Magna Carta... Holy Grail (studio album) by Jay-Z

From Boltzmann 12/27/2019 11:13

Jay-Z is at his annoyingest when he tries to make something big. Random, unnecessary beat changes, overly dramatic instrumentals that work with the singing rather than the rapping, even fucking statues on the cover, he's trying so hard. The songs where it works on though are the ones that revolve around a boom bap and the richness of the production is added carefully like on "Somewhereinamerica". Keep it simple Jay, you're not Kanye. You're a better rapper, but you're not everything else Kanye is.

Jay-ZZZZZZ

One of the few albums I regret buying. It's sad that the best songs are the ones with heavy guest appearances. I don't know if I've ever heard a rap album so lyrically weak as this. Jay-Z can't go a single verse without shouting out an expensive car he owns. And who can forget the godawful "Somewhereinamerica" (stylized as one word because who knows) in which Jay-Z spends a good minute simply repeating "Twerk Miley Miley Miley Twerk."

Best Songs:
Holy Grail
Oceans
Part II (On The Run)

Worst Songs:
Somewhereinamerica
Versus
Tom Ford

From swagnadalf 08/07/2014 23:05

With such a lofty and pretentious title, I was expecting Jay-Z to put out some unexpected masterpiece. Instead, it's the worst thing he's ever recorded.

At the beginning of 2013, I heard that both Kanye and Jigga were dropping solo projects. I had a feeling both were going to come up short. When Kanye surprised me with Yeezus, I got excited for MCHG. I was even more excited when I got it for free since I have a Samsung phone. It is one of the few albums I've listened to on the first day. While although on the first few listens I thought of it to be pretty decent, I realized soon that it was a rather bland album. I hope Jay-Z steps it up on his next project.

From ThePurpleOne 06/19/2014 22:02

magna carta falls flat into a safe and boring tier with its lazy lyricism (going from MoMa name drops to the fresh smell of turkey burgers? nah no thank you hov) and unflattering production. the perfect antithesis to the in-your-face confidence and menace of kanye west's 2013 album, MCHG is the bizarro-yeezus.

"He had this in mind all along"; yep, he had. And many songs are better than most of his other stuff, even on some of his apparent classics, "The Blueprint" and "The Black Album". It's been "H to the izz-O" and stuff like that all the way long but here are some good tracks and that's all that matters.

I'm so pissed off by this new album/Samsung advert. To think that this man was my favourite rapper for five or six years of my life makes me feel a little nauseous to be perfectly honest. His new album is easily the worst I've heard all year in any genre, largely because it just reeks of crass commercialism. For a long time now he has been a "business, maaaaan", but this album really fucking stinks. He's tried to cover as many bases as possible, making sure that there are at least two or three songs that appeal to every demographic, and I'm no exception. There are songs on the album that I think are great, and I actually feel ashamed to say it, because that means he's won. Magna Carta Holy Grail has confirmed all my worst fears about Jay-Z, things I didn't want to admit to myself. I'd managed to reconcile my earlier love of the man and his music during his recent, terrible output by simply convincing myself that he had "fallen off", as they say, but this latest album, partnered with this stunt and the way the album has been released and the inevitable fucking tours with Justin Timberlake and the television commercials that will crop up in its wake and whatever fucking fashion line or high-end liquor or sports team he adds to his brand next have me wondering whether I can ever enjoy his music again. I tried listening to 'Dead Presidents' earlier and couldn't shake the feeling that he had this in mind all along, that the music was always secondary. If I'm honest, it's fucking galling.

And yes, I do realise that Jay-Z has always mentioned in his lyrics that he's a hustler first and foremost, a man who prides money above anything else, including music. But on his earlier records his dedication to the craft of rapping and songwriting, married to a desire to always be rapping over the best and freshest beats available, undermine those lyrics somewhat in that they prove how much he genuinely cared about making great music. Despite his lyrical protestations to the contrary, the Jay-Z of old man who was making music for the love of making great music. I no longer get that feeling from his music. It just sounds like a man who is making what he thinks will sell, and it's disgusting. Fuck Jay-Z.

From RockyRaccoon 07/09/2013 19:35

This is different from Jay-Z’s last album, “The Blueprint 3". For me, “The Blueprint 3" sounded like pop-rap, made-for-radio rap. It wasn’t bad, I actually liked it for the most part, but this album sounds like Jay-Z back to just making great hip-hop. Musically, it’s great, the tracks are excellent, and the featured players on the album are skillfully put in, so as that they don’t dominate the album. It’s a Jay-Z album, not a collaboration album, and it’s very well done.

Perhaps one of the coolest tracks on the album is “Crown", which sounds almost like a track off of Kanye’s new album rather than Jay-Z’s, but he executes it flawlessly, it’s excellent. One of the best hip-hop albums of the year, right up there with “Yeezus".