Last Tuesday I went to Best Buy with a $10 gift certificate I'd had since May or so. I decided I wanted to support Jiggaman bka Jay-Z.
On the initial sampling, Kingdom Come didn't impress me. Then I started listening, and came to understand the essence of every Jay-Z album. There are three main themes.
1. "He hustled, he really ran the streets."
2. Jay believes he's the Mike Jordan of the Rap Game.
3. Hova feels that it's necessary to murder all naysayers and people he's left in the dust on wax.
These three things, along with his amazing lyrical ability has allowed for Jay-Z to sell millions upon millions of albums.
But I purchased Kingdom Come with greater expectations.
There is one track - it's titled Minority Report and about Hurricane Katrina - on Kingdom Come that has some social conscious. But even that joint offers no resolve for the situation aside from the infamous Kanye West clip that makes its way on the track declaring that "George Bush doesn't care about black people."
That's it. It's a cool album. A good listen, not better than the Blueprint or Black Album. But more importantly, it's not the mark of a King or a CEO of Def Jam.
If he's Hip Hop savior, why not spew some venom at the ignorance veiled as "snap music" that's taking over the air waves? Why not teach somebody something? Why not tell kids to go to pay attention in class and get a degree in some form or another? Something?
This man has the pulse of - white and black - America at his lips and his wax. There hasn't been someone with so much of America tuned in since Bobby Kennedy maybe, and he continually talks about what? Hustling?
I don't understand what's so great about consistently bring up something that he did ten years ago. Say something positive. Say something progressive. Say something truly introspective consistently.
He could turn the America upside down if he desired with his music. That many "important" people and that mean "common" people listen to him just because. Seriously, there are some NASCAR fans who probably bought his album just cause Dale Earnhardt was in his video. Why wouldn't he use that power to say something that actually means something?
I mean at this point is it about "numbers?" No. Is it about a legacy? No. Reputation? No. It should be about purpose. A man's truth, not a selfish game. I'll be real, the album is hot. I absolutely love Dig A Hole, 30 Something and I Made It.
But if hustling what he's going to continue talking about, he needs to stop calling himself Hov, and re-name himself Scrooge, because he's taking the money and not giving much more than he has before.
In his own words, he still doesn't understand his "mo potent delivery," but he does "remember what these streets did to me."
On the initial sampling, Kingdom Come didn't impress me. Then I started listening, and came to understand the essence of every Jay-Z album. There are three main themes.
1. "He hustled, he really ran the streets."
2. Jay believes he's the Mike Jordan of the Rap Game.
3. Hova feels that it's necessary to murder all naysayers and people he's left in the dust on wax.
These three things, along with his amazing lyrical ability has allowed for Jay-Z to sell millions upon millions of albums.
But I purchased Kingdom Come with greater expectations.
There is one track - it's titled Minority Report and about Hurricane Katrina - on Kingdom Come that has some social conscious. But even that joint offers no resolve for the situation aside from the infamous Kanye West clip that makes its way on the track declaring that "George Bush doesn't care about black people."
That's it. It's a cool album. A good listen, not better than the Blueprint or Black Album. But more importantly, it's not the mark of a King or a CEO of Def Jam.
If he's Hip Hop savior, why not spew some venom at the ignorance veiled as "snap music" that's taking over the air waves? Why not teach somebody something? Why not tell kids to go to pay attention in class and get a degree in some form or another? Something?
This man has the pulse of - white and black - America at his lips and his wax. There hasn't been someone with so much of America tuned in since Bobby Kennedy maybe, and he continually talks about what? Hustling?
I don't understand what's so great about consistently bring up something that he did ten years ago. Say something positive. Say something progressive. Say something truly introspective consistently.
He could turn the America upside down if he desired with his music. That many "important" people and that mean "common" people listen to him just because. Seriously, there are some NASCAR fans who probably bought his album just cause Dale Earnhardt was in his video. Why wouldn't he use that power to say something that actually means something?
I mean at this point is it about "numbers?" No. Is it about a legacy? No. Reputation? No. It should be about purpose. A man's truth, not a selfish game. I'll be real, the album is hot. I absolutely love Dig A Hole, 30 Something and I Made It.
But if hustling what he's going to continue talking about, he needs to stop calling himself Hov, and re-name himself Scrooge, because he's taking the money and not giving much more than he has before.
In his own words, he still doesn't understand his "mo potent delivery," but he does "remember what these streets did to me."
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