Musicrooms.net: Jay-Z - American Gangster

Jay-Z - American Gangster
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NoreenKara on 28 November, 2007
 
Label: DefJam
Reviewed by: Nooreen Kara
Rating: 7/10
To most, the movie ‘American Gangster’ is simply entertainment. To Shawn
Carter, it depicts him. Paralleling his life to that of the star of the movie
Frank Lucas, Jay-Z offers a collection of 15 tracks in his second instalment
since his not-so-credible retirement back in ’03.
Jay doesn’t shy away from the fear of creating an album that isn’t
commercially-attractive – quoting Denzel Washington as Frank Lucas to kick the
record off, the ‘Intro’ is breaks it down: “Man I worked for one of the
biggest companies in New York City. He didn't own his own company. White man
owned it, so they owned him. Nobody owns me though.”
By now, most people will have already heard the first single ‘Blue Magic’,
which only actually makes it as a bonus tracks on the CD. Despite somewhat of a
lazy delivery, the Neptunes-produced track serves as the perfect backdrop to
Jay’s surprisingly gritty rhymes. The album follows suit; switching it up
between some moody, dark production on ‘Pray’, ‘American Dreamin’ and
‘No Hook’, Jay outlines his struggles in his own autobiographical, narrative
sense.
The latter of the trio of tracks mentioned is possibly the most intense. While
on the former two, Jay succeeded in concept and lyrics, his flow lacked effort,
but on ‘No Hook’, Jay regains his passion, combining some complex rhymes
with the on-point Diddy production team: “‘Stay out of trouble,’ mama said
as mama sighs/ Her fear her youngest son being victim of homicide/ But I gotta
get you out of here, mama, or I'ma… die… inside.” Hov delivers a powerful
look into his life that wouldn’t look too out of place on the Reasonable Doubt
track list.
As the Ali-Frazier boxing match of 1971 is possibly the highest point of Frank
Lucas’ career as a drug kingpin – with seats closer than that of the Italian
Mafia’s – tracks like ‘Party Life’ and, in particular, ‘Roc Boys’
are fun with heavy horns in the production and swagger lyrics like “You
don’t even gotta bring your purses out/ We the dope boys of the year; drinks
is on the house”.
The album highlights don’t come until a little later though. ‘Ignorant
Sh-t’ is a strong defence on rap critics, if a little out of place being an
updated outtake from The Black Album: “Scarface the movie did more than
Scarface the rapper to me/ So that ain’t to blame for all the shit’s that
happened to me”. Meanwhile, ‘Success’ makes the most of a brilliant
concept, showcasing the gift and the curse of the title subject, and is blessed
by a few nice bars from Nas: “Camaro driven/ I climax from paper/ And ask why
is life worth living?” The album rounds off nicely with ‘Fallin’, which
features a reflective hook from Bilal, and some more introspective Jay-Z.
Commercial success comes easy for Hov - he said it himself on ‘Moment of
Clairty’, “I dumb down for my audience/ And double my dollars”, a
statement supported by ‘Kingdom Come’. He regains some credibility with
‘American Gangster’, rediscovering the art of language, solid rhymes and
vivid imagery – but hardened fans will wonder where Jay’s conviction’s
went; on lyrical tracks like ‘Pray’ and even ‘Blue Magic’, Hov is unable
to convince his audience like he used to, and it’s on celebratory tracks like
‘Roc Boys’ where he sounds most comfortable.