Customer Reviews

Kingdom Come

5 star:		(61)
4 star:		(49)
3 star:		(35)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

Jay-Z had quite a bar to clear with Kingdom Come, a bar he himself set with albums including Reasonable Doubt, Blueprint and Black Album. Some might say that fans expected too much from this set, but it was Jay-Z himself who orchestrated the hype machine by "retiring" and then feeding the streets a verse here and there alluding to his lyrical genius. The question remains, does Jay-Z live up to expectations? I offer an interesting answer for those listening to the album for the first time: Not yet, but he will.

Kingdom Come is an album whose quality cannot be fully understood on the first listen, or the second, or maybe even the first 10. But eventually, it'll seep into your brain. You'll notice that the more you listen, the more the subtle nuance, the little lyrical jabs, the understated but ultimately intricate flow will come into relief. I jumped on the leak (though, I've now purchased the special edition of the album) and have been listening to the album pretty much nonstop (cleansing my palette with Doctor's Advocate and Hell Hath No Fury every now and again) for over a week now. At first I definitely thought it was trash, epitomized by "Hollywood."

But then I really started to listen to the words. I heard his regret for not doing more for his community after Katrina on Minority Report ("Sure I ponyed up a mil', but I didn't give my time/So in reality I didn't give dime or a damn"). On Dig a Hole I heard him rap about the frustrating position he's in when it comes to beef ("It's hard to do when you've got nothing to prove/ Everybody knows you're better, you're in a lose-lose/ Cause even when you win ultimately you lose/ Real brothas like `Hov' why you talkin' to dude?'"). On I Made It, Jay thanks his mother for facilitating his growth in the absence of a father ("Didn't have a man in the house, so you made one/ That's why I act like your husband and I'm only your son"). On Lost Ones (leaked earlier this year) we hear one of the most personal Jay tracks ever recorded, to the point where he alludes to his rocky relationship with Beyonce, something he's normally very guarded about, "Breath mami, it's deserved/ You've been put on this earth to be all you can be, like the reserves/ But me, my time in this army is served/ So I hafta allow she, her time to serve/ The time's now for her, in time she'll mature/ And maybe we can be we again, like we were." I heard the superhero themes on Kingdom Come ("Take off the blazer, loosen up the tie/ Step inside the booth, Superman is alive"). And I even began to appreciate the meaning behind the words (over a disgusting beat) on Hollywood. Not to mention a touching song to his imprisoned cousin on Do You Wanna Ride, and my personal favorite track, Beach Chair, which speaks for itself.

In short, I honestly believe that Kingdom Come is a little above us when we first listen to it. It needs to be heard, and heard again. Is that the way entertaining music is supposed to work? No! But that's the way art works. There's no Big Pimpin' here, there's no I Just Wanna Love You, or Girls, Girls, Girls. This is above the commercial single, which is why I don't know how big a success it will be when it comes to airplay. This is art, this is complicated, try to understand the artist's strokes and you'll find a pretty awesome experience. This is Jay-Z's most complicated work and I think it will ultimately be appreciated years down the road, as a great deal of art is.

This is the worse Jay-Z cd by far. He's too in to himself to make music that other people would like!!

Jay-Z - Kingdom Come (Def Jam, 2006)

When Mo'Nique hosted the BET Awards a few years back, she told Jay-Z, who was in the audience, that if he was retiring to stay retired, otherwise he won't be as good when he comes out of it. Those words are so true, ask Master P, Mase and Too Short. And while Kingdom Come is better than all of those artists' comeback albums, Hova still shows signs of jet lag (and possibly old age).

After the intro, the album hits us with three(!) back-to-back Just Blaze productions: "Oh My God" is great except for the corny Valley Girl chorus, the title track is the best track on the album with its original manipulation of the "Super Freak" sample and the Public Enemy-inspired "Show Me What You Got" is pretty good as well. Dr. Dre and Mark Batson (known for Anthony Hamilton's work) together produce a few tracks here, the best being "Lost One".

I agree that the album's weakest links are the Beyoncé and Usher songs ("Hollywood" and "Anything", respectively) but there are other problems as well. "30 Something" is hot but seeing that Hova is almost 40, I don't get it. After all the hype about the diss track "Dig a Hole" (aimed at Cam'ron), it wasn't as lethal as "The Takeover". And there are various little lyrical instances, too many to name, where it seems like Jay-Z forced himself out of retirement (see the last verse in "Trouble", where he repeatedly uses the "n" word).

Kingdom Come would be a dope album by any other standard but this is supposed to be THE album; if Jay was coming out of retirement, this was supposed to prove that he still got it and as it stands, his previous solo album, The Black Album, was better. If this weren't a comeback album (meaning, if it came right after The Black Album), maybe it wouldn't have been so disappointing. Also, his best display is not even on this album, it's on Nas's "Black Republican" from Hip-Hop is Dead. If you're a Hova fan, pick this up but if not, get Nas's album (sorry for that comparison). -EJR

This is by far his worst album. He's great lyrically, but the beats do no match up at all. Sad that Jay left us with a classic, The Black Album, and comes back with this. The best track he's made this year is on the Nas album, Hip Hop Is Dead. What a shame though...I'm a big Jigga fan but this album was a letdown.

To all the people who like this album, you are out of your mind...this isnt what Jigga's full potential is.

IM GONNA START BY SAYING THIS! IM A BIG "JAY-Z" FAN IN ALL, BUT THIS ALBUM SUCKED BIG TIME! I UNDERSTAND THAT HE'S PAID NOW,AND HAVE A BEAUTIFUL GIRL ON HIS SIDE AND ALL, BUT I REALLY DON'T CARE TO HEAR ABOUT THE BEAUTIFUL LIFE HE LIVES NOW AND HE DON'T HALF TO PUT RIMS ON HIS CAR AND ALL THAT! MOST OF US DO DREAM ABOUT YOUR LIFE JIGGA,DON'T MASH IT IN OUR FACE! AND "YEAH" HE SHOULDN'T TALK ABOUT DRUGS AND GUNS NO MORE,BUT HE SHOULD OF JUST STAYED RETIRED! AND KEPT HIS TITLE AS THE M.JORDAN OF HIP HOP! BUT BEING AT HIS LEVEL OF HIP HOP, HE REALLY DIDN'T CARE ABOUT A QUALITY ALBUM, BECAUSE HE'S ALLREADY IS PAID, REGARDLESS IF HIS CD SOLD OR NOT! I PREFER TO HEAR THE ARTISTS THATS STRUGGLING TO GET TO THE TOP! ATLEAST YOU NO THEY ARE GIVING YOU THEIR BEST!

Jay-Z put out this wack album and I hate it...I gave mine away because it was not worth keeping on my shelf...I think Jay-Z didn't put as much time and thought into this album...He sold strictly cause of his name and New York...

Hip Hop is dead. What does that mean? You know Run DMC thought the same about hip hop when 2pac and BIG ran the show. Its not dead its just changing. I look at what Jay and Nas doing is as wanting rappers to be like them. Well that aint happenin. Rappers have realized that when you be yourself and be comfortable with being yourself then thats when your career will take off. For example look at TI, Lil Wayne, Jeezy, The Game, 50 Cent(even though I dont care for his music), Jim Jones, and the garbage D4L type groups. These guys are successful because they do what works for them. Its kind of a major statement to say "the game needs me". No the game doesn't, you need the game Jay. My advise is go retire again, he is a much better business man than he is a rapper(can you believe that I once was a fan lol).

I LIKE JAY-Z BUT THIS IS BY FAR HIS WORST ALBUM. AFTER ALL THAT HYPE HE DROPPED A DUD

Although this album is a bit more insightful and less materialistic than his previous work, with the exception of BluePrint which is a classic and in a class of its own, I wasn't so anxious about him coming back or this album in general. He should've retired after Blueprint if he wanted to do it while he was ontop. The Black Album was alot better than the BluePrint2 which was one disc so-so to good and second disc made of 90% filler.
While this album shows a more storytelling, poet side of Jay-Z, it ain't exactly his best work. Actually this falls down at the bottom, right beneath his 1997 Vol 1 album. While his maturity as an artist has improved, his lyrical content has suffered. The first 5 songs are classic Jay-Z and the last two songs are classic hip-hop but the rest of the album in between sound more like demos of MC such&such. In my opinion, he has faltered quite a bit on this album, this is right under BluePrint2; BluePrint2 should've never been two discs let alone be a sequel to a hip-hop classic. Kingdom Come has a few good moments starting with the intro and leaving at Lost One, then coming back with Minority Report and ending altogether with Beach Chair, which could've had a better song title given the point of the song. Beyonce, Usher & Ne-Yo, John Legend and Chrisete could've been more utilized than singing hooks, let alone singing hooks on so-so songs. More thought could've been put into the album to make it a 3, and more could've been covered to make it a 4. But Jay is starting to let his Def Jam position affect him.

Like other peoples' reviews I've read on here, I didnt truly feel the impact of this album at first. I would say about my 3rd time through the album, I realized its true genious. Say what you will about Jigga, but there is few other rappers out there who can see him lyrically. As a matter of fact , it was Jay's lyrics that really made me understand this albums worth. At first I was only listening for dope beats but once I actually paid attention to the lyrics , I was amazed. For anyone who critizes this album please consider that Jay is rapping from a whole new point of view. First in Reasonable Doubt - he was a hustler turned rapper. Now in Kingdom Come - he's a rapper turned mogul. So he's probaly not gonna be as grimey as he was in the beginning , but he's definitely still street. If you're a true Jay-Z fan , you gotta add this album to your collection. Yet another classic by Hov.