Jay-Z
Vol. 2: Hard-Knock Life
»
Jay-Z
Vol. 2: Hard-Knock Life
Roc-A-Fella, 1998
RiYL: Puff Daddy, Mase, DMX, Notorious BIG, Foxy Brown |
If anything, Jay-Z, born Shawn Carter, should at least get props for his apparent invincibility in the realm of hip-hop. His third effort, Hard-Knock Life, has been a Billboard Top 10 mainstay for months on end, and there's no debating that the former New York drug-peddler can flow with the best of them. He has a knack for painting vivid pictures of his rugged inner-city existence -- the lifestyle he lead prior to putting down the drugs and picking up the mic -- and his ready-for-radio beats earn both street and mainstream credibility.
Sound familiar at all?
The same description can be applied to a myriad of other artists, most of whom have recently relished in similar success. Puff Daddy, Notorious B.I.G., Mase, and DMX, just to name a scant few, have done the exact same thing -- some much better, some clearly worse. Jay-Z is obviously earning points, but none for originality.
Not ironically, the top cuts on the album are the singles, which have already invaded your collective subconscious and refused to leave. Mr. Z delves into the realm of Broadway showtunes for the title track, borrowing the chorus from the orphan-shrieked 'Annie' tune of the same name (Note to aspiring rappers: This tune may be the warning sign that the reservoir of available samples is growing dangerously low). It's somewhat refreshing: an introspective, leisurely, and ultimately undanceable tune that looks optimistically at growing up in the projects, and gives props to the late Notorious B.I.G.
Listeners can bounce with Jay-Z on "Can I Get A", a track that lends credibility to the less-is-more theory. The beat is stripped down to fluid drum-and-bass, and the verbal give and take between the gold-digging female and the loyalty-questioning male is catchy, which makes for a certifiable jeep-beat classic.
Other than that, there's simply nothing else that stands out on Hard-Knock Life. The majority of record suffers from the widespread Puffy epidemic, in which, well, everything sounds like Puff Daddy. Tracks like "Ride Or Die" and "Money, Cash, Hoes" fail to reveal any sort of nonconformity to typical mainstream hip-hop, and sound like tunes that Notorious B.I.G. threw out a while ago.
So to what can we attribute Jay-Z's rampant success? Who knows, but it's certainly not uniqueness. Verbally, he shows indisputable skills, but is no more thoughtful than his peers and predecessors. Beat-wise, he's capable, but not imaginative. Let's just hope his 4th record isn't Vol. 4 -- Tomorrow, You're Only A Day Away.
DAVE VRABEL |