Jay-Z, at his best, is simply peerless. Photograph: Gary He/AP
2007 hasn't been a great year for hip-hop. Many of the most highly anticipated releases have been disappointing. 50 Cent embarrassed himself and the industry with his ridiculous spat with Kanye West. Dr Dre's Detox was pushed back yet again. And when one of the most talked about events of the year is a photo of Lil Wayne and Birdman sort of looking a bit like they might be, like, kissing, you can assume we haven't exactly been inundated with great music. Kanye West's Graduation and Talib Kweli's Ear Drum were, admittedly, outstanding, but still these were a couple of bright lights amidst a swathe of bland, murky rubbish. Last week's release of pseudo-soundtrack American Gangster by Jay-Z seemed destined to be part of the muck.
On paper, it doesn't sound like a winning project. A supposedly washed-up rapper approaching his 40s watches a pre-screening of a movie about, erm, crime and that and is inspired. He enlists a production team including a man whose most entertaining output of recent years has been a series of faintly disturbing aftershave adverts and whose last certifiable hit was in 2003 with Mario Winans' Enya/Fugees inspired whine-fest I Don't Wanna Know. Chuck in a B-side from The Black Album, a couple of Neptunes tracks and guest spots and you've got another forgettable rap release. Or so you'd think.
After the disappointing reception of 2006's much-maligned Kingdom Come, a change in direction was inevitable for Jay-Z. Hip-hop is about grime and hustle, love and death; tortured souls, not good credit, stock trading, Bergdorfs and rosé. That last album went down about as well a collection of sonnets by Alan Sugar, and Jay was branded, at 37, too old. And so, Mr Shawn Corey Carter made a bold move. Eschew Roc-a-fella staples Kanye West and Just Blaze, the finest producers of the moment, and give P Diddy a call.
The last time the two worked together, on 1997's In My Lifetime Vol I, Jay-Z explained that the album "was this close to being a classic, but I put, like, a few songs on there that ruined it." And, yes, you guessed it, Diddy's production team the Hitmen were responsible for those few songs.
Perhaps after ten years, however, they deserved a second chance - and, with American Gangster, they certainly took it. The two singles released so far don't really do the album justice. A movie isn't consumed scene by scene and neither should this album be - its story arc is too easily overlooked. Jay-Z steps back into the comfortable old shoes of the Hova legend - crack dealer, capitalist and ruler of an empire - and loosely charts the rise and fall of an American Gangster; obvious parallels are drawn between Denzel Washington's character in the movie and Jay himself.
But the most interesting moments, lyrically, occur when the MC steps out of the concept and addresses real life. Track Blue Magic's Britney-inspired rebuttal to Al Sharpton's recent condemnation of rap music - "Are you saying that what I'm spitting/ Is worse than these celebutants showing their kitten, you kiddin'" - raises a smile. He comes back to the subject in Say Hello: "Tell him I'll remove the curses/ If you tell me our schools gon' be perfect/ When Jena six don't exist/ Tell him that's when I'll stop saying bitch... BITCH!" Humorous and carefully crafted, these are welcome asides away from the well-tread subject matter of crack dealing and guns.
Some of the intricate rhyme schemes are a joy to behold. Take this from Blue Magic" "Blame Reagan for making me into a monster/ Blame Oliver North and Iran Contra/ I ran contraband that they sponsored." Or from No Hook: "Stay out of trouble, momma said as momma sighs/ A fear her youngest son will be victim of homicide/ But I got to get you out of here momma or I'm a... die." Back on familiar territory, you're reminded how at his best Jay-Z is simply peerless.
Ultimately the film tie-in is largely irrelevant: it merely gives Shawn Carter an excuse to revisit old territory. He can't tell us that he's a criminal or from the 'hood any more - he's a multi-millionaire with a superstar girlfriend - but by using the Ridley Scott movie as a backdrop for recollections of his former life, he manages to circumvent the problem of verisimilitude and make old stories fresh again. More than anything he proves that there's no reason why a rap artist can't stay relevant going into middle age as long as they can find a way of reconnecting with what made them exciting in the first place.
