American Gangster

This album has been better received than Kingdom Come, but personally I feel that the quality is about the same when things are going well. What helps American Gangster is that, unlike it's predecessor, there are no real abominations to be found (see "Hollywood" and "Anything" from KC).

What we have here is a loose 'concept album', inspired by the Denzel Washington film of the same name based on the life of Harlem drug-lord Frank Lucas. This concept allows Jay to return to the subjects he came into the game spitting; hustling... the street life. But Jay's content is deeper than many give him credit for. He deals with issues in his own typically emotive way, one minute glorifying the highest highs ("Roc Boys" and "Party Life") and the next, sounding a warning on the downsides of the business ("Success" and "Fallin'").

The lyrics, as ever with Jay, are excellent throughout (see "I Know" for an incredible extended Heroin metaphor), and for the most part the music is too. There are a few missteps that don't quite fit, notably the Dirty South sounds of "Hello Brooklyn 2.0" featuring, oddly, New Orleans native Lil' Wayne on the hook, the Neptunes-helmed elctronic sound of "I Know" seems out of place, and some of the 70's soul-infused beats, provided by Puffy's 'Hitmen' production team, although evocative of a certain era, forget to be ear catching at times ("Pray"). Though much fanfare greeted Puff's involvement in this project, tellingly, the two best beats on the album are provided by Kanye's mentor NO I.D. and former in-house Roc-a-Fella producer Just Blaze.

The album closes out with two excellent bonus tracks; the Rakim/80's homage "Blue Magic" in which Jay adopts the simplistic flow of that era without compromising his incredible wordplay (check the "Iran Contra/ I ran contraband" line for proof), and the celebratory Just Blaze-assisted title track, packed with urgent horns and the catchy soul that some of the other beats here were short of at times.

In summary, the lyrics are as incredible as ever, the beats only falter in places, and Jay has maintained his postion as the one to follow in terms of mainstream, marquee Hip Hop.

About a year ago I bought this album and thought it was ok. I wasn't into rap at the time and was suprised that it was better than I though it would be as I didn't like rap at all. I listened a few times and moved on.
In the last twelve months or so I have gone on a bit of a mini rap odessey trawling back catalogues and disovering rap artists like Eminem, wu tang, gravediggas, gang starr, mobb deep etc. and have developed a love for the energy, mood and culture of this music.
The other day I picked up American Gangster again and found myself wanting to skip tracks, frustrated with what was on offer.
I like the atmosphere of this album, the recurrent theme idea is something I have always enjoyed in an album. My favourite track is success with Nas. I love the keyboards and the lyrics and they seem to enjoy the colaboration. Hello Brooklyn is one I like as well, again lyricaly and the beat is good. Falling is very nice too.
Unfortunately thats where my enjoyment ends. I find a lot of the rest flat and lacking in the energy of other artists.
I'm not sure I hear what other people hear when I listen to this album.

First, this is not for Souljah Boy or Lil' Boosie fans - this is a serious hip-hop offering even if you like Blueprint, Dynasty etc... you might find this hard going.

As always Jay's biggest strength is his amazing ability to tell a story in songs better than most people can do in plain English.
So this concept album was always going to give him a strong platform to tap into this ability. This is exactly what he does.
The album starts with some great beats in "I Pray" and "American Dreamin" it then slowly becomes about the flow and story before picking up again with "Ignorant S***" (recycled verse), thereafter taking you right back to the "Reasonable Doubt" album with the last few tracks.

Many people criticise the production on this album but I personally I think the beats were chosen carefully and compliment Jay's flow well. "American Dreamin" is an excellent example - beat, flow and content. "Hello Brooklyn 2.0" was weak - not because of Weezy - rather, it didn't feel natural and felt forced, in the context of the album it really doesn't have a place.

Fantastic offering, Jay's one of the greatest writers (if he wrote) of the 21st century - high praise indeed!
I gave this a 5 because it's the best thing out there at the moment.