Jay-Z is Out of Retirement...He Clownin'

For those that have been hiding under a rock the past month...Jay-Z announced that he is officially coming out of retirement and his new cd, "Kingdom Come", will be hitting stores November 21st exactly two weeks from today. The announcement of this new cd has been seen as a little bit controversial. The fact is Def Jam is about to have a huge 4th quarter. Nas, Young Jeezy, and Fabolous are all dropping within a month span. Jay-Z has chosen to release his cd around the same time. The problem some might have with this has to do with Jay's popularity and ability to sell records taking record sales away from artists under his Def Jam umbrella. He's already been coupled with complaints of poor promotion from acclaimed artists recently such as The Roots, Method Man, and LL Cool J, who've all released stellar records in the recent months with little promotion leading to poor record sales. As a result, there's been a little backlash toward Jay-Z for not focusing on his artists and focusing more-so on himself. But whatever, Hov is Hov and we all knew he wouldn't be able to stay away from the game with all these clowns like Jim Jones and Cam'Roon taking shots at him while he's in his CEO Chair. He apparently has no trouble promoting himself, since he's been heard on several radio shows in the past week, including Funk Flex, Angie Martinez, and Mick Boogie. Here is a listen to all of the broadcasts respectively: "Jay-Z on Funk Flex"
"Jay-Z on Angie Martinez"
"Jay-Z on Mick Boogie"

Jay-Z also discusses The Game's comments about how Jay should push his album back so that The Game doesn't take record sales away from him. He actually calls Game's comments smart because of the publicity and now they were talking about Game's release date...WORD. But he calls out Jim Jones pretty hard HAHA. Anyway, back to the music. I've heard a few cuts off the new joint. The first being the "Show Me What You Got". I personally am not a fan, and I do not like Jay's flow over this beat. It's a sample that's been used so many times before, but it is most well-known for Wreckx 'n Effect's "Rumpshaker". I think Jay sounds like hot garbage on this song and the hook is just awful. I also heard the title track, "Kingdom Come". This track is much better, but still not great. But it is good. I personally think Jay-Z can do much better production wise and lyrically if he just gave a fuck, but I guess he doesn't. A more compelling track is the third song I heard, "Lost Ones", which was apparently written two years ago and addresses his feelings at the time toward Beyonce and Dame Dash. It's pretty introspective and about as personal as Jay-Z has ever gotten. Anyway, have a listen to all three tracks and decide for yourself: "Jay-Z-Show Me What You Got"
"Jay-Z-Kingdom Come"
"Jay-Z-Lost Ones"

That's what's up.

-Doc