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Monday, July 15,2013
The University Daily Kansan
MUSIC
'Magna Carta' overhyped, under lyricized
AJ BARBOSA
abarbosa@kansan.com
If you were expecting Jay-Z to release one of the strongest hip-hop albums to date — which isn't too lofty an expectation, especially when you consider the production team — you're likely disappointed. If you were expecting another pretty good Jay-Z album, you're likely satisfied.
That's what "Magna Carta." Holy Grail" is — it's a pretty good album.
But thanks to a series of long-winded, climactic promotional commercials, we were told to expect the "new rules." We were lead to believe this album was going to be 21st-century hip-hop's magnum opus. Had the music community not been so mercilessly blue-balled, the album would have received universally rave reviews.
This album was a slow, straight pitch with a full count and the bases loaded; it had some of the hottest
producers in the game — Timbaland, Pharrell Williams, J-Roc — behind the soundboards. All Jay-Z needed to do was swing, but he only managed to hit a single. He put another point on the board, but he should have hit a grand slam.
On "Tom Ford," for example, Hov squeezes out 16 weak, forced bars in the two verses between the song's admittedly catchy, yet nonetheless flaccid hook.
The same goes for "Somewhereina-
merica." I-Roc, who helped craft the genius beat on "Ni**as in Paris," tees Hov up with his swankiest, bounciest beat since The Blueprint's "Hola Hovito," with which he fumbles out a minute and a half's worth of mediocre — by his standard — rhymes. Sadly, the song's highlight is the infamous Miley Cyrus line, which is nowhere remotely close to the lyrical brilliance Jay-Z is capable of. It's funny, but Miley Cyrus name-drops should never be the highlight.
CONTRIBUTED
"Nickels and Dimes" is a solid track and closes the album nicely.
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