So I got a copy of American Gangster by Jay-Z. I have to say overall it is an ok album. As with most albums I come across these days there are only a few songs I like.
Maybe that’s why the music industry sucks. You buy an album and most songs are soso with a few good songs. I think that is a reason why I support digital distribution. As a consumer you can buy the songs you think are good. In addition, the artist can no longer rely on releasing crap with a few good songs to prop it up. The only people who will be hurt by digital distribution is the one hit wonders. But all they need to do is, write some quality music.
Anyways, back to Jay-Z, the reason I find the album soso, is because the beats are just average. I didn’t think they were really cool. He’s a great lyricist and has achieved a lot. One of the things i didn’t like was the songs that had strings/orchestra sounds. I’m not really a fan of that to begin with. I understand it, but it’s not something I really like. Another thing I didn’t like was that the bass lines had a lot of open notes. These days I find I am not a fan of that kind of booming bass. It give you the boom, but it just seemed like the song had the boom for sake of having a big booming bass so you can rock the big bass in your car or system.
Overall I would classify this more as a concept album because of the vibe and imagery he is trying to capture. In that context it’s not bad. As a regular album, it’s just on par with the rest hip-pop.