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The Rice Thresher
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Todd Makse Jay-Z has finally given up labeling his albums as "Volumes" partially because his new album, Dynasty - Roc La Familia, is supposed to be different. Originally conceived as a compilation album with Roc-a-Fella label mates Beanie Sigel, Memphis Bleek and Amil, it became a solo album after a summer streak of successful Jay-Z singles. Unfortunately, Jay-Z seems to have the curse of having all his hit singles on other people's albums. Since the beginning of his career, songs like "Ain't No Nigga," "Can I Get A .", "Jigga My Nigga" and "Hey Papi" have been released on soundtracks and compilations first, leaving Jay-Z's solo albums considerably weaker. Dynasty does have one bonafide hit in "I Just Wanna Love You," a funky and humorous song produced by the Neptunes, who also produced Mystikal's hit "Shake Ya Ass." This time Jay-Z chose the right song for a first single, unlike his last album when he chose the unimpressive "Do It Again" to lead off Volume 3. Like his last three albums, Dynasty alternates between the enjoyable and the predictable. The better tracks are the more soulful and thoughtful songs such as "Guilty Until Proven Innocent" with R Kelly and "Where Have You Been?", which deals with Jay-Z's legal troubles and his broken family. "Streets Is Talkin" is a valiant effort to bring back the streetwise Jay-Z of his earlier albums, but the credibility is no longer there. The rest of the album is full of "Big Pimpin"-like songs, but with weaker beats, lyrics and guest appearances. Memphis Bleek and Beanie Sigel, both of whom are too hard for these club songs, fare poorly on "Parking Lot Pimpin." Snoop Dogg's appearance on "Get Your Mind Right Mami" isn't much better and is just another example of Jay-Z's irritating overuse of the words "mami" and "papi." Jay-Z may have made some better business decisions with Dynasty, but the music itself is somewhat disappointing. Coming only 10 months after Volume 3, the album begs the question of whether he should focus less on quantity and more on quality. - Todd Makse
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