[noisereductions]

I don't think there's any song on there that I dislike...

Jay-Z
Magna Carta Holy Grail
2013, Hip hop can sometimes be an unfairly young man's game. And it's not just about aging rappers' inability to stay hip. When Jay recorded American Gangster in 2008 he was able to channel the same sort of hustler that created his own debut 20 years earlier, thanks to the fact that the album being inspired by the movie meant that he could mix up the character with himself. It didn't feel forced or even a rehash of his earlier days because we understood that this was storytelling inspired by a blend of reality and fiction. But contrast that with 2007's Kingdom Come - a very personal album for sure. There Jay had to come to grips with being 40 years old in a young man's game; his years of hustling long in the rearview. If he was to keep it real, then what would he write about? Being 40 of course. As Hov approaches 50, the same sort of dilemma presents itself on Magna Carta Holy Grail. But this time he seems a lot more comfortable in his own skin. He doesn't need to justify all the money and the famous friends. In contrast to Kingdom Come, he's now realized that it's not the subject matter his fans keep coming back for, it's the presentation. So while the album spends the bulk of its time lyrically going on about the luxuries that he's surrounded by, Jay finds captivating ways to talk about them. He lets the album open up with a minute and a half of Justin Timberlake, who references Kurt Cobain - just one of many nods to the 1990's that birthed Jay's career. And then it's a solid hour of wonderful beat selection and very good, if only sometimes great rapping. This for sure is a fan's album. It's going to be nobody's favorite in his discography. Yet there's nothing here that I'd qualify as a bad song.