Jay Z - Dynasty (Roc La Familia)

[On The Edge of Insanity]

Jay Z – Dynasty (Roc La Familia)

Intro

Change The Game (feat Beanie Sigel & Memphis Bleek) – the first track on the album has a very bouncy beat, and showcases the talent of not only Jigga, but Beanie Sigel and Memphis Bleek as well. Jay Z comes off very well with good lyrics, as does Beanie, although as ever Bleek lets the side down rather with a pretty poor performance. However this is still a good track with a slightly strange hook. 3.5/5

I Just Wanna Love U – this the track that you have probably all already heard as it was the lead single from the album and got a lot of airplay. The track is produced by the Neptunes and has their signature ass shaking beat, complimented by the smooth vocals of Pharell.  This may be slightly commercial but I think that this track is a great party track. 4.5/5

Streets Is Talking (feat Beanie Sigel) – the beat on this track is a bit weird, and doesn’t really seem to fit the lyrics in some places. Jay Z brings another great performance lyrically on this track, Beanie comes off pretty well and the rapped hook is also pretty good. Overall a good track. 4/5

This Can’t Be Life (feat Beanie Sigel & Scarface) – the fact that Scarface is on this track really does tell you that this is going to be a pretty deep track. Jigga raps about growing up in the street, trying to stay away from the cops and girlfriend trouble. This is a really deep verse by Jay, followed by the hook rapped by him. Beanie brings more of the same dropping another deep verse about hustling on the streets. However it is Scarface who steals the show with one of those verses that he has been dropping for years both on his own albums and guest appearances, rapping about one of his friends’ children dying and the emotion that he feels when hearing it. This is a great deep track. 5/5

Get Your Mind Right Mami (feat Memphis Bleek & Snoop Dogg) – this is basically just a pimping song, with a pretty laid back beat and  Jigga, Bleek and the king of west coast pimps Snoop Dogg rapping about women and other bling bling topics. The hook from Rell is great and Jay brings another good performance as does Memphis Bleek who improves greatly since the last track he was on. However Snoop is starting to worry me with these lazy guest appearances, and he really doesn’t do much on this track. A pretty good track with a decent beat, lyrics and hook. 4/5

Stick 2 The Script (feat Beanie Sigel) – this has that annoying DJ Clue at the start doing one of his normal callouts at the start of the track. The hook is pretty good, using the money over bitches’ theory campaigned by Pac and many others, with Jigga bringing another good performance on his verse despite the fact that Clue keeps butting in and finishing off his lines. Beanie brings another good lyrical performance, and despite the fact that the subject matter is a bit played out this manages a still be a decent track.  4/5

You, Me, Him and Her (The Dynasty) – this track basically brings most of the ROC in over another bouncy beat, which certainly gets your head nodding. Jigga starts off the track with another good performance, bringing some great lyrics in parts, and shouting out the rest of the ROC.  Memphis Bleek brings an average performance, Beanie put in another great lyricist performance and the less said about Amil the better really. The variation in the performance of the rappers means that this track is pretty boring in places and good in others, making it pretty average overall. 3/5

Guilty Until Proven Innocent (feat R Kelly) – this is obviously supposed to be referring to the accusations made against Jay Z after an incident in a club, and he was talking about how people were assuming that he was guilty before anything was proved. Jigga brings some great verses and is backed up by a typical thugged out chorus by R Kelly. This was the second single from the album and it isn’t hard to see why because this is a great track. 4.5/5

Parking Lot Pimpin (feat Beanie Sigel & Memphis Bleek) – this track is produced by Rick Rock and therefore actually has quite a strong west coast feel to it. The beat is very bass driven, and the track features some great female vocals from Lil’ Mo for background vocals and the great hook. Jay brings perhaps his best performance next to This Can’t Be Life so far and is backed up by nice verses from both Beans and more surprisingly Memphis Bleek who actually performs well above his normal standard on this track. 4.5/5

Holla (Memphis Bleek) – this track is a solo by Memphis Bleek, which already sounds bad before you have even heard the track. The hook is pretty good, but then you have to sit through three whole minutes of Bleek rapping which unsurprisingly isn’t really that great. All of his verses are just plain average, and what this track is doing on this album in the first place really is a mystery. 2.5/5

1-900-Hustler (feat Beanie Sigel, Memphis Bleek & Freeway) – this track sees Freeway’s only appearance on the album, for this ROC group track which really is a great track. The idea behind the track is a phone in where people are transferred to the different rappers depending on their problems. This idea comes off perfectly over a pumped up beat, and great flows by everybody (yes even Memphis Bleek) which really showcase the talent of not only Jigga who we already knew about but also of Beanie Sigel and Freeway, and to a degree Bleek who showed that he might be able to turn into a half decent rapper after all. This is certainly one of the best tracks on the album. 4.5/5

The R.O.C (feat Beanie Sigel & Memphis Bleek) – another bouncy beat courtesy of Just Blaze, allows Jigga and co to flow with that normal NY style. This song basically outlines what the ROC is all about and sees the normal order resumed with Jigga coming off best, followed by Bleek in a distant third. A pretty good track but nothing special. 3.5/5

Soon You’ll Understand – the first Jigga solo for a while and this is a pretty deep track talking about the relationship between him and his best friend’s sister, saying how he has always been there for him and how they have both fallen in love with one another. Jigga is saying how he thinks that she should find somebody better than him, and that he is in an awkward position and feels that he cannot be what she wants him to be. The beat has a sort of child’s nursery rhyme feel to it with the hook, which further compliment the subject of the track. Jigga comes deep here and this is a great track. 5/5
Squeeze First - another Jigga solo although this was is slightly different from the last one. Another head nodding beat by Rick Rock, a good lyrical performance by Jay, and a good hook. The track is basically a gangster track, talking about his guns and then about his pimp side. A good track. 4/5

Where Have You Been (feat Beanie Sigel) – this track has a very haunting beat by T.T. Beans starts talking about his relationship with his father, how he felt that his father abandoned him and how hard it was for him. This is a very deep and emotional verse by Beanie who shows a completely different side to his character. The hook is very haunting, and stays in your head, whilst still really making you think. Jigga then follows rapping about his father, how he was abandoned and how his father abused his mom, and never really cared about him. Jigga shows that deep side to himself once again with an emotional verse, which although good, just cannot live with the raw emotion that Beanie gets across in his verse. A great deep track and a perfect way to finish the album. 5/5

Overall this album really does vary in quality throughout. The occasions where Jay is left on his own or with Beanie Sigel normally produce a dope track, however when Memphis Bleek comes in, the quality normally seems to drop. Scarface brings a great performance as a guest on this album, as does R Kelly, but Snoop’s contribution is unfortunately nothing to write home about. There are a few typical NY tracks on here, but it is on the more west coast sounding tracks, and the deep tracks where Jigga really shines through and shows his obvious talent. The main problem with this album is the number of guest spots on the tracks, because sometimes you just want to here more of Jay and instead you get Beanie, Bleek, and whoever else coming in. If there were more Jay Z solos on this album then it could have been great but in it’s current state it is a mishmash of good and bad tracks, which just end up making this an average album.

Overall: 7/10

[Lord Funk]

Tight review man. I was listening this yesterday and pretty much agree with everything you've said. Gotta say, I think you might be being a bit hard on Bleek - I'd normally agree with you that the kid is wack, but I think he stepped up his game on this CD, especially on his solo joint Holla.

The only song I'm really not feeling is You Me Him and Her,or whatever the fuck it's called. The beat is piss poor and, like you say, Amil doesn't exactly do it any favours.

Overall a real good CD - way better than Jay's Volume 3.

[That_Cracka_J]

Good review.  I pretty much agree with you throughout.  "Where have you been?" is definitely a 5 and "Squeeze first", "Soon you'll understand", and "Change the game" are some tight tracks.  Overall, I'd give it a 7.5/10

[I TO DA GEEZY]

dat"s a  nice review man, i gotta say i"d rate "change the game" higher..more like a 4....or a 4.25....and i would rate lower "squeeze first" i don"t really know how JAy got to putten that on the album,it"s avarage at best sounds alot like that familiar wackness level you could catch on vol2, or may be i"m to harsh... ...the overlly repeating chorus din"t help as well.
also there r more tracks i would rate differendly except for those i"ve mentioned.

[KVB]

Good review... I pretty much agree on each and all of your ratings. Holla isn't 2/5, though.

[Jay ay Beee]

The R.O.C (feat Beanie Sigel & Memphis Bleek) – This song basically outlines what the ROC is all about and sees the normal order resumed with Jigga coming off best, followed by Bleek in a distant third.

Jay Z is not on this track