All Moved In And Nowhere To Go. (An Argument For....And As Always, Against, The Greatest Songwriter Of The Past 20 Years.)- Blog 1 of 2.

I must apologize for my recent lack of activity. I took a job in Virginia, and was quite focused on moving. I will more than make up for it though. Actually I have to tip a hat to my mates here at RHT, after the Kid Rock blog, and response, I went out and picked up the new album and listened to it while unpacking. I will, and have to admit...solid record. For me, not a KR fan, I'll give it 3.5 out of 5. That's sayin' something, right? But, this is not a blog about Kid Rock. No, gentlemen, it's time for my pesky, bi-monthly infusion of rap blogging.

'high school, the crossover waved away picks - music is the same s**t, gave away hits....'

5.) Ice Cube

4.) Slick Rick

3.) Notorious B.I.G.

2.) Nas

1.) Rakim

That list, my top 5 MCs of all time, has stood firm since 1997. Shawn Corey Carter, you all may know him as Jay-Z, or not know him at all (but, come on....even people who don't listen to rap know who Jay-Z is, which will further speak to my point...), you may notice...is not on that list. A choice that has inspired much, much debate amongst my friends, and hip hop fans. There's no good reason for it...it's just stubborness on my part. Which is why it's been the same since 1997. Anyway, whether or not he's in my top 5, which is flawed as is, Jay-Z's impact on music over the past 14 years cannot be denied. I noticed Vibe Magazine's 15th anny issue was just released, and a majestic photo of Jay graced the cover. All black/white cover, photo of Jay in all white. The only words on the cover stated "This is what it looks like". On my trip down, with Reasonable Doubt blasting all the way through, I explored that "it" and why it could mean that the greatest songwriter of the past two decades is actually a rapper....who doesn't write anything down at all.

"I've inspired a generation of bad writers"

Any casual rap fan has seen the process. The ever famous process in which Shawn Carter turns into Rain Man, and then finally, into Jay-Z. The process is part of "it". It is when he hears the beat, tweaks it how he wants it, and then the It REALLY starts. The process of sitting in a corner in the studio mumbling to himself, shaking, head in his hands, jerking, and mumbling some more. An artist known for his cool losing just that for the sake of art. Then, almost as instantly as it starts, it ends, he snaps up, goes to the recording booth, and fires through an entire song. No chorus. He can add that later. There's no more telling shot than in Fade To Black, the documentary that chronicled the making of his 3rd classic album (The Black Album)...the point where he's in the studio with Timbaland recording 'Brush Your Shoulders Off', and in one continuous shot, he chooses a beat, darts in the booth and lays down the now epic final verse of that song (some of which, sadly got cut off in the final mix), and tossing down the headphones, as if it was too easy, leaving Timbaland in the studio motionless and speechless. (Proving it wasn't just a one time thing, he did the same thing to Rick Rubin later in the doc.) Here's the thing, people can discredit rap all they'd like to, and I can understand why, but not seeing the value in this alone is an error. Even rap fans undercut Jay by using the "what does it matter whether he writes or doesn't write?" argument. It's not just that he doesn't write. Not writing in and of itself may not be that impressive, granted. But he has 3 factors working for him. 1.) The time in which he gets it done: He's by no accounts a studio rat, and he can't be now, with all of his responsiblities elsewhere. I think it's telling that he made his 4th classic album (Last summer's American Gangster) with his least amount of recording time. 2.) Song structure: he's not just blurting out 5 minutes of lyrics. He's forming out where the hook will and won't be, melody with the beat, and everything else that any other songwriter would be doing. Evidenced in his structuring and co-writing songs for various other artists. Beyonce? Ne-Yo? you're welcome for your careers (Although I'd say Beyonce has probably thanked him plenty....). 3.) Quality of lyrics. No one, and I mean NO ONE that listens to rap will deny that Jay is one of the best lyricists of all time. I'll cover content later, but there have been so many "rewind" moments (when a lyric is so on point that you have to rewind the CD to hear it again) that Jay has offered that I lost count. (I remember when I first heard the line "Said she liked my necklace, and started relaxin'/Now that's what the hell I call a chain reaction"...I hit rewind about 3 times before moving on. These are also known as "OOOOHHHH" moments.) Those 3 factors give him credibility beyond his peers in rap alone, but outside of rap?

"I don't know what the fuss Is, my career is illustrious, My rep is impeccable; I'm not to be f****** with"

What I will NOT do this blog is re-trace Jay-Z's career. That much. Everyone's heard it, but it's also an important part of this...It that I keep getting at. Rising from the ashes of B.I.G.'s murder in 1997, just one year into his career, and pulling back the power structure of hip-hop to it's birthplace, Brooklyn. Ok, so by '97, he already had 1 classic album under his belt....'96's Reasonable Doubt is considered, much like The Chronic, one of the best genre-spanning albums ever. But he still had work to do. Most rappers are lucky to get one album considered a classic, but 4? All of them (RD, The Blueprint, The Black Album, American Gangster), are different phases, and one, American Gangster is the finest hip-hop concept album created. Reasonable Doubt is the kid that's fresh off of the streets, struggling at all costs to make rap work, to find a legal hustle. It's going at it with everything you have, and that's why it's one of the best albums ever...when you see what he saw and go through what he went through, there's not much turning back as far as lyrical openness. The Blueprint, he's just playing for the love of the game. It was 2001, he was established, and he had a young Kanye West on the boards, so nothing to worry about as they as a team revolutionized the way rap was heard until about 2006. The Black Album was supposed to be the curtain call, the final album before he bowed out. This album is my classic (The others are critical classics....4.5 or 5 star albums, this one, while great, "only" averaged a 4. Ummm...bummer?), and a street classic, which holds more weight in rap than Rolling Stone's scale. It's a personal classic because of how it was constructed. 11 songs. 10 different producers. Again, rap detractors, have your opinions, and I will respect that...but that is NOT easy. Especially with his recording process, not getting a feel for one beat, or producer. He could have taken the easy way out. Kanye West was fresh off of his Debut album, and coming into genius form. He could have made another Blueprint album (Actually, he did make a Blueprint 2 album with minimal help from West which was a critical failure, but commercial success.), but the mark of a true artist, in any form is the willingness to take risks in order to fail. And this album was a ringing success. Had it been his final, no one would have asked for more. Released last summer, American Gangster, while not better than his debut, was much more critically lauded. Topping album of the year polls, and all of the superficial stuff that probably would have mattered more to the 26 year old Jay-Z than it mattered to a 37 year old Jay-Z. Fresh off of the failure of his comeback album, Kingdom Come (I started referring to it as "the album that I won't name"...it was awful. Everyone hated it. I'm sure even his parents hated that one.), this album was great because he acknowledged his failure, and spent no time licking his wounds. At 37 years old, he showed that setbacks only made him more focused, and he released a near-perfect album. A concept album about where he was, to where he is, it reads almost perfectly like Reasonable Doubt through the eyes of a parent. He went back to unknown producers, a small studio, and put in the work like he was 25 or 26 all over again. 4 classic albums in just about 12 years, not to mention 2 other "very good" albums, and 2-3 "good-solid" records. Who else has had a career like this since 1988?

"From Bricks to Billboards, from grams to Grammys,The O's to opposite, Orphan Annie"

So, there we have it...and I know, this argument is flawed. People will say "well, he doesn't write the music, he has producers"...I'd venture to argue, sure with no backing at all, but I'd argue that Jay-Z could produce. He's had way too many co-production credits to not know how. It's the little things...he, yes, HE sampled Annie's Hard Knock Life for a song....in 1998! people don't appreciate the song Hard Knock Life now, because everyone samples quirky stuff...but in 1998, they thought it was career suicide. "They" underestimated "It". Jay-Z is one artist in music that I will say has nothing left to prove. He's done more for rap than anyone, and continues to. He's toned down his image (from hustler to high-class business man) while still delivering content that is real without being degrading. He dines with Presidents, owns companies, and best of all seems to have that fine line of cockiness and humility down. People thought rap wouldn't age well. Jay is on the "wrong" side of 30, and won't slow down. Maybe, just maybe if American Gangster would have bricked, he'd have stopped. Some people in rap would have liked that. But not for me...this is for those rap fans that look at Lil' Wayne and think "well...he's ok....but what's the fuss about??" Because we know that at any moment, Jay-Z could come for his head, and sweep the 'heir to the throne' rug right from under him. But Wayne will have to wait anyway....'cause he's still got more in the tank, and that's something that his peers, not just in rap, but in all music should keep an eye on.