Did Jay Z Find His "Holy Grail" Or Just Another Chalice? [Review]

Everyone has seen the Samsung Galaxy 4 commercials where Jay Z gets philosophical talking about his newest album titled Magna Carta Holy Grail.  From the get go the album looks like a sure fire for success.  The album features three of the most prominent and popular producers - Timbaland, Swizz Beatz & Pharrell.  On top of that the features had Jay Z fans drooling for more - which included Frank Ocean, Justin Timberlake, Beyonce & more.  Something that I found interesting from this album was the promotional track that Jay Z took.  Jay Z did not go to Twitter, Facebook, etc; instead, he took to an app.  The app had the same title as album, and looked like this when you opened the app:

 

The countdown was a cool feature and as you entered the app, you were barraged with videos each having a title of a track from the album.  In these short videos, Jay Z would discuss the track and explain the lyrics that he was using along with giving us a short preview of the track.  Along with the video there would be a link that you would have to share to "unlock" the lyrics to that particular song.  One of my favorites was the video for the track titled "Oceans."

The entire app was a brilliant idea to bring his fans closer to album and connected with the process of working with this historic producers.  This app did bring some controversy however, because Jay Z decided to give away albums with the purchase of the new Galaxy 4.  This will definitely help Jay's sales by starting him off at platinum, but I think the album is definitely worth it.  The album starts off with Track 01 - Holy Grail.  This track starts instantly with Justin Timberlake belting over a slow piano, and builds until Jay drops in with a verse.  My opinion of this track is very conflicted.  Its an obvious radio track, and Justin Timberlake's work on the hook is so dominant and bold that it seems like a shoe-in for a hit.  However, I found Jay's lyrics to be lacking in the song which culminated in Jay Z quoting Nirvana with a line from "Smells Like Teen Spirit."  Either way this track will be blown up on the radio so brace yourselves.  The album continues on to Track 02 - Picasso Baby where Jay explains the luxuries in his life.  He brilliantly states in the song

Marble Floors, Gold Ceilings,

Oh what a feeling, f*** I want a billion. 

The track is overall a better track than the first, but I still felt somewhat lacking in the track and got bored of it about halfway through.  It needed something more.  Next is Track 03 - Tom Ford, which is the worst track on the album.  In this track Jay Z goes completely in a different direction and becomes as basic rapper using very unneeded curse words.  I do not see myself coming back to this song again and again.  Track 04 - F***withmeyouknowigotit follows "Tom Ford" with a droning beat that brings you in from the very beginning and then the Debbie Downer starts - Rick Ross is on the song.  Ross' verse and hook is so bad that it ruins the song.  On the other hand, Jay spits so hard that the track should have just been him from the beginning.  However after Ross destroys the track, the album gets drastically better from the starting four tracks, which begins with Track 05 - Oceans.  As shown in the previous video, Frank Ocean is on the hook and fits perfectly on the track.  It reminds me of the songs that Ocean was on, on Watch The Throne.  In this song Jay uses the analogy of the "Ocean" to describe his life.  "Oceans" have rough spots, smooth spots, beautiful spots and so on.  This track is Jay Z at his finest - bringing his life and everything to the listener.  In my opinion this is the BEST track on the album.  After "Oceans" there is Track 06 - F.U.T.W., where Jay just continues the fire he spit on the previous track.  In this track, Jay continues discussing his life and talks to the people about his ownership of the Brooklyn Nets.  Next there is Track 07 - Somewhereinamerica, which is a short 2.5 min track.  The beat is amazing with a beautiful mix of piano and brass instruments.  The track was so good, that I wished that Jay spit on it for another 2-3 verses.  Another one of the top tracks on the album.  At the halfway point in the album, Jay brings us Track 08 - Crown.  "Crown" is definitely a edgier track with the beginning lines stating

You in the presence of a king,
Scratch that, you in the presence of a God, Put in the belly of the beast,
I escaped, a nigga never had a job.

However compared to Kanye's Yeezus, I don't feel that Jay is bringing himself to an equal level to God.  Instead he is stating that he is the God of the rap game and people need to worship him.  All around something different from Hova and still not sure how I feel about it.  The next track is Track 09 - Heaven, which I liked from the opening seconds with a sample that drones different questions about being in heaven.  During the track, Jay questions himself the premise of heaven and tries to find truth.  A lot of discussion has come from the track stating that Jay is becoming agnostic; however, I feel that Jay is attempting to state that the prophets from different religions are irrelevant, and there is one God that controls all - that God is the most important

After "Heaven," the album continues on to one of the two interludes on the album.  This on is Track 10 - Versus and the other is Track 12 - Beach Is Better.  Both of these are very short around 1min, and in each Jay gives us a real short verse, which both made me wish that he would have made these full songs.  The track that is in between these interludes is Track 11 - Part II (On The Run) which features Beyonce.  This whole song is a dedication from Hova to Beyonce.  The lyrics to this song demonstrates the love that Jay Z has for her and makes a love story out a rap song with Beyonce's vocals completely taking control of the hook.  After the second interlude there is Track 13 - BBC, which is my second favorite track on the album with a feature from Nas.  This whole track is where two dominant and prominent lyricist takes over a very busy beat with Beyonce, Justin Timberlake and Swizz Beatz throwing out noises in the background.  After "BBC," Jay continues on with another sentimental track titled Track 14 - Jay Z Blue.  Jay Z uses his history to think about where he is now with a daughter and his current lifestyle.  This track reminds me a lot of "Daughters" by Nas.  It has the same message that Jay Z feels that he needs to be protective and wants to see Blue Ivy more - great story with the track.  The next track has caused a lot of buzz because of the miniscule beef that has been occurring between Jay Z and Lil Wayne.  The track is Track 15 - La Familia and the beat is a methodical pounding of a snare where Jay Z responds to Weezy with 

N***** wanna kidnap wifey
Good luck with that bruh
You must gonna hide your whole family
What you think we wearing black for
Ready for that war
Ready for that war ready
You ain't ready yo, you radio
You ain't really ready

I don't know about you, but that is a pretty weak response - either way Jay gets his point across, you can't kidnap Beyonce.  Finally there is the last track, Track 16 - Nickles & Dimes.  I consider this track the third best track on the album because it literally is Jay taking you into his mind from the beginning to where he is now.  The listener see Jay's life in 5:03, and it's the inspirational story that he has talked about in small detail in other songs.

After my first listen, I was not completely satisfied with the album - with all the supporting cast and everything else that came with it, I was expecting something dynamic.  However as I have listened to it more, I like the album more.  Is it better that Blueprint 1 or the Black Album, NO!  Is it better than Kingdom Come or American Gangster, YES!  The album has its high points after the track with Rick Ross, yet I still cannot get passed some of the imperfections with the early 4 tracks.  In that situation, I give that album a solid "B" only because he had so many tools at his dispense, and "some" tracks were not up to par.  Either way, I recommend it, so check out the download in our "Featured Album/Mixtape" section.