I’m psyched about the new album–Jay always threatens to bring more reflection but only does so occasionally.

Recently listened to Kingdom Come again, which was definitely a let down when it came out. There’s some good stuff in there and maybe it is ‘too sophisticated’ in one aspect–who wants to hear someone rap about business and living life laid back. Maybe my parents could relate…but they don’t buy Jay albums, I do. And I don’t really wanna hear about his beach chair.

NaS will always be the king of street poetry, but Jay is able to embody the charismatic, street smart and deadly gangsta in a way no other entertainer (maybe since Sinatra) can. He’s best when keeping you on yr toes–when you love him one minute and he scares you the next.

I will pre-order a copy of American Gangster from itunes and then I will but two more copies once it hit stores Nov 6…I love and respect Jay-Z he’s the Legend of our time…long live the king!

IN MY OPINION JAY DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH BALANCE ON KINGDOM COME IF YOU ARE GOING TO SAY 30′S THE NEW 20′S AND IT IS YOU ALSO NEED TO HAVE A LITTLE HARD KNOCK LIFE AND JAY DIDN’T MIX THE TWO.

In the article:

“Imus is a racist,” Hov declared. “He’s not a person that listens to rap or was influenced by rap, so the two things don’t have anything to do with each other, so fuck him.”

As a Listener of the Imus show for over 30 years I’d like to state that both points are false.

First John Donald Imus is not a racist, a man should be judged by actions not schtick.

As a white kid growing up in central Jersey in the 70’s the first place I heard of Dr King was on the Imus in the Morning Program.

Imus introduced me to the blues.

Imus introduced me to the sermons of the Rev GE Patterson and the campaign of Harold Ford. If he truly is a “racist” he’s not a very good one.

As to Jay-z’s second point. Not only does he listen to rap/hip hop but he played it on his show in mix with many other genres.

In particular I remember his using “Fuck Tha Police” by NWA as a bumper for years.

Like I said If Imus is a Racist, he’s not a very effective one.

here here

i bet if there was a microphone in front of all of us for 5 hours a day, most of us would be on the unemployment line as well. he’s not a racist, he said something stupid, that’s all.

jay-z knows nothing about imus. pt bartman is right-on. imus played lots of rap on his mostly talk radio/tv program. he opened black culture, music and issues to a wider audience than anyone else in media. listen longer than 10 seconds and find out for yourself.

jay-z is an amazing artist and i’m looking foward to his new album. i thought kingdom was great, but maybe i was just happy to see him back.

Jay need to give it up. I’m a true jay z fan but the guy seems like he’s trying to keep up with the new guys he needs to be himself and not worry what anybody thimks or how is he going to sell the record people will buy it anyway so make it hot

its funny 2 me that people have forgot what hov means 2da game.if u actually think there is a pound 4 pound better living rapper, then u dont listen 2 rap u just skim through it.

interesting …

yo, like jay said he was too sophisticated when kingdom come dropped. cats still tryin to be thugs but jay was sayin how he was kinged down in africa, talkin bout katrina when cats still tryin to be snowmen, doin things like givin water to poor places. kingdom come was takin from the superman comics kingdom come when supes came out of retirement. that was jay’s whole thing. you all need to recop that album and listen deeper. jay’s new album will set fire to all those so called hustlers, pushers, snowmen, and what so ever you call yourselves. he did it and grew past it. learn and progress. he rapped bout what you can be now if you push yourself hard enough

Kingdom Come was a classic. It brings something new to hip hop that has never been done and he showed his growth and progression on that album there is nothing wrong with that his new album is gonna be another classic Jay is the greatest of all time.

Imus is a racist f-ck him he may listen to hip hop but he don’t understand it.

@ dracodagod…

Jay-Z’s the greatest rapper??? LOL!!! I guess that’s called an opinion huh. It is my opinion that he’s not the greatest rapper (although he’s still great nonetheless) but maybe the greatest mainstream rapper.

Jay-Z is def the best rapper alive hands down. People who don’t understand Kingdom Come are those who don’t understand growth…..

Point Blank
Can’t wait for the new album it will top the charts.

2 many Hov Haters out there man. The man is self made and he still can’t gain your respect. He is the ONLY and I mean only rapper that made it to president style and the Forbes off of his own deal. He ain’t need dre and em to promote his album like 50 did and he ain’t need to ride bigs coat tail like puff did. He made it off his own accord, so pay hommage and stop hattin and let that man live.

In my opinion hov aint the best rapper alive, he’s the best rapper ever. Alot of people will not admit that in fear that other rappers who came before him might be forgotten about.

Finally with the kingdom come album,some insight into the mans mind at the time,I’m from nigeria and if I could not relate to gun/bling lore on a global level hov dropped an album of dreams,and what some rappers could aspire to.My point,for those who did not get it,u have made the man retard his flow for ya’ll this time,hip hop is world wide.fools.

izZy iLL and T2: i completely disagree with the idea kingdom come is good because it’s somehow “sophisticated,” and “mature,” and if you don’t understand it, then either you or your musical tastes aren’t old enough. just because jay raps about what he’s doing now doesn’t make kingdom come sophisticated or a classic. “he rapped bout what you can be now if you push yourself hard enough.” he only did this very indirectly by mentioning the things he does now. “he showed his growth and progression” only in how his personal circumstances changed, not that much in his songs. it’s different than most of what’s out there, but that’s not much of a standard for a classic, just because he’s not a thug or snowman.

all of his songs deal with themes and moods hard for us to relate to, and in a way that doesn’t make it any better. there’s not a lot of urgency or excitement to draw us in. and with the title “kingdom come,” and jay-z returning from retirement, i thought there would be some explicit breakdown of what went wrong while he was gone, and what makes good hip hop. along with that, i thought the songs would all be hard hitting and mindblowing. but when i heard kingdom come, i didn’t want to hear more superhero metaphors, i felt like i already heard something like this on never let me down. but there were no sustained insights and critiques on why hip hop needed jay to return and save it and no songs that felt like they were relevant–from either commentary or from giving us something that anything that the hip hop that was coming out was missing.

i didn’t see a whole lot of creativity and cleverness as a whole in his album. he has good lines here and there, like the beginning of the intro, on beach chair, but it didn’t seem like there was a reason for them. i didn’t care about 30 is the new 20. if he just talks about how his materialism is more sophisticated than yours, or what he does now as a rich record executive, that’s not artistry.

as far as the topics you say he goes into, he just throws in being “kinged in africa” and giving out water. if he made whole songs about these things , establishing some context, then i would know what these things mean to him and maybe i could relate to it. but just throwing it around is just like a form of name checking luxury brands, even if it’s real and he can lay claim to doing these things. plus, if he made a song about what he saw in africa, and what his water thing is about, it could help by bringing problems to our attention–like kanye west’s diamonds.

he does this on the katrina song a little bit, but that wasn’t a good song either. first, a million dollars is a lot of money, not many people can contribute that much. second, it seemed like he was talking more about his own response and anxieties than about the people and places hit by katrina, about bush’s response, or how the rest of the country responded to it.

it seems like he implies a point about the rest of the country having become apathetic about it, but this could have been more direct. the lyrics and maybe even the way he delivers them just sounds like it’s another song about himself and his worries, rather than the product of deep thought about what katrina means or should mean, or what could be done to deal with a continuing problem in the country. it seems too egocentric. i thought the montage of sound bites at the end and the beginning were more profound than jay’s words, and that ne-yo’s brief singing made the point even more effectively.

just because jay made it and has an impressive backstory doesn’t make an album about that’s basically a straightforward telling of his situation a classic or even worthwhile for you and i to listen to. the song he had to his mom about how he made it wasn’t good for the rest of us either.

the stuff jay says in this article sounds more interesting than kingdom come. things are described in a way we can relate to. he brings up topics that aren’t normally dealt with directly and lurk in the background of rap. kingdom come just feels like he threw together songs that belong in a diary or a blog. it’s like writing something personal and then just thinking that’s good writing because it’s got eloquent phrases and it’s about stuff that means a lot to you. but the problem is you’ve made no attempt to broaden the appeal to anybody else other than yourself and some people you specific address.

Jay-Z is incredible. I bought two copies of American Gangster along with five copies of Anthony Shears, The Growth: My ENDtroduction. Hands down, they are the best artists out there.

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