Jay-Z

Kingdom Come

by Drew Lazor

C omparing Shawn Corey Carter's faux retirement to number 23's midcareer crisis stint with the Birmingham Barons is far too obvious. That's why it's strangely reassuring that Jay-Z Jay-juxtaposes as much for you in the lead single off his impending Kingdom Come. "I am the Mike Jordan of recordin'/ You might want to fall back from recordin," Hova boasts over a Sunkist swarm of Just Blaze-tweaked horns and keys. The looped "Rump Shaker" sax sample, refreshingly devoid of boom-booms and zoom-zooms, isn't the only reason the track bumps nostalgic: The implied call-and-response template of "Encore" and the thick-layered ?uesto instrumentation of Jay-Z: Unplugged aren't channeled outright, but radio-friendly footnotes are scattered throughout. The funtime rhymes certainly don't qualify as lyrical brain food, but that's not the track's purpose; more than anything else, it's a good-natured signal flare designed to warn the masses that cheeky laptop commercials can't satisfy the dude's hunger for relevance. "Y'all got less than two months to get y'all thing together — good luck," Jay mutters as the beat fades out. Guess who's bizack?