Kingdom Come

Disc 1
1	The Prelude 2:44
2	Oh My God 4:17
3	Kingdom Come 4:23
4	Show Me What You Got 3:43
5	Lost One 3:44
6	Do U Wanna Ride / John Legend 5:29
7	30 Something 4:13
8	I Made It 3:25
9	Anything / Pharrell 4:21
10	Hollywood / Beyoncé 4:17
11	Trouble 4:53
12	Dig a Hole / Sterling Simms 4:11
13	Minority Report / Ne-Yo 4:33
14	Beach Chair / Chris E. Martin 5:08
Disc 2
1	Politics as Usual 4:17
2	Can't Knock the Hustle 6:34
3	Can I Live 5:00

Barnes & Noble

After dropping an album a year for eight consecutive years, Jay-Z decided to call it quits with the release of 2003's The Black Album and took the helm of the hip-hop powerhouse Def Jam Records. Despite shifting gears form the spotlight to the conference room, Jigga continued to record sporadically, including a plethora of guest verses and two collaborative projects (Collision Course with Linkin Park and the ill-fated Unfinished Business with R. Kelly). After three years of "retirement," however, and an abysmal year for rap record sales, Jay heeded his inner call to return to rock the mic. The result is Kingdom Come, his latest collection of highbrow swagger and street lore. In typical fashion, Jay announces his homecoming with a jam aimed straight for the clubs. Produced by Just Blaze, "Show Me What You Got" is a high-energy cut layered with festive horns and frantic percussion. The party vibe continues on the bouncy "Anything," featuring Usher and Pharrell, and on "Hollywood," where Beyoncé lays her sultry vocals over the guitar-powered track. Lyrically, Jay takes a moment to address his beef with Harlem rapper Cam'ron ("Dig a Hole") and put forth the reasons for the split from former business partners and friends Damon Dash and Kareem "Biggs" Burke ("Lost Ones"). Grandiose posturing and slick talk aside, the maturation of Shawn Carter comes to a head on the gripping "Minority Report," where he skillfully speaks about the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. While Kingdom Come may not be the greatest album in the Jay-Z catalogue, there's still enough regal material here to herald this hip-hop royal's return. Anslem Samuel

All Music Guide

Jay-Z's retirement from making albums was more like a working holiday. After he announced his retirement, released The Black Album, and threw the Fade to Black party, he collaborated with Linkin Park on Collision Course, teamed with R. Kelly for the abysmal Unfinished Business, and appeared on tracks by Beanie Sigel, Bun B, Memphis Bleek, Kanye West, Pharrell, Lupe Fiasco, and Beyoncé. He kept busy behind the scenes as Def Jam's CEO and president, and he also stepped up as a major philanthropist, donating a million dollars to the Katrina cause and actively addressing the global water crisis in Turkey and South Africa. In the midst of these and other well-publicized activities, Jay-Z recorded Kingdom Come, his eighth and weakest studio album. When placed in the context of his prolific discography, the greater part of the album wilts, and it's not a good indicator that Jay-Z continues to lean on a familiar cast of producers rather than actively seek up-and-comers. (The fresh talent here is limited to Syience and Gwyneth Paltrow's Chris Martin; they contribute one track each.) There's only a small handful of highlights. On the title track, Just Blaze's masterful contortion job on Rick James' "Superfreak" backs Jay's nearly top-form, Black Album/Blueprint-worthy boasts: "I been up in the office, you might know him as Clark/Just when you thought the whole world fell apart/I take off the blazer, loosen up the tie/Step inside the booth, Superman is alive." Two of the four Dr. Dre productions feature assistance from Mark Batson (Anthony Hamilton), and they both strike a fine balance between maturity and ferocity -- much more so than the clumsy "30 Something," where Jay proclaims that "30 is the new 20," which would actually make him 27 and a fourth-grader a zygote. (He might as well say, "You wear Huggies, I wear Depends/You drink from a sippy cup/I sip my solids.") Apart from the above-mentioned bright spots and a poignant, somber track about the Katrina disaster ("Minority Report"), the album is a display of complacency and retreads -- a gratuitous, easily resistible victory lap -- that very slightly upgrades the relative worth of The Blueprint˛. Andy Kellman