Yesterday (July 9), the rest of the world officially got their hands on Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter‘s latest studio album, Magna Carta, Holy Grail. The Roc Nation head honcho is capping off a pretty exciting time in his career that finds his cohorts succeeding (Yeezus and Born Sinner, respectively), his brand expanding (he netted $20 million with the Samsung deal), and his journey from drug dealer to billionaire businessman coming full circle.
Brooklyn’s own has had two decades to reflect on many of the topics that are on display in Magna Carta, Holy Grail. His braggadocios claims, backed by Samsung ads, superstar friends and Rick Rubin’s bare feet have all added an element of hype to Lucky Lefty’s latest effort. But, as we all know, hype is commonly understood to be full of hot air and signifies nothing. Even with Jay’s promotional and marketing acumen, and, most recently, a Twitter Q&A — are music fans ready for this new brazen display of corporate greed disguised and packaged as a noble act by a living legend?
While Jay-Z feels confident that his duality as a former Brooklyn bad guy turned “BBC” world leader will amount to another #1 (as of writing this, U.S. sales chart already claim Jay-Z will take the top spot with 350-400k sales) — other audiophiles just aren’t so sure. We scoured the Twitterverse to find out what the Internet thinks of Jay-Z’s latest gaudy, big-business offering, and found 15 critiques and reviews worth checking out.
Will their opinion stop you from copping the album? Let us know in the comments below.
Photo: XXL
Vulture’s Caroline Bankoff notes that Jay-Z’s most recent attempt at creating some #newrules weren’t without their #epicfails. Samsung users experience major problems after downloading the Magna Carta, Holy Grail app.
If you read any of those lyrics that Jay “leaked,” it seems as if Brooklyn’s favorite son has retired his “Rain Man” act for good.
The New York Times‘ Jon Pareles notes Hov’s “mood swings” and “usual boasts” on the album, cites Magna Carta as his “first Dad-rap” album, and claims that the God MC is searching for a reliable alternative to pop success.
We would name ours “King Ohyeah, The Zipper Ripper.”
Drake is too busy plotting out his next meme to listen to Hov’s album, really.
Run The Jewels’ own Killer Mike read the terms for Jay-Z’s app, which lead to the startling data mining discovery. Why does Jay need access to our GPS? Is he trying to NSA his own music fans?
Or, Can Anyone Point Us To A Sharebeast Link?!
Yes, we do! It’s something that priest won’t attempt to touch in the dark.
It is already better than “Sunshine,” and that had Babyface on the hook!
If Hov isn’t declared a saint by the end of this year, we riot!
The jury is out on this one, but what do YOU think?!
While Yeezus was experimental with its minimalism, will Jay ever start flowing lyrically like Talib Kweli to show his diversity?
Hov claims that this album is fighting for his fourth favorite. Where would YOU list it?
Sorry, Hov, but Beyonce will have the best BBQ-in’ music this summer!
If you don’t know why Jay is so gung-ho about Basquiat, maybe you should read this!
