Jay-Z

"I used to give a f*ck / Now, I give a f*ck less," Jay-Z states on "Success," and here he's abandoned Kingdom Come's beach chair for a spot on a dirty street corner. The album is painted in washed-out grays and dark blues, drained of hooks and informed by the loss and soulful sway of soaring horns and rattling bongos. This is nostalgia as blood lust, gangster rap as social commentary, and Jay wears his politics on his sleeve throughout, aiming at Imus on "Ignorant Sh*t" and licking shots at Reagan on "Blue Magic." This is an excellent return to form.

"This is black superhero music," Jay-Z proclaims in his excellent new "Roc Boys." That
means live horns, grooving on some kind of Afro-beat riff over Seventies
rumble-in-the-jungle funk, while Jay-Z tosses off boasts like "Pink rose, think O.J./I get
away with murder when I sling 'ye." It might be the hottest song on Jay's new American
Gangster, but it has plenty of competition. The superhero is 1970s Harlem hustler... More >