Great album, Jay, but why Diddy?

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For most of Jay-Z's career as an entertainer; he, like many rappers, was a wealthy, straight edge guy who pretended to be a tough guy gangster. On his tenth studio album, American Gangster (inspired by the movie of the same name), he does virtually the same thing--except this time, he lets us in on it. Rappers; ironically, considering their overt embrace of the term "realness", are notorious for their lack of honesty, and Jay-Z has always been one of the few that seemed to fib just a little less than the others. On the concept album, American Gangster, he comes as clean as he probably ever will, turning his "gangsta" character into an actual character in a story that reflects upon both the Denzel Washington film, the true story of Frank Lucas on which the film is based, and Jay-Z's own past.

Jay-Z shows right off the bat that this is an art piece and not one with the purpose of selling records (incidentally, American Gangster debuted at number one) with the track "Pray". It features that woman that apparently isn't ready to marry him yet, Beyonce. A business-minded Jay might of gotten Rich Harrison to make a bouncy beat for him to rap braggadocios lyrics over; Beyonce singing a sexy hook. Instead, Jay enlists the help of mogul Diddy and his production team The Hitmen (who surprisingly produce a huge portion of the album) for a serious violin-laden beat, and Beyonce doesn't even sing during the hook--she talks. "Pray" serves as the introduction of the gangster character that the album centers around. Based on the early Shawn Carter himself, the character is brilliantly portrayed and is developed tremendously in just the three verses of the first track of the album. Jay-Z goes from bragging about his status ( "Close your eyes, you could pretend you're me/a cut from the cloth of the Kennedys") to discussing bribing a dirty cop and questioning the sense of it all ("what we call corrupt he called paying dues/now when the rules is blurred, what it is and were/what am I to do?") to pointing out a paradox that might explain the gangster mentality ("I'm trying to beat life 'cause I can't cheat death"). I'm not in love with the beat, but other than that, "Pray" contains the top-notch, Black Album-esque rhyming and lyricism that was missing for the majority of Kingdom Come.

The Hitmen improve on "American Dreamin'" and prove that a Marvin Gaye sample ("Soon I'll Be Loving You Again", in this case) is always a good idea. The song itself explains the thought process of a up-and-coming drug dealer, from his realization that his "plans to get a grant/
then go off to college, didn’t pan or even out" to actually establishing himself in the game. As such, the track basically only serves the purpose of contributing to the whole story and doesn't really stand for much on its own. It tells the same drug dealer story that everyone has told: 'I can't pay bills, and I can't afford and education to get a job, so I'll sell drugs', and that's the gist of the whole song.

For a work that's intended to be a concept album, American Gangster lacks a plot (other than the basic 'I became a drug dealer and it was a bad choice' ) and struggles to find other ways to develop the character in the story besides general exclamations about the life of a high-profile gangster, as in the ironically titled "No Hook" (ironic, because it indeed contains a hook, whose lyrics are "and I don't need a hook for this shit") or "Roc Boys (And the Winner Is...)". Both tracks serve their purpose towards the overall story of the album, "No Hook" exploring how drug deals can affect the family; "Roc Boys" serving as the 'celebration' for Shawn Carter after making it big time in the drug game. However, like "American Dreamin", they fail to make much of a mark as individual tracks. Jay-Z manages to make a spin on the drug motif on Pharrel's wacky production "I Know", in which he compares his and Frank Lucas's past addiction to the drug game to a fiend's addiction to heroin--or in Jay-Z's case, crack; all while speaking. interestingly, from the point of view of the addiction itself.

"I Know" is sort of an interlude to the album, in that it's the only track not spoken from the point of view of the drug dealer character. He comes back in the next track "Sweet" which finally explores more of the mindset of the character; five tracks after "Pray", which was the last track to do so. "Sweet" refers to a scene in the film where Denzel Washington's character hesitantly allows his nephew Stevie (played by T.I.) to participate in the gangster life, when in actuality he wanted to keep Stevie away from the dangers of the drug game. Jay-Z's character does the same, and by the end of the song he seems to have become content with his decision.

"Ignorant Shit" doesn't do much to develop the character, in fact, by the last verse Jay-Z completely drops character and begins speaking as his current self as he ridicules the public's warping of the Don Imus incident into an attack on rap music: "I missed the part when it stopped being bout Imus/what do my lyrics got to do with this shit?" The beat for "Ignorant Shit" is one of the least interesting Just Blaze beats ever, but Jay covers him by spitting those clever lines he's become known for. The introductory speech covers it, and is so brilliantly witty it's beyond my praise: "I make "Big Pimpin" or "Give it to Me" one of those, they held me as the greatest writer of the 21st century...I make some thought provokin' shit, y'all question whether he fallin' off--I'ma really confuse y'all on this one".

"Success" and "Fallin'" end the story; the former featuring Nas and detailing the character's realization that success isn't all that it's cracked up to be. What Nas's role in that is, I'm not sure. After an album full of so-so beats, Jermaine Dupri and No I.D. tear it up on "Fallin'", which, as the title indicates, is about the character's inevitable fall from the top, and confirms the comparison hinted at in "I Know": "The irony of selling drugs is sort of like i'm using it Guess its two sides to what 'substance abuse' is".

After the main story you get two bonus tracks, the lead single "Blue Magic" and the title track "American Gangster". Jay-Z has described American Gangster as his 'indie film', in which case, these two tracks would be the bonus features on the DVD. "Blue Magic" is one of the best tracks on the album. Pharell redeems himself for the cheesy "I Know" by dropping an old-school track that Jay-Z compliments by rapping, as he noted himself, like an 80's Rakim.

There are a lot of ways that American Gangster could have been improved, such as hiring a better production team than The Hitmen to produce the majority of the album. I do not, however, want to take away from the fact that this album is leagues better and more original than the overwhelming majority of hip hop albums that come out. That said, Jay-Z still seems uncomfortable straying from that tough guy image that made him rich and famous. Let's be honest; American Gangster, while a good album, is clearly a clever way for Jay-Z to rap about drug dealing again in a time when people wouldn't buy it if presented in any other manner. It was based on the film, and it shows, as Jay-Z pretty much copies the story. I would have liked to see an album that focused solely on Jay-Z's own experiences, and not so much an album about Frank Lucas, which is what it boiled down to (clearly there had to be some differences in the two men's situations). Even so, this album was a success. It tells a story we've heard before, but it does so in an interesting manner. There are better concept albums, but American Gangster, if nothing, steps up the bar conceptually and lyrically for Jay-Z's contemporaries.


The Report Card

Production: C+
Perhaps I've been spoiled, but Diddy and Hitmen (who produce 7 of the albums 15 tracks) don't hold a candle whatsoever to the Just Blaze, Kanye West, Timbaland, Pharrell combination that we've been used to hearing on Jay-Z albums. The only beat that I really thought was worthy of a Jay-Z track was "Fallin", and that was produced by JD and No I.D.--their only contribution.

Flow/Lyrics: A
It's not The Black Album lyrically (and I'm beginning to think Jay will never recreate that magic), but it's probably second best in terms of lyricism.

Originality: A
The concept album is something rarely attempted in mainstream hip hop, and when it is, it's rarely done well. Jay-Z pulls it off and raised the bar for the future.

Overall: B-
Jay-Z is on another level than most emcees. I don't know how long his rap career will last, but American Gangster makes me want Jay to come back once more and make a perfect album. This wasn't quite it, but he's on the right track.