Album Review - Jay-Z - American Gangster

When it comes to a Jay-Z albums in the last few years there is always a certain amount of hype surrounding it. Either he is retiring or he's coming out of retirement or in this case he saw a movie so moving that it inspired him to create and entire album named after it. Despite the new album being a giant advert for The movie of the same name starring Denzel Washington, Jay-Z has returned to his old self. There is no more Nascar and Budweiser endorsing, there's still the I'm rich part but it's not from selling records it's from selling dope. We haven't heard Jay-Z refer to kitchens, Pyrex, or bricks since we watched Streets is Watching.

The album opens with "Pray" where Jay's storytelling ability shines through painting vivid pictures of a childhood upbringing surrounded by the drug game. On "Hello Brooklyn" we get Lil' Wayne's I smoked a blunt before I tried to sing this hook voice and then smoothly transition into "No Hook" which brings back a flow style that was prevalent on Reasonable Doubt and is not seen very much on later records. The record you'll hear playing at every dope spot soon will be the anthemic "Roc Boys (And The Winner Is)" a song purely dedicated to the rewards of the hustle. The next track to stand out for us is "Ignorant Shit" featuring Beanie Sigel where Jay and Beanie express their feelings on the censorship in hip hop issue that has frequented the media since Don Imus uttered a few choice words on his radio show. Nas makes an appearance on "Success" before we get to the current single "Blue Magic" and end it with an upbeat party track eponymously titled "American Gangster."

We love the new album and the one thing that really stands out to us is not the lyrics, or the themes but the horns. Nearly half of the songs use horn samples and Jay uses them to his advantage every time. They keep the mood up tempo and mold perfectly with his voice. If Jay can keep putting out records like "American Gangster" no one will be calling for his re-retirement anytime soon, so here's to hoping we don't have to wait for an American Gangster movie sequel to get another "American Gangster" like album.