J.R. REVIEWS JAY Z

The latest release from The Greatest Rapper of All Time (in my opinion). I’m going to go track by track, to give my impressions (plus, it give me another excuse to listen to it all the way through again ^_^).

1/ WHAT WE TALKIN’ ABOUT (featuring Luke Steele). 4:04

“I don’t run rap no more, I run the map.”

A nice way to open the album. A good mid-tempo track, with Jay Z talking about himself, as well as the state of the rap game in general. Austrialian singer Luke Steele does a decent job on the chorus.

2/ THANK YOU 4:09

“Please don’t bow in my presence, how am I a Legend? I just got 10 #1 albums, Maybe now 11.”

Another decent mid-tempo track.

3/ D.O.A. (DEATH OF AUTO-TUNE) 4:15

Only rapper to rewrite history without a pen, No I.D. on the track let the story begin…

For some reason, this song had to grow on me. When I first heard it, it didn’t really grab me. But the more I listened to it, the better it got to me. This is almost a rock song, with a thumbing beat that Jay flow effortlessly over.

4/ RUN THIS TOWN (featuring Rhianna & Kanye West) 4:17

Life’s a game but it’s not fair, I break the rules so I don’t care.

Here’s where the album really picks up. Great beat. Jay’s @ his best, Rhianna’s vocals are superb, and Kanye West almost upstages Jay with his verse near the end.

5/ EMPIRE STATE OF MIND (featuring Alicia Keyes) 4:37

I’m the new Sinatra, and since I made it here, I can make it anywhere, yeah they love me everywhere.

Slowing down a little bit again, with a track that has Jay revealing his love for his home state, backed by a killer chorus by the Amazing Alicia Keyes.

6/ REAL AS IT GETS (featuring Young Jeezy) 4:13

Follow in my footprints you can’t fail, set sail, I used to duck shots but now I eat quail.

PASS. The first weak link of the set. I’ve never like Young Jeezy, and I don’t feel he adds anything to this track. I suppose this helps Jay keep his “street cred” with the kids, but it does nothing for me.

7/ ON TO THE NEXT ONE (featuring Swizz Beats) 4:13

Hov on that new shit, niggas like how come? Niggas want my old shit, buy my old album.

Good lyrics, but the beat takes some getting used to. Producer Swizz Beats doesn’t really ad much to it. It’s a decent track overall, but not one of my favorites.

8/ OFF THAT (featuring Drake) 4:16

This ain’t Black versus White, my nigga we off that, please tell Bill O Reilly to fall back. Tell Rush Limbaugh to get off my balls, its 2010 not 1864.

A dope beat by Timbaland, not the type of beat you’re used to hearing Jay on, which shows his willingness to experiment. This is the perfect song for dancefloors in clubs. However, like Swizz Beats in the previous track, Drake on the chorus doesn’t add much to the song, it could have been done by anyone. Also, all of the talk about moving towards “the future” might have had more impact if Jay didn’t insist on sticking with using the “N-word.”

9/ A STAR IS BORN (featuring J. Cole) 3:47

[Lil’} Wayne scorching, I’ll applaud him, if he keep going, pass the torch to him,

Things really pick up again with this track. Jay gives a history lesson on rap, showing respect to his peers, as well as encouragment to some of the newer guys, with brilliant lyrics. Newcomer J. Cole’s verse @ the end also shows promise.

10/ VENUS VS. MARS 3:11

“I thought shorty liked Mike, found out she likes Prince. Thought she was Adrian, it’s been rocky ever since.”

A very clever track, with Jay rapping about the beginning and end of a relationship with a woman who was his complete opposite. There’s an uncredited woman’s voice on the chorus, that sounds like the woman in LL Cool J’s hit single “Doin’ It.” Don’t know if it’s the same, but this is one track that probably could’ve benefited from a full co-feature by some female rapper, to tell her side of the story. Nevertheless, this is a good song.

11/ ALREADY HOME (featuring Kid Cudi) 4:30

“And as for the critics, tell me I don’t get it. Everybody can tell you how to do it, but they never did it.”

A nice, mellow, catchy, song, with a flowing melody, as Jay raps about his critics, both in the rap game & out of it (even addressing the “camel-face” insults. Kid Cudi does a good job singing the chorus.

12/ HATE (featuring Kayne West) 2:31

“Name one thing that i aint done, it hurts when you say that i aint one,”

A short and rather uninteresting track, with Jay & Kanye rapping in some goofy accent about all of their “haters”. PASS.

13/ REMINDER 4:18

“10 number 1 albums in a row, who better than me? Only the Beatles, nobody ahead of me. I crush Elvis in his blue suede shoes, made The Rolling Stones seem sweet as Koolaid too.”

A mid-tempo track that’s essentially Jay bragging about how successful he is. Decent, but nothing special.

14/ SO AMBITIOUS (featuring Pharrell) 4:12

“Motivation to me, is them telling me what I could not be”

Slow track, with a nice message about what it takes to succeed, but overall rather uninspiring. Pharrell does his usual job on the chorus, but this isn’t one of their best collaborations.

15/ YOUNG FOREVER (featuring Mr. Hudson) 4:14

“So we live a life like a video, when the sun is always out and you never get old.
And the champagne’s always cold, and the music’s always good. And the pretty girls just happen to stop by in the hood.”

Jay samples a classic 80’s hit (Alphaville’s “Forever Young”) in this song, to brilliant effect. His lyrics are about feeling nostalgic for the past, enjoying the present, and preparing for the future. A great song to close out this album.

*****

So, to wrap it all up, I’ll say that this album’s biggest weak spots come from a few of the guest-artists, who’s additions seem unnecessary, and only designed to help Jay stay in touch with the younger kids. Instead of guys like Young Jeezy and Drake, he should have been getting Nas (who was reported to be on an early track), Eminem, and artists of that caliber.

I’ll also say that it’s a tad shorter than I’d expect these days. Another two or three songs (such as the previously released “Jockin’ Jay Z”) would have helped round it out more. But, overall, this album proves why Jay Z is, @ almost 40 years old, still @ the top of his game.

FINAL SCORE: 8 out of 10.

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TWITTER ME SOFTLY

It’s interesting how quickly technology changes today.
I’ve talked about how it’s odd to think that there are
teenagers today who’ve never bought an actual music
CD, all of their music as been downloaded (legally or
otherwise) from online. There are kids today who’ve
never experienced dial-up, they’ve always had DSL or
broadband.

The internet isn’t even that old, as far as being used
worldwide, yet last year when my modem broke for a
couple of days, I was lost without it.

I’m still behind, tech-wise, in some ways. I’ve missed the
texting craze. My cell-phone (only the 2nd one I’ve ever
owned), which I’ve had for maybe 5 years, is rather
old-fashioned. I remember when I bought it I was impressed
with how much smaller it was than my first one. I can fold it
& stick it in my back pocket. But it doesn’t take pictures, or
record videos, or have internet access like so many others
do these days. I’ve never felt the need for it, since I only
have the phone for emergencies. In case my car breaks
down, and I need to call Triple A, or something like that.
So I hardly ever even have it turned on.

Last Jan. an online friend wrote in one of my blogs that
she’d sent me a text message for New Years, which was
a few days earlier, so I turned on my phone & saw it,
& it turned out that there was another text message
from a real-life friend. I had no idea that I could even
receive texts on my phone, nor do I know how to reply
to them. And it’s probably because of this lack of
text-access that I’ve missed the lastest Next Big Thing
of the moment: TWITTER.

In the past couple of weeks I seem to be reading an awful
lot about it on various websites, and I was just listening
to a podcast a few days ago where they were talking about
it. I’ve also gotten a couple of requests recently, from
friends who are on it.

I don’t get it. @ all. I can’t see the point. Now, I am not
going to trash it, or say it’s some big waste of time, or
anything like that. Simply because that’s what I used to
say about Myspace years ago. I thought it was stupid,
and mocked those who were on it, especially those with
huge numbers of “friends.” And then I finally signed up
and quickly became addicted to it. Then a year or so ago
I signed up to Facebook and that became my new addiction.
And I’ve occasionally argued with “civilians” who like to claim
that Myspace & Facebook are a waste of time. So I could
be wrong about this, too.

But, really, what’s the point of Twitter? Let’s say I have
a Blackberry or iPhone. I’m supposed to be signed in to Twitter
constantly so I can read a bunch of “status updates” all day
long? On the podcast they were talking about how it’s great
because you can see people’s thoughts “in real time.”

Yeah, and?

Why do I need to know what you are doing, or what’s on
your mind, RIGHT NOW? Nor does anybody need to know
what I’m doing, or what’s on my mind, RIGHT NOW. My life
is not that interesting. My random thoughts are not that
interesting. And, I’m willing to bet, neither are any of yours.

I mean, Mon-Fri I get up in the morning and spend most
of my day @ work. My random thoughts are usually
something like “I want pizza.” “My feet hurt” “Is it break
time, yet?” “I wish I could have a threesome with
Halle Berry & Angelina Jolie.” “What was the name of
that song I heard this morning?” “Is it break time, yet?”
Etc.  Not exactly Divine Revelations that I must share
with the world immediately.

I saw a notice on this comic-book news website that
I read, telling folks to sign up to their Twitter page. It
said something like “Sign up to get breaking news as
it happens!” And I’m thinking, why does anyone need
news about comic-books, RIGHT NOW? What’s the
rush? I can wait until I get home to check out the
new 5-page preview of the June issue of Wonder
Woman, I don’t need an alert @ 3:27pm telling me
that it’s just been posted.

Again, I won’t say it’s bad, or even that I’ll never sign
up, because of my previous opinions on social networking.
Who knows? By this time next year, I could be a
non-stop twittering maniac. But right now I honestly
can’t conceive of having any interest in it.

SUPERHEROES & POLITICS

Last year I wrote a blog where I listed my 10 Favorite
Superheroes.

http://jrlemar.wordpress.com/2008/10/26/my-10-favorite-superheroes/

Today I’m revisiting that list. This time I’m speculating
as to what their individual political leanings are, and who
they voted for in the last election, President Barack Hussein
Obama or Sen. McCain?

1/CAPTAIN MARVEL

In his secret identity, Captain Marvel is actually a teenage
boy, Billy Batson, so he’s too young to vote. But, like most
young people, I see him has totally excited by Barack Hussein
Obama, & is happy that he won.

2/SPIDER-MAN

Spider-Man is all about helping out “the little guy.” He’s
also experienced being hassled by the cops, who think he’s
a criminal, so he’d be sensitive to things like racial profiling,
& police brutality. And he grew up being raised by his Aunt,
who was always struggling for money. So I think that Peter
Parker is a liberal Democrat, who voted for Barack Hussein
Obama.

3/BATMAN

This was a tough one. He’s rich, so that lends him towards
being a Republican. And he’s all about maintaining law & order,
by any means necessary, even if that means occasionally using
techniques which could be described as psychological torture on
criminals toget information from them. But, on other hand, he never
kills bad guys, not even insane mass murderers like the Joker, and
he is vehemently anti-gun. And, early in his career, he was fighting
against the corrupt local government as much as he was fighting
against the criminals. So he doesn’t fit into an ideological box so
easily. He’s probably registered independent.

My best guest is that the politician he would most closely identify
with is former NY Mayor Giuliani, who is moderate on social issues,
but really tough on crime. I think Batman would admire the way
Mayor Giuliani brought down the crime rate in NYC, & thought he
would be good for the country. So I think, as Bruce Wayne, he endorsed
Mayor Giuliani & held a couple of fund-raisers in Gotham, with all of his
other rich friends, for him. And then, when Mayor Giuliani dropped out,
Bruce Wayne probably ended up supporting Sen. McCain by default. Not
as enthusiastically as he supported Mayor Giuliani, but still thought
Sen. McCain would be tougher on crime & terrorism.

4/SUPERMAN

I think that, as a matter of principle, Superman is registered
as an independent. And, as a news reporter, he strives to be
fair & balanced. He’s Superman, so he’s here to protect & defend
everyone. But he was raised on a farm in the Midwest,
So he probably has some old-fashioned traditional values, which
could be considered “conservative.”

Plus, Superman, as a character, very much represents preserving
the status quo. He’ll fight criminals, supervillains, & stop natural
disasters, but he doesn’t go around getting intimately involved in
human events. He doesn’t stop wars between nations, or anything
like that. And he seems to have a natural faith in our political
system, & therefore is willing to work with the U.S. President
whether he’s a Democrat:

Or a Republican:

Or his worst enemy:

So I think he bases his votes on the individual, not the
party that they belong too. He probably voted for Ronald
Reagan in the 80’s, & Bill Clinton in the 90’s. But he was
disgusted to learn of the Monica Lewinsky scandal (Superman
would NEVER condone adultery) & so therefore voted for
George W. Bush in 2000 over Gore, because he wanted a
clean break from the Clinton Administration @ that point.
I’m not sure if he stuck with Bush in 2004, or voted for Sen.
Kerry, but I think that in 2008 he was impressed with the
way Barack Hussein Obama inspired so many people (which
is exactly what Superman tries to do) & voted for him.

His wife, Lois Lane, on the other hand, grew up in
a military family, and is Republican who firmly
supported Sen. McCain, & she hopes that Gov.
Palin runs for President in 2012. I bet that Lois &
Clark had some rather heated debates about
this @ the dinner table last year, but they always
kissed & made-up afterwards.

5/BLACK PANTHER

As the King of an extremely isolationist African nation,
he’s only marginally interested in our Presidential
elections. If it weren’t for the fact that he’s spent several
years in America as a member of the superhero Team, The
Avengers (& as a temporary member of the Fantastic Four),
he wouldn’t have any interest @ all.

He’s faced diplomatic problems with America, including
various invasion attempts involving rogue elements of the U.S.
Intelligence Community, under both the Bush & Clinton
Administrations, So labels like “Democrat” and “Republican”
mean little to him, & ultimately sees our President as merely a
political figurehead. He’s admitted to having his lobbyists make
political donations to “conservative” (presumably Republican)
U.S. congress members, in the past, to have them argue against
the passage of the U.S. Super Hero Registration Act. I think he’s
a little happy to see an American with direct roots to Africa get
elected, as a symbolic gesture, but isn’t sure that it will really
make a difference in the long run.

His American-born (& daughter of Kenyan immigrants) wife,
Storm, on the other hand, no longer votes in American elections
since she became Queen of Wakanda, but is overjoyed @ Barack
Hussein Obama’s election.

6/WONDER WOMAN

She’s a foreign citizen, so she didn’t vote, but
spends most of her time living & working in America, so
she would be interested in our political process. I know
it’s easy to assume that she’s a Radical feminist, who
thinks women are superior to men. Well, where she comes
from, women are superior to men, but that doesn’t men
she thinks women should be in control of everything.

I see her as “liberal” on certain social issues, like gay
rights (since It’s been established that some, but not
all, of the amazons on Paradise Island are involved in
lesbian relationships) & civil rights (she once dated a
Black man). But she would be adamantly opposed to
abortion. The Greek Gods created the original amazons
by using the souls of women who had been murdered by
men. And Wonder Woman’s mother was created from the
soul of A woman who was pregnant when she was killed,
and the soul of that unborn child was later used to create
Wonder Woman herself.

And she’s a warrior. Unlike her contemporaries, Superman
& Batman, she has no problem with killing an opponent, if
that’s the only way to stop them. She’d be against gun
control, probably thinks it’s every citizen’s duty to own a
weapon & know how to use it, & would probably support the
concept of pre-emptive strikes, as a military option. So
I bet she would’ve initially backed Bush’s war in Iraq. So I
think that, to whatever degree she cared, she would’ve
preferred McCain as U.S. President.

7/JOHN STEWART, GREEN LANTERN

I look @ the Green Lantern Corp. as sort of a
military organization. And military men tend to be more
conservative than the average citizen, I think. So I think
he’s a moderate Republican, who voted for Bush both
times & was inclined to vote for McCain last year, although
it’s possible that he may have been tempted to switch sides
& vote for Barack Hussein Obama like Colin Powell did. But
I’m not sure.

Quick note on the other American Green Lanterns: HAL
JORDAN: Conservative Republican – voted for McCain.
KYLE RAYNOR: Liberal Democrat – voted for Barack Hussein
Obama. GUY GARDER: Far-Right Republican. Thinks Barack
Hussein Obama is a radical socialist. He voted for
Alan Keyes, as an independent, because he thought John
McCain was too “liberal”, & didn’t think Sarah Palin (or any
woman, really) was qualified to be V.P.

8/CAPTAIN AMERICA

This was the easiest to figure out. He’s a moderate
Republican who supported John McCain. From day one,
there was never any question in his mind, since John
McCain practically is a real-life Captain America, minus
the super-powers. Nevertheless, As a patriot and
dedicated soldier, he now backs President Barack Hussein
Obama 100%, for as long as he’s in office.

9/THOR

He’s an immortal Norse GOD. He couldn’t care
less about our silly political process. But, if he did,
he’d probably support McCain, for much the same
reasons as Wonder Woman.

10/BLADE

I don’t think he cares much about politics, either.
Though he probably identifies with Barack Hussein
Obama on some level, due to them both having
“mixed” backgrounds (the President is half Black/half
White, Blade is half human/half vampire), but he’s too
focused on his nonstop mission to rid the world of
vampires to waste any time voting.

And a few notes on some other notable superheroes:

IRON MAN: Billionaire + weapons-dealer = Republican.
Voted for McCain.
DAREDEVIL: Liberal lawyer. A Catholic, who idolizes
the Kennedy’s. Democrat. Voted for Barack Hussein Obama
HANCOCK: Doesn’t care much about politics. Never voted
before, until 2008, when he voted for Barack Hussein
Obama, just because he’s Black.
THE FANTASTIC FOUR: Split. Mr. Fantastic & The Thing
are Republicans who voted for McCain, while The Invisible
Woman & The Human Torch are Democrats who voted for
Barack Hussein Obama (although the Invisible Woman originally
wanted Hillary Clinton for President).