L'Chaim!: Unravelling Jay-Z's American Gangster
Jay-Z: "Roc Boys"
from the forthcoming American Gangster
Without putting too fine a point on this, I'm not certain "Roc Boys" is any better an introduction or explanation for American Gangster than the '80s-referencing kick-off "Blue Magic," a song that confused many at first and then grew on lots of people, present company included. Having heard the album last Friday night at a smallish marathon-style listening session with Hov (on a personal level, easily one of the highlights of my brief career), there isn't one song that could accomplish thematically what Jay's trying to do, something he's never done before: Craft an honest-to-goodness concept album. Stray shots from concepts albums rarely work and if you haven't heard the build-up and comedown that precedes and follows "Roc Boys" it's likely going to seem quite ehhhh...
Which is not to say that "Roc Boys" or the album is masterpiece material necessarily. But it's a marked shift from previous work, partially autobiographical, but more narrative-driven than anything else. The unnamed lead rises in the drug game, celebrates his success (hence "Roc Boys") and then begins a slow, ruminative downfall. So without that build it sounds something like a warmed-over '70s horn loop courtesy Puff's revamped Hitmen team, some quotables and Jay blithely celebrating with his Jewish homies.(?)
But it does raise an interesting thought about songs standing on their own in the thick of an "art piece" — Jay's words, not mine. After playing the album, he seemed ambivalent about the necessity of a single and said he'd been toying with making "Blue Magic" a bonus track, considering it's sore-thumb quality in contrast to the rest of the album. It makes sense to move "Blue Magic" out of the story. As opposed to his tie-in-heavy previous effort, this is no frills, if you can believe that about a Jay-Z album. And the songs are quite good. On its own merit, "Roc Boys" is sharper and funnier conceptually than anything he's done in years. He sounds happy to be rhyming here — something I'm not sure you could say about Kingdom Come and some of The Black Album — and for that I'm weirdly thrilled. Consider:
"Heron got less steps than Britney
That means it ain’t stepped on, dig me?"
My experience with American Gangster is tainted forever, as I first heard it on pristine studio speakers, sitting directly across from Jay, watching Young Guru recite every lyric as American Gangster the film play on an adjacent plasma. So I may come off apologist here. But I know from betrayal regarding Shawn Carter — I was that dude. And the last thing Jay-Z needs is another cheerleader, he's got plenty on the payroll already, not to mention all you Stans out there (Hi!). That said, this is a thoughtful, complete, at times awesome piece of work and if "Roc Boys" disappoints, well, I wouldn't be surprised. Just be patient.
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Comments
1.
BDangerous says:
Understanding that your assessment ("unravelling") comes from such a particularly personal point of view/listening, it seems we have no choice but to wait to hear the album in its entirety before making a judgement on it.
Furthermore, seeing the movie that "inspired it" will also be necessary before I would "give my 50 cents on it".
Hov's media presence notwithstanding, he's re-entering the rap game at a particularly pivotal moment: not even Kayne/50's much-hyped "beef" could inspire sales past the first week and the time limit on artistes' releases seems even shorter than the average teenage attention span. Rap might still "be fun" (albeit mostly of the southern variety), but the stars of the 90s are lost in the haze and the "new breed" doesn't seem to last much longer than the hype of their one-hit wonders.
Kingdom Come didn't do much to change the largely depressing status-quo and judging from your "apologist remarks" and the uninspiring "Roc Boys" track, American Gangster wont either.
Guess we'll have to wait to hear (and see)...
Only time will tell after all
Respect
10/17/2007 at 7:13 PM