Few hip-hop artists have marketed themselves as successfully as Shawn Carter, aka Jay-Z, so it's inevitable that his much-trumpeted "retirement" includes an album, an autobiography (The Black Book) and signature trainer. For all the dark wordplay, the album is an aural equivalent of that old American favourite, the schmaltzy biopic. Yawn as Jay and innumerable soul loops take us through his life, from when the family broke up to his subsequent journey from selling rocks to nine platinum albums.
Despite innumerable producers (including usual suspects Timbaland and the Neptunes), there's little here tune-wise to match Jay's dextrous delivery and enormous reputation. The brilliant exception is the Eminem-twiddled Moment of Clarity, in which Jay candidly admits "I dumbed down for my audience to double my dollars." If that's how he feels, he's getting out at the right time.
