Truth be told, I’ve only been a fan of Jay-Z since Vol 2...Hard Knock Life so it would be pretty ignorant of me to make a whole bunch of comparisons to his previous work when knowing that I still have yet to hear Reasonable Doubt. Yeah, it doesn’t make much sense to me either but after PURCHASING American Gangster and giving it a pretty thorough listen, I intend to do just that. Lyrically, Jay does not disappoint and using inspiration from the film of the same name as a backdrop, Jay weaves the tale of the rise and fall of a hustler. Although heavily inspired, most of the tracks are gratuitously based on scenes from the film but not so much as from the point of view of Frank Lucas. Instead, Jay creates his own graphic audio tale and the uncut product is 100% pure.
As a whole, the album is clearly not to be intended as commercial and that’s where I think a lot of people are downplaying the greatness of it. Last year’s Kingdom Come was sub par at best so just the fact that American Gangster re-establishes Jay-Z as the Jay-Z we know and love is a win all by itself. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Jay ever fell off but lyrically, Jay came with it this time. You could tell that his heart was into it as well as his mind, so the payoff is what some have deemed a “classic”. Do I agree? Yes, I do but not wholeheartedly . I disliked the Lil’ Wayne assisted “Hello Brooklyn 2.0” and thought it could’ve been better but, at the same time, thought it was good for Hip-Hop to hear Jay and Wayne on the same track. Other that that one minuscule detail, the album is a success in my book and will undoubtedly be among the many candidates for album of the year. And the winner is, Hov!
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