Analysis by track:
Jay Z thinks we are foolish if we skim through his music. In all fairness, people consume music differently so the rate of digestion or appreciation for a body of work (album) is at its most vapid in the history of music given the sporadicity of music releases. The internet is always buzzing; new music, social media, memes, reality caught on camera etc. We barely have enough time to digest which selfie was the best of the day! It’s been a month since MCHG dropped and my suspicions are confirmed by majority of the reviews of this album. Somehow, I was comforted and glad to see the most thorough review of the album belonged on a Hip-Hop outlet: AllHipHop. The culture is still largely misunderstood by the outsider. The use of language, terminology, flow, sampling, referencing, paying homage/biting—(depends on which end of the spectrum of critiquing you fall) — He does this masterfully by paying homage to Mase’s flow from Feel So Good on BBC and repeats the act on Jay Z Blue by reenacting Eminem’s flow from Lose Yourself — would typically go over the head of the everyday pedestrian listener.
Magna Carta… Holy Grail is quite the lofty and audacious title for a Hip-Hop album. When I first heard it, the most obvious was what stuck out, the — Carta: Carter – homonym. Then somehow, my brain transported to the sampling of Maximus Decimus Meridius on What More Can I Say for the Magna bit. — I don’t know why but it did. The importance of the Magna Carta to the modern world cannot be overstated. It practically defined our way of life and freedoms as enjoyed in the western world. How does this relate to Hip-Hop?, it certainly begs the question! This is what long time Jay Z Engineer/Friend; Young Guru had to say about the album title in May 2012: “I can’t tell you the title, it’s so good it’s like, ‘Oh my god why didn’t I think of that? What made you think of that and why haven’t we done that before?‘ It’s just staring us in the face all these years, we could’ve been put that out as an album concept.” — See more at: HipHopWired. The title sets a heavy burden of expectations for an intellectual listener. After all, Jay ‘s disposition is that, most people are missing the more intricate and deeper meanings of his work. The Holy Grail bit of it is what makes it almost pretentious. You have to understand Hip-Hop terminology or street slang in order not to scoff at it. Our use of the word boils down to something “most coveted” by an individual or a people. Even sneaker-heads –- an arm of the culture – use this phrase to denote their most coveted sneakers —> Grails for short. He is arguably the Grails for many HipHop artists (to reach his status ie.). Jay Z is re-writing the rules of the music industry and by extension, Hip-Hop is re-writing the rules. To judge the album title by face value removes the meaning of the entire album and makes it a caricature of something it did not intend to be. This review is not an indictment of the casual listener, rather, a more intricate analysis of one of the most lyrically elusive artists in modern history, Jay Z’s latest effort.
Does this lead to over-analysis or is it truly his Magnum Opus like he boldly proclaims to the audience on Oceans? —Which is probably one of the most complex yet honest evaluations of racism against blacks in music to date! Frank Ocean and Jay do a masterful job of artsy-layered storytelling and leaves no doubt why Kanye and Jay argued about where the record belonged (Watch The Throne or MCHG). Jay Z explained in the commercials preceding MCHG’s release that the entire album has a premise of duality, the nuances of fame, how to deal with it and having perspective to separate what is important from the noise. So here, we hold the album accountable for its description by the artist himself, the work he’s put forward for the public’s consumption.
Holy Grail comes on with an infectious chorus masterfully written by The Dream and performed almost too well by recent Jay collaborator Justin Timberlake. Justin’s voice and Jay’s flow in the 1st verse are mismatched on this opener. Justin sings with an angelic serenity while Jay shows up on the track like he just walked into his living room to greet strangers wearing his bathrobe. He compensates for the lack of congruity in tempo with lyrical depth. The entire song has grown addictive over time to me but I get this feeling that the writer of the hook intended for more grit in its execution than Justin could pull off and hence Jay’s flow was outmatched on the record. In the 2nd verse, Jay found his step and matched the tempo much better with his flow. The highlights of the song are Justin’s singing and overwhelms the main message that Jay wanted to put across. Great concept but wasn’t as well executed from a rapping standpoint. Ironically, the message of the song is an antithesis of everything that the other half of The Throne currently stands for in the public sphere. Jay manages to tell a tale of a man who is still appreciative of his opportunities and understands that he could easily relinquish it all just by letting his ego stand taller than his reality.
Picasso Baby is just good ole Jay back at rapping. This is about skill and the excitement of putting words together for the sake of doing so. He belts out “Jeff Koons balloons I just wanna blow up” with such vigor he’d pass for a new rapper try'na come up. Great energy throughout the track and he finishes off the lyrical massacre with “Come through with the Ye mask on, Spray everything like SAMO, I won’t scratch the Lambo in the 3rd verse. Timbland’s pulsating beat meshes well with the level of aggression in Jay’s voice. It is reminiscent of 90’s era boom bap with a modern vibe. For someone who claims to hardly read the blogs, Jay seems slightly touched by how some mocked the looks of his child in the media. This song basically spells out the richness of his life; figuratively and financially but tying it with the idea that his most prized possessions are his wife and child; family! Sleeping next to a Mona Lisa with better features while Blue leans on one of the most expensive art pieces in the household posits materialism against what he truly values. Sidenote: Jay Z’s dry sense humor dictates that he masks sly sexual requests from his wife via a record. He probably can’t look the mother of his child in the face and ask her to fuck him like a prostitute. If this track was supposed to showcase how efficient and intricate Jay can be with words, he definitely spit Picasso..
Tom Ford is exactly what you’d expect from Jay Z at this level of his career. He is never been the artist that promotes excess; drugs, alcohol etc. as a staple in his music. Sure, there are plenty examples over the course of his career where he indulges but his general outlook has been “fuck the drugs, it slows you down!” It is an interesting position to take, especially since Hip-Hop feeds on trends and it is easier to ride that Molly wave than to openly oppose it. This record has the signature Timbo bounce, plays even better with the sunroof open at 11pm on anybody’s highway. In a weird twist of morals, Jay manages to down trod drug use but glorify murder in a way only he can. It is perplexing but feels right on the track somehow. Wayne Perry as flow is an ill metaphor but Wayne Perry on any city’s streets is as dangerous as Zimmerman versus a hoody. This track maintains the energy of the album. It’s a bittersweet feeling when it ends because FuckWithMeYouKnowIGotIt is what comes on. It gives the feeling of wanting to listen to both tracks at the same damn time. This is the most ratchet and ignorant track of the album and probably most enjoyable. Ross grunts like he’s back in Mafia Music form. He owns the track by sheer presence even though Jay’s broken Italian and cadence on the track is just as poignant. He takes shots at his recent detractors including a subtle jab at Mr. Deniro.
The general impression of MCHG is a heavily layered lyrical combat. The full arsenal of Jay’s lyrical prowess is in display but it requires more attentive deciphering than is possible to compress in a review. The attention span of the casual listener can’t possibly stick with a thorough examination of this body of work. Heaven is a perfect example of this lyrical efficiency. A general response to his detractors and naysayers of his beliefs fully addressed. It showcases the evolution of Hip-Hop’s Pontiff. Thank God for Rap Genius. A simple lyric like I’m like Michael Recycle reveals an artist who is pushing his wit and depth to unbelievable levels. The uncanny ability to force an attentive listener to derive several plausible meanings from seemingly simplistic phrases and lines are what he has stated as the Easter Egghunt attribute of rap music. Whether you agree with Jay’s position and/or worldly outlook, his skill is undeniable and even more evident on this album. They can’t believe this much skill in the human body is a testament to the lyrical giant that he is. Gadflies are necessary in our society and in Hip-Hop, Jay makes a strong case as one with this record. The genesis of this track can be traced back to 9-11 Freestyle, an evidence of how much information flies below radar to the public because the questioning of his beliefs did not come into play until nearly a decade later. My personal favorite of the album.
La Familia is a reminder of how uninspired Jay can become when he’s allowed to. This song is easily a throw away record and does nothing to spice up the album — better replaced by Open Letter. The burden of Jay in his years in the spotlight has partially been how to assert his celebrity and success as an influence. Nickels and Dimes takes you on a journey through the mind of a person clearly struggling with how to be benevolent on his own terms. The public uproar about what has been misrepresented as an assault on Mr. Belafonte falls flat on its face when thoroughly examined. This brings to mind the line; Is pious pious ‘cos God loves pious?. Are we simply calling it disrespectful for Jay to have responded because the “group-think” thing to do is classify any talk-back to an elder as disrespect? The concept of this track rings of the current state of our society; Liberals who believe in endless unaccountable handouts (welfare, social security etc.), Conservatives who believe in “Each man for himself God for us all” approach all the while promoting Imperialism and guys like Jay who are middle of the road thinkers that believe in charity with accountability. The truth is Jay has always been about getting money first. To suddenly expect some conjured extreme social activism from the man is hypocritical. His approach has been to let his life story inspire. It was easier for some to accept his braggadocio and brash lyrics earlier in his work because some of the things he rapped about seemed unattainable at the time. The current reality is, his financial worth overshadows his art, and people get uncomfortable knowing that his wealth is congruous with his lyrics. It is no longer rap bravado. The facts are; he actually did a lot more bragging in his earlier work than he’s done in the last 4 albums. Magna Carta… Holy Grail is the journey of a street hustler turned rapper slash executive turned mogul turned icon that tells a tale of triumph, defeat, love, marital angst, parenting and charity induced with partying and excess that warrants a more thorough listen than dismissive conjecture.
About 15years ago he boldly proclaimed “Won’t be known until I’m gone and niggas study my bones. Sometimes, you have to wonder if the constant ambiguity in his lyrics is a way to leave the listener to their own interpretations? This album broke new ground for artists, those who seek to be paid for their work, independence from the vulturous relationship that artists share with some of their fans. Those that are business minded just as they are artistic and believe that an artist’s work deserves to be paid for, not freely downloaded in a sense of entitlement by the public. Art is often separated from its business arm and this album does a great job of showing that the two can co-exist without one negatively influencing the other (Mutualism). Don’t be good my nigga be great!, sums up what Jay is really about; living life on his own terms regardless of external pressure or opinions. Time will cement MCHG’s place in Jay’s illustrious catalog but for this particular body of work as a whole, he asserts his position in the rap echelon with a Crown firmly bolted to his cranium. A solid effort that scores
8.69/10.
Synopsis:
Highs: What it accomplished for music artists and their bargaining power. Touches on marriage, fatherhood, belief, success, fame and charity. Stellar production by Timbaland, Swizz Beatz, Pharrell, Boi 1da, Mike Will (killed Beach Is Better) and most impressively Wondagurl. He manages to achieve the description of what he advertised the album as for the most part; he re-writes the rules for himself so fellow artists can challenge the status-quo. The genius bit is how he manages to bring a continuous ambiguity to the lyrics such that, you can’t draw any definite conclusions to what he truly means to say.
Lows: At times, his lyrics seem uninspired or downright lazy, lacks the rawness found in tracks like Song Cry compared to Part II (On The Run), Jay Z Blue vs Beach Chair, and the story telling supremacy of Meet The Parents or Minority Report.