Artist: Jay-Z
Album: Kingdom Come
Reviewer: Ryan
Grade: B +
Contact: Jay-Z.com
Buy/Preview: Click Here
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Jay’s early albums were introduced by Dame Dash in that lead mobster voice from all the movies. Jay leads ‘Kingdom Come’ off like that and right away you see Jay has moved completely away from Dame. He furthers himself on “Lost Ones” where he spits, “I heard muthafuckas say they made Hov/Made Hov say, ok, so make another Hov.” Jay then kills one of the five Dr. Dre produced tracks rapping about an unnamed girl on verse two and getting personal on verse 3 rapping about his nephew. Also, an interesting note, Dr. Dre co-mixed very song on ‘Kingdom Come’ with Young Guru. Good reason ‘Detox’ has been often delayed, but that’s another conversation.
‘Kingdom Come’ comes with zero featured verses from artist (plenty of guests on the choruses). The typical appearances come from Pharrell which gives us a bouncy beat on the track, “Anything” featuring non-typical feature Usher. The John Legend assisted “Do You Wanna Ride” has Kanye West reusing his bass from “Last Call” off ‘College Dropout. While Jay spits solid, this track sounds out dated. “Hollywood” featuring Beyoncé produced by new comer Scyience is a little different from a Rap perceptive giving Jay a new look. “Beach Chair” a definite standout, has Chris Martin of Coldplay showing off his Hip-Hop chops. With hard hitting drums in the background, the piano play perfectly fits Jay.
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Posted 11/27/06 by Ryan in Reviews
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On the lead single, “Show Me What You Got” Jay just plays with the audience. Providing an upbeat dance tune, with little substance, Just Blaze flips the Public Enemy used sample from ’88 to perfection. The title track, “Kingdom Come” Just Blaze brings some more heat from the 80’s. Flipping “Super Freak” aka “You Can’t Touch This” to a lyrical track is amazing. Jay also get’s at Cristal with, “Fuck Cristal, so they ask what we drinkin’.” Also the line, “There’s much bigger issues in the world I know, but first I gotta take care of the world I know,” which directly relates to, “Minority Report.” A much younger Jay Hov wouldn’t touch the Katrina topic on record, but the older, wiser Jay is here. Jay even takes a shot at the President George W. Bush spitting, “The commander-in-chief just flew by/Did he stop? No, he had a couple seats/Just proved jet blue he's not/Jet flew by the spot/What if he ran out of jet fuel and just dropped/hu, that woulda been something to watch.”
Jay stays mature on “30 Something,” where he spits, “Still here, like Mike, gotta stop playin' with these children’s/I'm a bully with the bucks.” Jay does contradict himself though coming first with “Trouble,” a sick Dre produced club banger. Jay drops, “See What Doug, Jimmy & L.A. don't know, these youngins crossed the line with Hov, I'm letting it blow/had the papers writing stories like: "didn't they know, this what happen when they made that rapper CEO." “Trouble” then sets up Swizz Beatz produced “Dig A Hole” where Hov attempts to bury all his opponents. Directed at Cam’ron and Dame Dash mostly, Jay ask questions like, “Niggahz like "Hov why dont you get at ol' boy",” and then provides later why not, “It's hard to do, when you got nothin to prove/Everbody know you better, you in a lose lose/Even if you win, ultimately you lose/Real niggahz like, "why Hov talkin to dude" (Since this track, Jay has dissed Cam’ron and Dame on “Brooklyn High”).” Hov does provide other incite like, “I keep my enemies close/I give 'em enough rope/They put themselves in the air/I just kick away the chair.”
While ‘Kingdom Come’ us (Jay-Z fans) more Jay-Z, it isn’t what you expect from Jay, good and bad. Most of the album sounds out dated, or Jay just sounds not-typical rusty. The man with the perfect flow had some hiccups, and the ‘Blueprint 2’ Jay emerged also on beat selection a couple times (could you imagine if Dr. Dre would have really produced very beat?). Although ‘Kingdom Come’ had its small nuisances, Jay still proves 30 something rappers can make it in the rap game, even being in the top tier.
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