YES. This is up there with Jay's lackluster albums, it's probably better than all of them, though. BP3, Kingdom Come, BP2, IML1 and then this one, imho. WTT was really good.
besides layin on the couch, playin psychiatrist for Jay-z, what did Rick Rubin do for the project? Production? Spiritual guidance for Jay-z's fathering of Blue Ivy?
the hate is very strong right now on this thread for this album.
truth be told. iof Jay was playing this for you priabtely you'd be sucking his dick.
get off the hater-ade and salt throwing, ya'll are some finicky shitheads and feel sorry that you can't enjoy new music with fresh ears with critisizing.
Is that you Shawn Carter? Your new album sucks balls, there I said it!
The only song that stood out in my opinion was basically just you yammering over Gonjasufi's brilliant "Nickels and Dimes"
You're done go play the sport agent game and call it a career.
Jay-Z ???Magna Carta .???.???. Holy Grail??? review: When fans are reduced to customers
By Chris Richards, Published: July 8
Eight summers ago, Jay-Z described his impossible journey from no-name to brand name in eight sly words: ???I???m not a businessman/I???m a business, man.???
A triumphant little zinger, no doubt. But what about the rest of us? When an artist self-identifies as a corporate entity, are we still Jay-Z fans? Or are we Jay-Z customers?
The answer to that late-capitalist riddle arrives with the rap icon???s insidious new album, ???Magna Carta .???.???. Holy Grail??? ??? which first appeared last week as a data collection exercise disguised as a smartphone app capable of delivering a bundle of mediocre rap songs to your mobile device.
Here???s how it worked: Samsung purchased a million copies of ???Magna Carta??? in advance, then, via the app, made the album available to subscribers five days before its widespread release. In exchange, users were asked to share access to their social media accounts, their phone calls, their GPS location and more. If the medium is the message, we finally had an answer to that fan-or-customer question.
And now who would want to be either? Throughout ???Magna Carta,??? the 43-year-old pretends he???s a threat to a system he???s so eagerly become a part of, as if his life as a champion capitalist is some perpetually escalating act of subversion. Hooray? Rooting for this man in 2013 is like rooting for Pfizer. Or PepsiCo. Or PRISM.
Plus, all of this Samsung hullabaloo has only distracted listeners from the fact that, musically and lyrically, ???Magna Carta??? is one of Jay-Z???s blandest offerings. Over 16 joylessly professional tracks, our hero laces up his sneakers for his bazillion-thousandth victory lap around the hip-hop universe. There???s no mood, no verve, no vision to this music. It???s the sound of champagne being sprayed around an empty locker room.
And that???s disappointing considering the blitz of web and TV ads for ???Magna Carta,??? which suggested we???d be basking in a richly sculpted songbook. The first television spot crash-landed during game five of the NBA Finals, with Jay jawing about his craft in the studio with the album???s producers, Timbaland, Pharrell Williams, Swizz Beatz and Rick Rubin ??? the last of whom wasn???t actually involved in the making of the album at all.
Also in the ad, the rapper promised to document the difficulty of maintaining his sense of self in the riptides of fame and fortune. But as ever, Jay-Z maintains Oz-like distance on this album, refusing to expose the personal vulnerabilities that Kanye West, Frank Ocean, Drake and a generation of hip-hop stars rising in his wake have built their careers on.
Instead, ???Magna Carta??? is packed with his patented American dreaming at its most unimaginative. He name-drops Jean-Michel Basquiat and Francis Bacon as if the only point of art is to own it. He name-drops convicted D.C. gangster Wayne ???Silk??? Perry on a song named after fashion designer Tom Ford. And in a mysterious courtship ritual with Gen X, he recycles the hooks of R.E.M.???s ???Losing My Religion??? and Nirvana???s ???Smells Like Teen Spirit.???
The last wheel falls off during the album???s final cut, ???Nickels and Dimes.??? After coughing up a weak Lady Gaga pun ??? ???Taking food out my little monster???s mouth/That???ll drive me gaga??? ??? and rekindling a weird media beef with 86-year-old Harry Belafonte, he closes the album by insulting the listeners who made him a superstar: ???Y???all not worthy/Sometimes I feel like y???all don???t deserve me.???
But that didn???t stop Jay-Z from reanimating his oft-dormant Twitter account Monday afternoon ??? where he answered questions and cracked jokes. It was as if he was trying to remind us that he was still human the only way he seems to know how: by shaking hands with his customers on the digital sales floor.
NEW YORK???Following a dismal second quarter in which the company???s stock price plummeted more than 30 percent, CEO Walter Kempman stunned shareholders Tuesday by announcing that he will resign his leadership of the New York???based entertainment conglomerate Jay-Z. ???We are grateful for all Walter has done for Jay-Z, but ultimately the board of directors recommended that he step down,??? said chairman David Casey, who admitted that the brand had struggled somewhat since Jay-Z went public in 2003 to an impressive IPO of $17.6 billion. ???When my grandfather, a simple car mechanic from Akron, Ohio, founded Jay-Z in 1949, he did so in hopes of providing the very best in service to our customers. We are confident that with the right adjustments, we can return to that vision as we lead Jay-Z into the future.??? Top Jay-Z executives will reportedly now turn their attention to finding a replacement CEO, with COO Michael Quinlan, vice president James Clark, and CFO Shawn Carter taking over Kempman???s responsibilities during the interim.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
Jay-Z ???Magna Carta .???.???. Holy Grail??? review: When fans are reduced to customers
[snipping 900 words of asshurt bullshit]
Today the world was shaken by the revelation that a great deal of the most popular rap music often venerates capitalist values. In other news, ice-cream still cold.
Im curious to see his art collection. I smell buzz-names w/ no real cohesion.
Yup.
I am officially the grumpiest person on earth, his "performance art" really bugged me. Stop trying soooooooo hard to prove how far you've come or how worldly you are and whatever it is. The name-dropping all over the record is tacky as fuck.
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should - which is basically my review of the record, too
Generous. All four are for putting WondaGurl on the record.
Really? That wondagurl track is shit, I'm thinking folks are enamored with the kitsch/ cute element of a 16 year old girl making the album. In your opinion, what makes this a standout part of MCHG?
The beat falls apart very quickly - she is trying to do way too many things at the same time.
Am a fan of his decision, not the beat. (File Under: Just because you can, you should)
Using money/power/influence to spread it around and give people opportunities and breaks, I can get with. Using it to publicly wank off, not so much.
Im curious to see his art collection. I smell buzz-names w/ no real cohesion.
Yup.
I am officially the grumpiest person on earth, his "performance art" really bugged me. Stop trying soooooooo hard to prove how far you've come or how worldly you are and whatever it is. The name-dropping all over the record is tacky as fuck.
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should - which is basically my review of the record, too
LEAVE.PERFORMANCE ART.ALONE
As much as he gained in status and aligning himself w/ "older" money, alot of his posturing comes off like a project dude that's just won lotto.
Its as fleeting as Kanye and Murakami.
Its funny. Cats either try to act, fuck w/ fashion, or design, but has there been a Hip Hop artist thats really permeated the Art World?
Collecting dont count. Thats spending money w/ your adviser like your fashion stylist.
Im curious to see his art collection. I smell buzz-names w/ no real cohesion.
Yup.
I am officially the grumpiest person on earth, his "performance art" really bugged me. Stop trying soooooooo hard to prove how far you've come or how worldly you are and whatever it is. The name-dropping all over the record is tacky as fuck.
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should - which is basically my review of the record, too
LEAVE.PERFORMANCE ART.ALONE
As much as he gained in status and aligning himself w/ "older" money, alot of his posturing comes off like a project dude that's just won lotto.
Its as fleeting as Kanye and Murakami.
Its funny. Cats either try to act, fuck w/ fashion, or design, but has there been a Hip Hop artist thats really permeated the Art World?
Collecting don't count. Thats spending money w/ your adviser like your fashion stylist.
Yes x 100.
That need to permeate is what is so annoying, I guess. There are so many rap folks doing (non-musical) artistic things, from personal style to videos to packaging - basically setting the direction - why do you need to get into a gallery so bad?
Its funny. Cats either try to act, fuck w/ fashion, or design, but has there been a Hip Hop artist thats really permeated the Art World?
Collecting dont count. Thats spending money w/ your adviser like your fashion stylist.
at one point there was some crossover, guys like Antipop Consortium playing art openings and at PS1. Didn't D??lek do some art world projects too? I think I remember someone like that doing collabs with artists. This was all back in the early 2000s and it was never some mainstream rapper, just people on the fringes who would appeal to artists anyway. Nowadays any music that crosses over into the art world seems to need the Pitchfork stamp of approval first.
and I blame James Franco for this Jay-Z performance art thing.
Im curious to see his art collection. I smell buzz-names w/ no real cohesion.
Yup.
I am officially the grumpiest person on earth, his "performance art" really bugged me. Stop trying soooooooo hard to prove how far you've come or how worldly you are and whatever it is. The name-dropping all over the record is tacky as fuck.
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should - which is basically my review of the record, too
LEAVE.PERFORMANCE ART.ALONE
As much as he gained in status and aligning himself w/ "older" money, alot of his posturing comes off like a project dude that's just won lotto.
Its as fleeting as Kanye and Murakami.
Its funny. Cats either try to act, fuck w/ fashion, or design, but has there been a Hip Hop artist thats really permeated the Art World?
Collecting don't count. Thats spending money w/ your adviser like your fashion stylist.
Yes x 100.
That need to permeate is what is so annoying, I guess. There are so many rap folks doing (non-musical) artistic things, from personal style to videos to packaging - basically setting the direction - why do you need to get into a gallery so bad?
I just wish he wasnt trying to do it while his album dropped.
Id be curious if it wasnt a' big deal" and dude added some photographs to a group show or was featured in someone elses work before going for self.
You guys are funny. I can't believe some of you are taking this so serious. IT'S AN OBVIOUS PUBLICITY STUNT. "I just wish he wasnt trying to do it while his album dropped." Ha ha ha ha... C'mon maaaaaan!
With that said, hopefully it'll cause a few of his fans to dig a little deeper. I'd be lying if I said I had in-depth knowledge of the art world, but I know a li'l bit...
You guys are funny. I can't believe some of you are taking this so serious. IT'S AN OBVIOUS PUBLICITY STUNT. "I just wish he wasnt trying to do it while his album dropped." Ha ha ha ha... C'mon maaaaaan!
With that said, hopefully it'll cause a few of his fans to dig a little deeper. I'd be lying if I said I had in-depth knowledge of the art world, but I know a li'l bit...
Your constant shitting on what people want to talk about is so tired. Us dummies will take music and art and marketing and identity seriously, you can KIM and talk about whatever it is you find worthy and interesting.
Comments
YES. This is up there with Jay's lackluster albums, it's probably better than all of them, though. BP3, Kingdom Come, BP2, IML1 and then this one, imho. WTT was really good.
1978...yeah Disco Rap SMH
Absolutely right. One super-rich megastar album release is all I can stomach in a 6 month period. No interest in listening to this.
Is that you Shawn Carter? Your new album sucks balls, there I said it!
The only song that stood out in my opinion was basically just you yammering over Gonjasufi's brilliant "Nickels and Dimes"
You're done go play the sport agent game and call it a career.
NAS>>gay z FACT!
I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE!
so I have to ask, are you in the 4th grade?
Generous. All four are for putting WondaGurl on the record.
By Chris Richards, Published: July 8
Eight summers ago, Jay-Z described his impossible journey from no-name to brand name in eight sly words: ???I???m not a businessman/I???m a business, man.???
A triumphant little zinger, no doubt. But what about the rest of us? When an artist self-identifies as a corporate entity, are we still Jay-Z fans? Or are we Jay-Z customers?
The answer to that late-capitalist riddle arrives with the rap icon???s insidious new album, ???Magna Carta .???.???. Holy Grail??? ??? which first appeared last week as a data collection exercise disguised as a smartphone app capable of delivering a bundle of mediocre rap songs to your mobile device.
Here???s how it worked: Samsung purchased a million copies of ???Magna Carta??? in advance, then, via the app, made the album available to subscribers five days before its widespread release. In exchange, users were asked to share access to their social media accounts, their phone calls, their GPS location and more. If the medium is the message, we finally had an answer to that fan-or-customer question.
And now who would want to be either? Throughout ???Magna Carta,??? the 43-year-old pretends he???s a threat to a system he???s so eagerly become a part of, as if his life as a champion capitalist is some perpetually escalating act of subversion. Hooray? Rooting for this man in 2013 is like rooting for Pfizer. Or PepsiCo. Or PRISM.
Plus, all of this Samsung hullabaloo has only distracted listeners from the fact that, musically and lyrically, ???Magna Carta??? is one of Jay-Z???s blandest offerings. Over 16 joylessly professional tracks, our hero laces up his sneakers for his bazillion-thousandth victory lap around the hip-hop universe. There???s no mood, no verve, no vision to this music. It???s the sound of champagne being sprayed around an empty locker room.
And that???s disappointing considering the blitz of web and TV ads for ???Magna Carta,??? which suggested we???d be basking in a richly sculpted songbook. The first television spot crash-landed during game five of the NBA Finals, with Jay jawing about his craft in the studio with the album???s producers, Timbaland, Pharrell Williams, Swizz Beatz and Rick Rubin ??? the last of whom wasn???t actually involved in the making of the album at all.
Also in the ad, the rapper promised to document the difficulty of maintaining his sense of self in the riptides of fame and fortune. But as ever, Jay-Z maintains Oz-like distance on this album, refusing to expose the personal vulnerabilities that Kanye West, Frank Ocean, Drake and a generation of hip-hop stars rising in his wake have built their careers on.
Instead, ???Magna Carta??? is packed with his patented American dreaming at its most unimaginative. He name-drops Jean-Michel Basquiat and Francis Bacon as if the only point of art is to own it. He name-drops convicted D.C. gangster Wayne ???Silk??? Perry on a song named after fashion designer Tom Ford. And in a mysterious courtship ritual with Gen X, he recycles the hooks of R.E.M.???s ???Losing My Religion??? and Nirvana???s ???Smells Like Teen Spirit.???
The last wheel falls off during the album???s final cut, ???Nickels and Dimes.??? After coughing up a weak Lady Gaga pun ??? ???Taking food out my little monster???s mouth/That???ll drive me gaga??? ??? and rekindling a weird media beef with 86-year-old Harry Belafonte, he closes the album by insulting the listeners who made him a superstar: ???Y???all not worthy/Sometimes I feel like y???all don???t deserve me.???
But that didn???t stop Jay-Z from reanimating his oft-dormant Twitter account Monday afternoon ??? where he answered questions and cracked jokes. It was as if he was trying to remind us that he was still human the only way he seems to know how: by shaking hands with his customers on the digital sales floor.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/jay-z-magna-carta--holy-grail-review-when-fans-are-reduced-to-customers/2013/07/08/6293ba7c-e7de-11e2-aa9f-c03a72e2d342_story.html
Today the world was shaken by the revelation that a great deal of the most popular rap music often venerates capitalist values. In other news, ice-cream still cold.
Pretty much.
Six hours?
Props for doin this, but ill deduct points because it during the album drop.
Im curious to see his art collection. I smell buzz-names w/ no real cohesion.
Yup.
I am officially the grumpiest person on earth, his "performance art" really bugged me. Stop trying soooooooo hard to prove how far you've come or how worldly you are and whatever it is. The name-dropping all over the record is tacky as fuck.
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should - which is basically my review of the record, too
LEAVE.PERFORMANCE ART.ALONE
Really? That wondagurl track is shit, I'm thinking folks are enamored with the kitsch/ cute element of a 16 year old girl making the album. In your opinion, what makes this a standout part of MCHG?
Am a fan of his decision, not the beat. (File Under: Just because you can, you should)
Using money/power/influence to spread it around and give people opportunities and breaks, I can get with. Using it to publicly wank off, not so much.
As much as he gained in status and aligning himself w/ "older" money, alot of his posturing comes off like a project dude that's just won lotto.
Its as fleeting as Kanye and Murakami.
Its funny. Cats either try to act, fuck w/ fashion, or design, but has there been a Hip Hop artist thats really permeated the Art World?
Collecting dont count. Thats spending money w/ your adviser like your fashion stylist.
Yes x 100.
That need to permeate is what is so annoying, I guess. There are so many rap folks doing (non-musical) artistic things, from personal style to videos to packaging - basically setting the direction - why do you need to get into a gallery so bad?
at one point there was some crossover, guys like Antipop Consortium playing art openings and at PS1. Didn't D??lek do some art world projects too? I think I remember someone like that doing collabs with artists. This was all back in the early 2000s and it was never some mainstream rapper, just people on the fringes who would appeal to artists anyway. Nowadays any music that crosses over into the art world seems to need the Pitchfork stamp of approval first.
and I blame James Franco for this Jay-Z performance art thing.
I just wish he wasnt trying to do it while his album dropped.
Id be curious if it wasnt a' big deal" and dude added some photographs to a group show or was featured in someone elses work before going for self.
Wait???what?
With that said, hopefully it'll cause a few of his fans to dig a little deeper. I'd be lying if I said I had in-depth knowledge of the art world, but I know a li'l bit...
Your constant shitting on what people want to talk about is so tired. Us dummies will take music and art and marketing and identity seriously, you can KIM and talk about whatever it is you find worthy and interesting.