Notes & Personnel Info |  | Following up his crossover-ridden return from retirement KINGDOM COME, Jay-Z presents a concept album, AMERICAN GANGSTER, inspired by the Ridley Scott movie of the same name. Contentwise, Jay is in his element, spinning street corner imagery and tales of the drug trade in the same spirit as the film, while, on the production end, 1970s R&B and soul samples dominate. The production team of Diddy, LV, and Sean C accounts for much of the record's cohesion, providing six beats built on loops from the likes of Marvin Gaye, Barry White, and Rudy Love & the Love Family. | | Jigga finds plenty room to get jiggy on tracks like "Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)," "Party Life," and "I Know," a Neptunes-produced gem that sounds like a tricked-out "It Ain't Hard to Tell." Undoubtedly Jay's tightest effort since 2001's THE BLUEPRINT, AMERICAN GANGSTER features a few choice guest verses from Lil Wayne, Beanie Siegel, and Nas. | | No beats, just rhymes and life. The acappella version of Jay-Z's acclaimed soundtrack for the drug kingpin biopic AMERICAN GANGSTER. | | Following up his crossover-ridden return from retirement, KINGDOM COME, Jay-Z presents a concept album, AMERICAN GANGSTER, inspired by the Ridley Scott movie of the same name. Content-wise, Jay is in his element, spinning street corner imagery and tales of the drug trade in the same spirit as the film, while, on the production end, 1970s R&B and soul samples dominate. The production team of Diddy, LV, and Sean C accounts for much of the record's cohesion, providing six beats built on loops from the likes of Marvin Gaye, Barry White, and Rudy Love & the Love Family. | | Jigga finds plenty room to get jiggy on tracks like "Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)," "Party Life," and "I Know," a Neptunes-produced gem that sounds like a tricked-out "It Ain't Hard to Tell." Undoubtedly Jay's tightest effort since 2001's THE BLUEPRINT, AMERICAN GANGSTER features a few choice guest verses from Lil Wayne, Beanie Siegel, and Nas. |
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| Rolling Stone (p.191)
- 4 stars out of 5 -- "[With] live horns, grooving on some kind of Afro-beat riff over Seventies rumble-in-the-jungle funk..."Rolling Stone (p.108)
- Included in Rolling Stone's "50 Top Albums of the Year 2007" -- "AMERICAN GANGSTER is tripped out on a Seventies-funk fantasia." Entertainment Weekly (p.103)
- "[Jay-Z uses] the film's story and period vibe to color his own elaborate legend....On 'Fallin',' the record's emotional climax, Jay-Z raps frantically as the walls close in." Uncut (p.91)
- 4 stars out of 5 -- "[H]ere his favoured old soul classicism -- say, on 'American Dreamin' or 'ROC Boys' -- provides the best backdrop for his rhymes." Q (Magazine)
(p.103)
- 4 stars out of 5 -- "AMERICAN GANGSTER sounds reassuringly expensive, with a hotshot production team including Just Blaze, Pharrell and Diddy's Hitmen crew." |
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