Jay-Z had quite a bar to clear with Kingdom Come, a bar he himself set with albums including Reasonable Doubt, Blueprint and Black Album. Some might say that fans expected too much from this set, but it was Jay-Z himself who orchestrated the hype machine by "retiring" and then feeding the streets a verse here and there alluding to his lyrical genius. The question remains, does Jay-Z live up to expectations? I offer an interesting answer for those listening to the album for the first time: Not yet, but he will.

Kingdom Come is an album whose quality cannot be fully understood on the first listen, or the second, or maybe even the first 10. But eventually, it'll seep into your brain. You'll notice that the more you listen, the more the subtle nuance, the little lyrical jabs, the understated but ultimately intricate flow will come into relief. I jumped on the leak (though, I've now purchased the special edition of the album) and have been listening to the album pretty much nonstop (cleansing my palette with Doctor's Advocate and Hell Hath No Fury every now and again) for over a week now. At first I definitely thought it was trash, epitomized by "Hollywood."

But then I really started to listen to the words. I heard his regret for not doing more for his community after Katrina on Minority Report ("Sure I ponyed up a mil', but I didn't give my time/So in reality I didn't give dime or a damn"). On Dig a Hole I heard him rap about the frustrating position he's in when it comes to beef ("It's hard to do when you've got nothing to prove/ Everybody knows you're better, you're in a lose-lose/ Cause even when you win ultimately you lose/ Real brothas like `Hov' why you talkin' to dude?'"). On I Made It, Jay thanks his mother for facilitating his growth in the absence of a father ("Didn't have a man in the house, so you made one/ That's why I act like your husband and I'm only your son"). On Lost Ones (leaked earlier this year) we hear one of the most personal Jay tracks ever recorded, to the point where he alludes to his rocky relationship with Beyonce, something he's normally very guarded about, "Breath mami, it's deserved/ You've been put on this earth to be all you can be, like the reserves/ But me, my time in this army is served/ So I hafta allow she, her time to serve/ The time's now for her, in time she'll mature/ And maybe we can be we again, like we were." I heard the superhero themes on Kingdom Come ("Take off the blazer, loosen up the tie/ Step inside the booth, Superman is alive"). And I even began to appreciate the meaning behind the words (over a disgusting beat) on Hollywood. Not to mention a touching song to his imprisoned cousin on Do You Wanna Ride, and my personal favorite track, Beach Chair, which speaks for itself.

In short, I honestly believe that Kingdom Come is a little above us when we first listen to it. It needs to be heard, and heard again. Is that the way entertaining music is supposed to work? No! But that's the way art works. There's no Big Pimpin' here, there's no I Just Wanna Love You, or Girls, Girls, Girls. This is above the commercial single, which is why I don't know how big a success it will be when it comes to airplay. This is art, this is complicated, try to understand the artist's strokes and you'll find a pretty awesome experience. This is Jay-Z's most complicated work and I think it will ultimately be appreciated years down the road, as a great deal of art is.

IM GONNA START BY SAYING THIS! IM A BIG "JAY-Z" FAN IN ALL, BUT THIS ALBUM SUCKED BIG TIME! I UNDERSTAND THAT HE'S PAID NOW,AND HAVE A BEAUTIFUL GIRL ON HIS SIDE AND ALL, BUT I REALLY DON'T CARE TO HEAR ABOUT THE BEAUTIFUL LIFE HE LIVES NOW AND HE DON'T HALF TO PUT RIMS ON HIS CAR AND ALL THAT! MOST OF US DO DREAM ABOUT YOUR LIFE JIGGA,DON'T MASH IT IN OUR FACE! AND "YEAH" HE SHOULDN'T TALK ABOUT DRUGS AND GUNS NO MORE,BUT HE SHOULD OF JUST STAYED RETIRED! AND KEPT HIS TITLE AS THE M.JORDAN OF HIP HOP! BUT BEING AT HIS LEVEL OF HIP HOP, HE REALLY DIDN'T CARE ABOUT A QUALITY ALBUM, BECAUSE HE'S ALLREADY IS PAID, REGARDLESS IF HIS CD SOLD OR NOT! I PREFER TO HEAR THE ARTISTS THATS STRUGGLING TO GET TO THE TOP! ATLEAST YOU NO THEY ARE GIVING YOU THEIR BEST!

I would first like to start out by saying this about Jay-Z, the man is a bonified poet. In my honest opinion I believe that this album definately has hidden messages behind it, in which you have to discover upon listening to each track through and through.

Hip Hop is dead. What does that mean? You know Run DMC thought the same about hip hop when 2pac and BIG ran the show. Its not dead its just changing. I look at what Jay and Nas doing is as wanting rappers to be like them. Well that aint happenin. Rappers have realized that when you be yourself and be comfortable with being yourself then thats when your career will take off. For example look at TI, Lil Wayne, Jeezy, The Game, 50 Cent(even though I dont care for his music), Jim Jones, and the garbage D4L type groups. These guys are successful because they do what works for them. Its kind of a major statement to say "the game needs me". No the game doesn't, you need the game Jay. My advise is go retire again, he is a much better business man than he is a rapper(can you believe that I once was a fan lol).

This is the worse Jay-Z cd by far. He's too in to himself to make music that other people would like!!