Kingdom Come

这张《Kingdom Come》是美国HipHop大佬JayZ自退休复出以来发行的首张录音室专辑。在美国上市首周本张专辑共售出了68万张，虽然未能打破由流行乡村组合Rascal Flatts的专辑《Me And My Gang》保持的72万2千张这个今年美国唱片市场单周销量的最高纪录，但68万张的单周销量成绩也已经足以这张专辑获得本周Billboard 200专辑榜的冠军了。这张由Just Blaze和Swizz Beatz制作的专辑嘉宾阵容堪称强大，包括了Pharrell，亚瑟小子Usher，女友Beyonce，John Legend和酷玩乐队Coldplay主唱Chris Martin等多位当今流行乐坛一流的大牌明星，但从整体上来看，Kingdom Come在很多歌迷的心目中还是比不上他早年的经典专辑，歌迷们不如将这张Kingdom Come 看作是JayZ东山再起的开始更为合适。 by Andy Kellman 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 Blueprint².