CD Review: Jay-Z - American Gangster
Friday November 9, 2007
Last year, Jay-Z attempted to bounce back on the strength of his Superman-inspired album, Kingdom Come. No thanks to Ace of Spades-sponsored videos and horrible beat selection, the superhero shtick didn't...um, fly with his audience. This time, though, Hov sheds his cape and dons a thug persona that's both animated and entertaining. Is this Jay's true comeback or is it déjà vu all over again? Well, you're only one click away from our verdict on American Gangster.
Comments
couldn’t have said it better myself. this album, while not perfect or even the best album of the year, is solid. great job, henry.
I think that the album is very good. I think he represented NY very well.
4 stars. Gotta agree. A solid album.
I also HATE the intro, riddled with mediocrity and humdrum lines like: “If you believe in Jay-Z, then you too can be a gangster” and “by any means necessary” and “damn it feels good to be a gangsta” and…. so on.
Pain In Da Ass shoulda rocked this one. (”Let’s see how tough you are…”) ;-D
Oh well.
Great album nonetheless. My favorite commercial record of the year hands down.
Pray is the BEST song on the album. Yet no mention =[
GREAT ALBUM! i was gonna say it deserved a five, but once i listen to the saongs a bit more,i say 4 fits it better, but great album nonehtheless
by the way, you’re right, Hello Brooklyn 2.0″ sucks, and in my opinions, if he left it out, and put in another good song instead of it, this album probably would’ve been a future classic .(i’m serious)
when i say classic, i don’t mean top 100 material, but an album that’s music is timeless, so don’t get me wrong ppl (just in case someone bashes me later)
Have you seen the Roc Boys vid? Full of cameos!
I’m really feeling Roc Boys and Success, but other that there’s not too much that stands out to me. Still a solid album though.
henry, i know ur not going to do a review on cassidy’s album, but for my info, what did you think of it? personally, i thought it was solid.
Agreed^
Believe it or not, Cass’ is more of a conscious emcee than people give him credit for.
^^^ definitely. IMO, Cass’ album is overall a better album than Hova’s. Nothing really stand out on American Gangster. I can’t stop playing “I Will Never Tell”.
hie henry i believe this is the best album this year one thing about hov is he never flops, kingdom come wasnt all that but he still sold more than 50cent, good job hov
His best work yet… even better than Reasonable Doubt.
dont like this album…sorry
this is one of the greatest “story” cds made, because as jay said in his appearances with the cd you have to look at it as a movie and embrace it from start to finish. from the start with pray when he got the idea of slanging, to hello brooklyn when speaks of finally being recognized as a kingpin, to roc boys where he celebrates his success but brings too much attention, to fallen where we see the end results of everything.
its been a while since a rapper has been able to vocalize like this and have people envision a movie. we take it for granted because american gangsta the movie came out.
and for the columnist to question the validity of the imus comments com’on thats who do you think the biggest “gangstas” are, those who run america (the politicians/media mogules) because they make the rules and bend them. so for it to go from being about a racist black man to that of how hip hop had a role in his comments that BS
Great cd the music is funky. Im my opion he did it he could have left little wayne off. But it good to me the old Marvin Gay sounds along with other music is so hot it the number one album sold over 400 thousnad when it hit the shelf.
Nice article Henry
You captured the essence once again.