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Jay-Z "American Gangster" Coming onto the scene with his first album in 1996, Jay Z displayed the perfect blend of street sensibility and bougie class that help make "Reasonable Doubt" an undisputed classic amongst hip hop circles over the past decade. Now, with almost eight albums and a faulty retirement later, Jay Z comes back into rare form with his album "American Gangster" (inspired by the film with the same name). Content wise the album seems to go back to the yesteryears of Jay Z being a dope dealer, and it may be argued that he only put this "concept" album out to just talk dealing again. Well, his motives, whatever they maybe, doesn't deny the fact that this is his greatest effort since the original "Blueprint" (and that says a lot). The initial single "Blue Magic" (named after Frank Lucas's product, not the R&B group) gave a taste as to what to expect. A more appropriate release was the addictive "Roc Boys" that sports a horn section that would make James Brown crack a smile. There isn't many guest spots on the album, but the ones that are included help make the album more complete as oppose to just a feature to have for the hell of it. Beanie Sigel contributes a verse (too short verse) to "Ignorant Shit" (a revamp Jay Z classic that never found it's way onto an album). Lil' Wanye apparently has buried the hatchet with Hov by doing the hook on "Hello Brooklyn" and last but not least, Nasir Jones makes a guest appearance on "Success" assisting with one of the album's strongest cuts. After continuous listens the album seems to lack in the flaw department allowing Jay to comfortably get away with crafting probably the best hip hop record of '07. After lukewarm responses to "Kingdom Come" (his out of retirement album last November), "American Gangster" shows something that even a man of his stature is still able to display; Hunger. -PJ 4.5 out of 5 Preach Jacobs