Jay-Z
American Gangster
Release Date: Nov 6, 2007
Genre(s): Rap
Record label: Roc-A-Fella
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Album Review: American Gangster by Jay-Z
Exceptionally Good, Based on 4 Critics
Based on rating 10/10
Jay-Z :: American GangsterIsland Def Jam/Roc-A-Fella RecordsAuthor: Jesal 'Jay Soul' PadaniaAmerica, I'm going to give you an outsider's view of your country. Once upon a time I sat on a train from London to Edinburgh (I was going up there for the annual Festival), when a French gentleman happened to sit next to me. Very clever guy, university lecturer.
Based on rating 4.5/5
Review Summary: Hova's back, and he's made one of the best albums of his career.It seems too goddamn good to be true. Jay-Z, with his public popularity as low as George Bush’s, seems deflated after his supposed “comeback” album, Kingdom Come, failed considerably both commercially-wise and, most noticeably, critically-wise. On a seemingly unrelated note, Ridley Scott’s new movie loosely documenting legendary gangster Frank Lucas, titled American Gangster, is being filled to the brim with hype.
Based on rating 8.0/10
Writer Jeff Chang described the central question of Kingdom Come, Jay-Z's much-discussed post-retirement album from 2006, as being what more could Jay say. Interest in this response was certainly high: Fans gave the record one of the year's biggest opening-week sales figures and the industry heralded it with a Grammy nod. But critics responded with far less generosity.
Based on rating B+
In September, during a special congressional hearing, hip-hop once again came under scrutiny for violent and/or misogynistic content. (Thanks, Imus!) And once again, rappers invoked the Terminator defense — you know, Arnold Schwarzenegger killed people on screen, why can’t we do it on record? On American Gangster, an album of drug-underworld tales inspired by the Ridley Scott film of the same name, Jay-Z echoes that sentiment, declaring all rappers ”actors,” including himself: ”Believe half of what you see/None of what you hear/Even if it’s spat by me. ” Of course, if that argument is true, it makes you wonder why someone as talented as Jay — dude could probably rap The Hobbit and make it sound fly — would play the same role, the hardened hustler-turned-playboy, for his entire career.
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