Now, on to the review. The Black Album is Jay-Z’s last album. The Black Album is Jay-Z’s last album. There: now you’ve heard that sentence a million and two times. But Jay-Z also has this whole "my last is my first, my first is my last, and my first is the same as when I came," thing going on, as he somewhat attempts to recreate the underground feel of his much-lauded debut, Reasonable Doubt. The Black Album is of course not an original album name and any famous rapper (or rock group) who releases a black album and purposely withholds some mass promotion scheme is taking part in an ingenious mass promotion scheme. It certainly worked for me. Did I buy Reasonable Doubt? Nope, I stole it. Did I buy The Blueprint? Nope, I downloaded it. Did I buy any other album from Jay-Z prior to this one? Is "negatory" a word?
But I did buy The Black Album; albeit perhaps to just convince myself I still hate Jay-Z. And yep, I still do, despite the fact that he starts rapping about cocaine again, and turns up the lyrical complexity, for the most part. Jay-Z may have shown once and for all with his final effort that he's not a featherweight emcee, but his messages are still wrong. I cannot relate with many of the over-boastful verses on The Black Album, and many of the tracks are, at the same time, not even club-worthy because of the underground feel Jay-Z aimed for. To like this album, you have to be in awe by the skill with which one rapper can remind you that he’s the wealthiest and one of the most influential figures in hip-hop's history. Unfortunately, when it comes to me, I don't really give a fuck.
Jay-Z's ego is so behemoth that it's not only inflated his head, but it's spread to his mammoth lips as well, which seem to get larger by the album. The Black Album is one album Jay-Z claims is dedicated to his mother and he starts it off with "December 4th". "December 4th" is like a reversal of a "song for mama," like the classic from Tupac; instead of rapping about how wonderful his mother is, Jay-Z decides to put his mom in the song to tell everyone how wonderful he is. Nice move Jigga. Granted it’s not a braggadocio because Jay-Z, with all his success, has earned the right to boast, but it’s his last album and I wish he could have shown some humility for once, especially with perhaps some heartfelt reverence towards his mother.
The production for "December 4th" matches the arrogant verses, but on the next track, "What More Can I Say", things become intolerable. With an outrageous audio excerpt from the motion picture Gladiator, and an obnoxiously noisy, over-extravagant beat, the song gave me a headache, which is a shame because I wish I could scrutinize the lyrical content to count all the lines originally by B.I.G. – I found two, but I’m pretty sure there’s more. With the unbearable, cluttered production, I’m pretty impressed with myself that I also found Jay-Z’s explanation for why it seems every third line he spits is from Biggie: "I'm not a biter I'm a writer for myself and others / I say a B.I.G. verse, I'm only biggin up my brother." Good excuse; horrible song... actually horrible excuse as well. And if the Buchannans found it absolutely necessary to have someone scream out the chorus, "What more can I say? / What more can I do?" at the top of his lungs, they should’ve made sure the guy (Vincent "Hum V" Bostic) has at least a modicum of vocal control.
Bad production leads me to, of course, a Kayne West paragraph. Proponents of Kayne’s production tell me to just listen to the two songs produced by him on The Black Album to convince myself that he is The Second Coming. I have, and I’m not convinced; I think hip-hop has taken such a turn for the worse that people have confused "tyte" with "not complete shit." And even though "Encore" is not complete shit, it is overproduced. Kayne advocates claim every beat he forges, people can bounce to, but I cannot see how people can bounce to "Encore"; there’s simply too much going on. "Lucifer" is a song that's a lot easier to dance to but like with "Bonnie & Clyde '03", it completely rips and disrespects on a song I respect a lot. I don't care if producers sample from James Brown or the Ohio Players, but they should know a classic, righteous, Rastafarian song like "I Chase The Devil" by Max Romeo, is off limits to any hip-hop song that begins, "I'm from the murder capital, where we murder for capital."
Kayne has a thing or two to learn from his producing peers, such as Timbaland. I never thought I'd ever be praising Timbo, but I think not only is he a better producer than Kayne, he just might be a better rapper as well. Timbaland demonstrates his adroitness for making beats people can bounce to with "Dirt Off Your Shoulder", which is a song Jay-Z gives up on lyrically, but the beat is good and, word to Kayne, simple as well. While MTV and MuchMusic was playing "Change Clothes" non-stop, knowledgeable club DJs were playing "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" to get people brushing their shoulders on the dancefloor, and the song is simply a good time, even though it obviously lacks intelligence.
Despite how easy it could have been to criticize the commercial tracks, notice, however, I did not one-star "Change Clothes". I do not hate Jay-Z simply because he is commercially successful; I am, in fact, guiltier of liking commercial tracks than I would like to be and "Change Clothes" is the perfect example illustrating this. As the most lyrically vacant track, people who like The Black Album almost universally diss "Change Clothes". But it's such a fun song, and The Neptunes manage to put forth a beat that feels elegant enough to feel suitable for the world of fashion. I love it when Danee goes, "Haha! Sexy, sexy, sexy," and the fact Naomi Campbell is lip-syncing that line in the video makes it all the more hilarious.
Interestingly, I also dislike the song everyone seems to cherish in The Black Album, "Moment of Clarity". The beat is instantly identifiable as property of Eminem, whose production is quickly growing mundane. The similarity between Eminem and Jay-Z is that they are both regarded as talented rappers (although I'm still on the fence about Jay-Z) who choose deplorable subject matter. "Moment of Clarity" is, essentially, an ode to selling out. Aside from a few clever lines, what is there to like about the song? "I dumbed down for my audience to double my dollars / They criticized me for it yet they all yell 'HOLLA!' / If skills sold, truth be told, I'd probably be / lyrically, Talib Kweli / Truthfully I wanna rhyme like Common Sense / But I did five mil' - I ain't been rhymin like Common since." If I never listened to The Black Album before and someone threw me those lines, I would have guessed Ja Rule wrote it for his final album. This is atrocious – now watch every rapper write a rhyme about how they sold out and expect to be forgiven.
With one much-mourned DJ Premier omission, and Eminem, Kayne, Timbaland, and Pharell out of the way, the best work by a producer on The Black Album belongs to DJ Quik. "Justify My Thug" will probably be the third single on this album, behind "Change Clothes" and "Dirt Off Your Shoulder". Like with "Lucifer" and Max Romeo and the Upsetters, you might have a problem with this track if you're a fan of Madonna, but I certainly am not, so I love this twisted interpolation of her "Justify my Love". The rhymes are rather unimpressive but the whole song has the ability to make people move with a simple, wholesome, thumping bassline, a few scratches, and... what's that I hear in the background? "You're Making Me High?" No way.
But amidst the big list of lionized producers, I admit Jay-Z does shine on two tracks. The best of which is the genuinely charismatic "99 Problems". Over a hard-hitting Run-DMC-esque beat courtesy of Rick Rubin, Jay-Z reaches deep and brings out the Slick Rick storytelling skills and it is, dare I say, absolutely delightful:
(Jay-Z as policeman is in brackets)
"(Son do you know why I'm stoppin you for?)
Cause I'm young and I'm black and my hat's real low
Or do I look like a mindreader sir? I don't know.
Am I under arrest or should I guess some mo'?
(Well you was doin fifty-five in the fifty-four;
license and registration and step out of the car -
are you carryin a weapon on you? I know a lot of you are)
I ain't steppin out of shit, all my papers legit
(Well do you mind if I look around the car a little bit?)
Well my glove compartment is locked, so is the trunk in the back
And I know my rights, so you gon' need a warrant for that."
The other song that caught my attention is supposedly Jay-Z's final one, "My 1st Song." It expectedly adds a cute, little bow-tie to his storied rapping career by doing the whole full-circle thing. The clichéd concept is not what impressed me; it was Jay-Z’s flow that caught me off guard, as he switches gears from the previous thirteen tracks. I was afraid Jigga might launch himself into an interminable spasm of shout-outs at the end, but he actually manages to keep it short and leave the rap game on a good note. But note, it’s not the final album that is dope. Just the final track on the final album, finally, so – S Carter’s proven all that he can prove, proving he ain’t close to the G.O.A.T.
The Black Album, Jay-Z s tenth and final solo disc, features tracks by Pharrell and Dr. Dre. Cross promotional tie-ins to the disc include the simulta...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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