>what he attempted with Kingdom Come - to make a “grown
>man” rap album covering mature topics that still knocks.
>
>I view Jay’s career in terms of eras, through Black Album
>and post Black Album. I think of Black Album as an actual
>retirement from his new album every year pace, with every
>album having a goal of being a number 1 seller. Post
>“retirement” I feel like his focus should have completely
>shifted away from sales and being the “biggest” rapper in
>the game to reinforcing his overall legacy by making great
>albums without regard for having the biggest single or having
>strong commercial performance.
>
>His best post retirement joints were American Gangster and
>4:44, and in those I feel like he focused on making great
>albums. Kingdom Come was an attempt at this, as was BP3, but
>he has a tendency of letting commercial sensibilities creep in
>with trying to appeal to wider audiences on some songs, and
>that took away from the cohesiveness of those albums. That
>being said, as mentioned above both of those albums still have
>some really great material on them. Magna Carter, on the other
>hand…meh. That album felt like he was trying to continue the
>themes and sound of Watch the Throne, but without Kanye’s
>involvement, and it just didn’t work.