10 Years Ago Today Jay Z Dropped Another Mediocre Forgettable Album

Metal Face

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worst album of all time

Triple plat 17 years after his debut

I doubt it was forgettable

fake plats
 

Lurkio

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American Gangster was dope

But BP3, MCHG, 4:44, Carters, Kingdome Come have all been mediocre to trash

Backend of Hov’s career is questionable at best

You know this cap…smh at u including the carters like that’s a jay album

Valid points tho…I thought he was finished after MCHG
 

Cladyclad

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worst album of all time



fake plats
That’s shyt sold over 500k first week even after he gave away 1 million (which didn’t count btw)
 

Iverson_64

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Jay's comeback output hasn't been bad. Kingdom Come didn't have hits like Jay albums used to, but that's a good album lyrically and production wise. AG was good, WTT was good, 4:44 was good.

This was bad though. It had a couple bangers but all the basquiat/picasso sh1t lost me, the production wasn't great, and it didn't really connect either. BP3 was wack but he was clearly chasing hits and succeeded, so this album is worse.

Jay's in my top 10 DOA but it's funny how much 4:44 caused everyone to rewrite history for him in terms of consistency.

It just goes to show how much ending on a Victory Lap matters when it comes to perception in hip hop. I still don't think Hov has even reached Ghostface's level of consistency album wise.
 

1986

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Super pretentious and fake deep with the album title and artwork. Not to mention that cringy promo video of Pharrell, Swizz and Rick Rubin in the studio with Jigga talking about how this album will rewrite the rules of the record industry. Stfu.

shyt was all superficial materialism and self aggrandizing messages. I bumped a few songs for a short while but never go back to revisit them. Truly a forgettable album.
 

JulesMusic719

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Uh, I just want a Picasso
I'm a hassa, no, I'm an a$$hole
giphy.gif


R.fb65d8e6306ab75ee63e75dba31b4892

:scusthov::huhldup::huhldup::huhldup::huhldup:
Was gonna post this gif earlier 🤣 :dead:
 

Iverson_64

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MCHG was basically Jay's attempt at "art rap" after Kanye started influencing him post American Gangster.

Hov was the one treating Kanye as a "Big Brother" during this era because he wanted to stay relevant with the youth and the masses who were generally craving the type of rap coming out of Young Money, GOOD Music, and MMG over Roc A Fella which was becoming a literally dead label.

Hov tried to play up his hipster/artsy/fashionista persona during MCHG which explains the whole Picasso documentary and the song titles but it didn't really feel authentic coming from Hov.

The album ironically sounds less dated than Blueprint 3 but it still sounds quite dated and Jay was basically just hopping on trends and dumbing down his lyrics to the highest degree in his career.

In hindsight, it's actually amazing how this album has almost no legacy. Keep in mind, this album outsold both 4:44 and Yeezus yet both albums have much stronger legacies in 2023 than this one. Nobody talks about Holy Grail anymore. Tom Ford came and went. Part 2 with Beyonce feels overlooked. The cuts are forgotten. Honestly, the only memorable track is the song with Ross but that's mainly due to Ross.

After this mid, 4:44 was exactly the album that Hov needed to make to secure his legacy.
 

maxamusa

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MCHG was basically Jay's attempt at "art rap" after Kanye started influencing him post American Gangster.

Hov was the one treating Kanye as a "Big Brother" during this era because he wanted to stay relevant with the youth and the masses who were generally craving the type of rap coming out of Young Money, GOOD Music, and MMG over Roc A Fella which was becoming a literally dead label.

Hov tried to play up his hipster/artsy/fashionista persona during MCHG which explains the whole Picasso documentary and the song titles but it didn't really feel authentic coming from Hov.

The album ironically sounds less dated than Blueprint 3 but it still sounds quite dated and Jay was basically just hopping on trends and dumbing down his lyrics to the highest degree in his career.

In hindsight, it's actually amazing how this album has almost no legacy. Keep in mind, this album outsold both 4:44 and Yeezus yet both albums have much stronger legacies in 2023 than this one. Nobody talks about Holy Grail anymore. Tom Ford came and went. Part 2 with Beyonce feels overlooked. The cuts are forgotten. Honestly, the only memorable track is the song with Ross but that's mainly due to Ross.

After this mid, 4:44 was exactly the album that Hov needed to make to secure his legacy.

lets call it what it is in less words;

he sold the fukk out.
 

SunZoo

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Def at the back end of his body of work but I still jam a couple songs from it and liked even more in real time. BBC, Tom Ford, Piccaso baby all cool on first listen, just didn't have much behind them.

Jay Z blue was dope, I liked La Familia too but again, those didn't stick especially the latter because he could have went so much harder on that beat.

fukkwime is probably one of two songs with Ross on it that you can get me to listen to, I love that. Nickles and dimes is my shyt, I just spun that the other day.

4:44 was a good bounce back to me at least because I enjoyed that much more.
 
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