All the people that lectured me about how Jay-Z was finished after KINGDOM COME - which still had six GREAT songs on it, by the way - laughed in my face when I said that he'd be back in 2007.
They were saying that it was like Jordan playing on the Wizards - bad knees, over the hill, the game passing him by. But I honestly thought it was no different than '95, when the Bulls lost to the Magic in the second round. MJ was fresh off his comeback, shaking off some rust, not yet in championship form. But he licked his wounds, went back to work and promptly owned the NBA for the next three years. That's the boat that Jay-Z was in, and that's what he did. He got back to it and came up with another classic.
I love AMERICAN GANGSTER sooo much - it reminds me of THE BLUEPRINT in some ways, but he's not swinging for hits this time. He's trying to make a masterpiece, and so far it seems like he might've come close.
If it wasn't for this stupid writers strike I would've treated myself to an early Xmas present and got a scalped ticket for the NYC show this Sunday. But who knows how long it'll be before I get another paycheck.
Tom.
