First off Jay-Z is one of the best rappers alive. It seems like he�ll have to die to be appreciated. Sure Tupac and Biggie are two of the greatest. But don�t diminish Jay�s skills by thinking if Tupac and Biggie were still around, that they wouldn�t be sharing the top with him. And as much as I don�t want to use this word. Basically don�t hate because he�s alive.
With that said who knew that �Ain�t No Nigga� wouldn�t be his only hit. Year after year Jay-Z has released an album with at least one song you know you like. Where Vol. 1 fell short, Vol. 2 picked up. When some tracks on Dynasty disappointed, he paid you back, with interest, on The Blueprint. So now he owes you nothing, but gives you a The Gift aka Disc 1. Which opens with �A Dream� featuring The Notorious BIG. And Big�s 8 year-old flow rules this song. When he says, �And if you don�t know, now you know�, it�s over. You need an engineer to run in the booth and say, �Ok, nobody can touch this mic for a week!� � Sorry you�ll have to record somewhere else, this is Big�s mic.�
Also on Disc 1 is �03 Bonnie & Clyde� which was really not needed. There�s a whole lotta nothin� going on there. If they�re together or not, who cares, since they have no chemistry on wax. And your fucking up Tupacs� beat. Jay-Z does flow nicely on �The Watcher 2� and � I Did It My Way�, which borrows a line from Sinatra�s �My Way�. The sad thing is that, if the Gift was released by itself, it would be like the Dynasty album. Well, it�s still better than Dynasty, but it falls in line with my Jay-Z good-to-great premise. Disc 2 The Curse is where you get your money worth.
There�s just so much to love, especially � Guns and Roses� with Lenny Kravitz. It�s like Jay flicked his flow switch on for Disc 2, and couldn�t turn it off. Yes, you too can cool out poolside at the Delano. The track �U Don�t Know (remix)� uses the same beat from his last album. This time with Roc-A-Fella newcomers M.O.P., you cannot stay still with this beat on. Don�t fight it. Next Jay wants you to �Meet The Parents� on which he tells a story about a �father� who kills his son over stupid street shit. On �Blueprint 2� he takes on Nas. Saying, �Can�t ya�ll see that he�s fake, the rap version of T.D. Jakes.� When he�s finished you�re thinking, � Yeah Nas, which is it?� Is she a Black Girl Lost or shorty owe you for ice? Hello� Nas� Timberland delivers a nice beat for �2 Many Hoes� which Jay uses to talk about some guys sweating him in the clubs. And on track 13 he spells out the difference between �Sistas & Bitchies� funniest line � Say Jay-Z why you gotta go and disrespect the women for, huuu��
To sum it up The Curse is the real gift, and Jay-Z has done it again. Last year he said it�s been 7 summers. Yeah, that�s true. He has his own record label, successful clothing line, and a film company. Plus he�s alive and well. Let�s keep it that way.
dcph rating 8.2
reviewed by DaRohn S. |
