The buildup to Jay Z’s “Magna Carta… Holy Grail” was pretty exciting. First of all, it’s Jay Z – an absolute musical force and the face of Hip-Hop. The advert for “MCHG” aired during the NBA finals and featured Jay Z, Pharrell, Timbaland, Swiss Beats and a head-nodding, barefoot Rick Rubin listening to and dissecting beats and lyrics.
The portrait painted of “MCHG” made you anticipate an album with cohesion and some lush beats – collectively capturing Jay Z’s lyrical brilliance. In the same advert, it was also announced Samsung would release the new album early to Galaxy S 4, S III and Note II users. As a Samsung user myself, I must say I was pretty psyched about this perk.
So at the end of the day, what was the collective reaction to the new album?
Meh.
I didn’t mind the album, but upon first listen, I found myself underwhelmed.
Let me start out by addressing the highlights of this album first. Let’s talk the Justin Timberlake vocals in the albums opening track, “Holy Grail”. Was it just me, or did Timberlake totally kill it? And am I the only one who didn’t despise the Nirvana reference?
Nas in “BBC”, who was featured in the good majority of the song, almost made me wish I was listening to a Nas album instead. Beyonce’s vocals in “Part II (On the Run)” were just heavenly. Frank Ocean also adds complementary vocals in “Oceans”, which never fails to impress.
In fact, “MCHG’s” best moments may be from its featured artists. But you know there’s a problem when the best moments on the album aren’t even from the artist of the album himself.
There have been pretty omnipresent comparisons between “MCHG” and Kanye West’s recent album “Yeezus”, mostly because of the proximity of their releases and because we have come to associate Kanye and Jay Z with the masterpiece that was “Watch the Throne,” which honestly would elicit a pretty hard follow-up for either.
“MCHG” and "Yeezus” are fundamentally different. “Yeezus” reels in an alternative/experimental sound, while “MCHG” stays within the conventions of modern hip-hop sounds.
But the truth is, the conventionality is the root of “MCHG’s” problem. The album, while exhibiting some great beats, is just lyrically unambitious and rootless (did I really just hear him rap about Miley Cyrus twerking?). “MCHG” takes little risks and treads a path that leaves much to be desired.
“MCHG” just begs the question: what happened to Jay Z circa “The Blueprint” or “The Black Album”?—When lyricism used to be his prowess or when poetry used to fly straight at you? “MCHG” and in fact Jay Z’s last two solo albums have used beats and featured artists as their crutch. Don’t get me wrong, most of the time it totally works, but it just leaves you wanting more lyrical substantiation from Jay Z himself to back up the great beats and contributing artists.
I question whether “MCHG’s” lyrical shortcomings come from a lack of creative inspiration. The luxurious life that echoes throughout the album does not resonate with me, and for me, it’s a tired subject.
“MCHG” isn’t a terrible album. I can still listen to it and enjoy it for the beats. And in all honesty, this blemish in his recording career definitely won’t stop him. He is musical force, and amidst the collective “meh” much of us have experienced as a result of this album, we still love Jay Z and will mostly likely continue to support his musical ventures.
Jay Z has graced the hip-hop industry for roughly two decades now. There’s no stopping him, and I sincerely hope nothing ever will. Now he just has to break down that creative brick wall.
