Jay-Z – Magna Carta Holy Grail {Album Review}

 Let’s talk Jay Z’s Magna Carta Holy Grail. The album was made available to Samsung owners for download today, July 4,2013, and it’s already on heavy rotation at cookouts all over the country. The original Magna Carta, was a document drawn up in England in the year 1215, in a attempt to give the people back some power, and Jay Z is known for his reluctance to accept any puppeteering by record labels. The Holy Grail in Biblical terms, transcends from the vessel that was used by Christ, during the Last Supper. How and what Jay Z is in the process of changing is still unclear, and whether or not the general history has anything to do with anything, is up in the air. Nonetheless, the complexity surrounding the tittle is an example of both symbolism and metaphors at its best. 

 Forget all the history, “How is the music?” is the answer everyone is waiting on.  He expresses his fear of not being a good father, he states his dissatisfaction with the offensive comments pertaining to his daughter, and a weird reference of a desire to be “Daddy Dearest”, while using voices from the iconic movie “Mommy Dearest”. To make it even better, all of that is given to us in one track titled Jay Z Blue. 

 I am almost two decades younger than the legendary rapper, but I feel as if I have listened to this man mature and grow. In the song F.U.T.W ( Fuck Up This World) he states he feels like Muhammad Ali, Brody from the series Homeland, and relates to Martin Luther King. He refuses to “dim his light”, or “Humble down”. He constantly gloats on the fact that he is married to Beyonce, and doesn’t show an ounce of care when crowning her “perfect” on the track Part 2 (On The Run).

 This album was made for people who aren’t offended by lectures from a proud man. I could honestly do without the  messy sound of BBC, which includes Pharrell, Beyonce, Timberland, Justin Timberlake, Frank Ocean and Nas, but to each it’s own. Overall I loved the album, but wouldn’t call it my favorite Jay Z album. However, with producers such as Jerome “J-Roc” Harmon, Mike Will Made It, Hit Boy, Mike Dean, The Dream, and Swizz Beatz among others, Magna Cart Holy Grail oozes the sounds of love and pride, and is a classic in it’s own right.