Track Listing

1. Intro
2. Pray
3. American Dreamin'
4. Hello Brooklyn 2.0 - Jay-Z & Lil' Wayne
5. No Hook
6. Roc Boys (And The Winner Is)...
7. Sweet
8. I Know
9. Party Life
10. Ignorant Shit - Jay-Z & Beanie Sigel
11. Say Hello
12. Success - Jay-Z & Nas
13. Fallin'
14. Blue Magic
15. American Gangster

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24356 in Music
• Released on: 2007-11-05
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
Conceived as an unofficial soundtrack to the Ridley Scott movie of the same name, American Gangster sees us getting reacquainted with a quite different Jay-Z to the mainstream-courting comeback kid that hooked up with Beyonce and Coldplay’s Chris Martin on 2006’s Kingdom Come. This, Jay-Z’s second post-retirement album, is hip-hop to the bone: a record steeped in the sounds, iconography and soul of the New York underworld, with the lion’s share of production handled by P Diddy’s in-house team The Hitmen and guest spots from Beanie Sigel ("Ignorant Shit"), Lil Wayne (the crunk-like, Beastie Boys-sampling "Hello Brooklyn") and long-time rival Nas. The Nas track, "Success", is a particular winner, the pair burying the hatchet over a gorgonzola-scented organ break, rejecting the trappings of success with a truly lordly arrogance: "How many times can I go to Mr Chow’s/Tao’s, Nobu – hold up!/Let me move my bowels". Other highlights come with the Neptunes-produced "Blue Magic" and slick dealer’s anthem "Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)", and while you feel American Gangster is something of a stasis for Jay-Z, an album that sees him revisiting those well-worn themes of hustling and shotting, it remains a treat to hear him on the mic. –-Louis Pattison

CD Description
'American Gangster' is Jay-Z's tenth studio album. A semi-concept album inspired by Ridley Scott's film of the same name, it sees Jay-Z chronicle his time as a street hustler. It is a return to a grittier street sound than his predecessor 'Kingdom Come'. Lyrics are nostalgically woven with tales ofclandestine activities in a ruthless nineties New York . Comparisons are being made to his debut album 'Reasonable Doubt' and with good reason. Features the single 'Roc Boys' withP Diddy.

Customer Reviews

Jay at a stroll > everybody else
This album has been better received than Kingdom Come, but personally I feel that the quality is about the same when things are going well. What helps American Gangster is that, unlike it's predecessor, there are no real abominations to be found (see "Hollywood" and "Anything" from KC).

What we have here is a loose 'concept album', inspired by the Denzel Washington film of the same name based on the life of Harlem drug-lord Frank Lucas. This concept allows Jay to return to the subjects he came into the game spitting; hustling... the street life. But Jay's content is deeper than many give him credit for. He deals with issues in his own typically emotive way, one minute glorifying the highest highs ("Roc Boys" and "Party Life") and the next, sounding a warning on the downsides of the business ("Success" and "Fallin'").

The lyrics, as ever with Jay, are excellent throughout (see "I Know" for an incredible extended Heroin metaphor), and for the most part the music is too. There are a few missteps that don't quite fit, notably the Dirty South sounds of "Hello Brooklyn 2.0" featuring, oddly, New Orleans native Lil' Wayne on the hook, the Neptunes-helmed elctronic sound of "I Know" seems out of place, and some of the 70's soul-infused beats, provided by Puffy's 'Hitmen' production team, although evocative of a certain era, forget to be ear catching at times ("Pray"). Though much fanfare greeted Puff's involvement in this project, tellingly, the two best beats on the album are provided by Kanye's mentor NO I.D. and former in-house Roc-a-Fella producer Just Blaze.

The album closes out with two excellent bonus tracks; the Rakim/80's homage "Blue Magic" in which Jay adopts the simplistic flow of that era without compromising his incredible wordplay (check the "Iran Contra/ I ran contraband" line for proof), and the celebratory Just Blaze-assisted title track, packed with urgent horns and the catchy soul that some of the other beats here were short of at times.

In summary, the lyrics are as incredible as ever, the beats only falter in places, and Jay has maintained his postion as the one to follow in terms of mainstream, marquee Hip Hop.

Solid offering from Jay
First, this is not for Souljah Boy or Lil' Boosie fans - this is a serious hip-hop offering even if you like Blueprint, Dynasty etc... you might find this hard going.

As always Jay's biggest strength is his amazing ability to tell a story in songs better than most people can do in plain English.
So this concept album was always going to give him a strong platform to tap into this ability. This is exactly what he does.
The album starts with some great beats in "I Pray" and "American Dreamin" it then slowly becomes about the flow and story before picking up again with "Ignorant S***" (recycled verse), thereafter taking you right back to the "Reasonable Doubt" album with the last few tracks.

Many people criticise the production on this album but I personally I think the beats were chosen carefully and compliment Jay's flow well. "American Dreamin" is an excellent example - beat, flow and content. "Hello Brooklyn 2.0" was weak - not because of Weezy - rather, it didn't feel natural and felt forced, in the context of the album it really doesn't have a place.

Fantastic offering, Jay's one of the greatest writers (if he wrote) of the 21st century - high praise indeed!
I gave this a 5 because it's the best thing out there at the moment.

The Ruler's Back... for real this time
Last year's "Kingdom Come" is remembered more because of it marking Jay-Z's return than being a quality album in its own right. This latest release ties in nicely with the American Gangster movie and is much closer to his earlier work in terms of lyrical content and sampling. This is something that will please most of his fans, as Reasonable Doubt and the Blueprint are widely acknowledged as his best 2 albums, and both used the same types of samples.

The songs on this CD are probably less radio-friendly than on some of his recent CDs and as a result the commercial success probably won't be as great but at this point in his career, Jay-Z can concentrate more on making the sort of music his fans want to hear than on making the top of the charts. (Listen to the first few lines of "Ignorant ****" on the album to see what I mean.)