This album made up for the dent in the armor that was Kingdom Come (but the title-track to that album was awesome). The American Gangster album is carefully sequenced like a cohesive story, and so the songs follow the tale of an ambitious young man who aspires to find success as a hustler and become an affluent drug kingpin. However, and not surprisingly, the success does not last. From Jay-Z's perspective, it sort of picks up where Reasonable Doubt left off, as far as hustling themes. The album itself plays through well as a result of interludes from the movie that was the album's muse. And production-wise, Jay-Z's music hadn't sounded that soulful since The Blueprint. Overall, it's still not Jay's best work though. However, it is an inspired hip-hop package that removed Jay from the un-relatable and broad content of Kingdom Come. American Gangster put him back in a space where listeners could identify with some of the things Jay was talking about and they were forced to believe him because of the vivid details that his words provided. It was with this album that Jay-Z reclaimed the crown and again became the King of New York hip-hop.
No comments:
Post a Comment