We reviewed the movie a couple of weeks ago. Now, it’s the album’s turn to run the gauntlet at [ 2 one 5 ]. Let’s just say it emerged from the other end virtually unscathed. While it may not be on par with Reasonable Doubt or The Blueprint (few hip-hop albums are), it’s plenty far away from Kingdom Come (or should we say: Kingdumb Come, har har har). When he hits, he’s on point. When he misses, he’s way off. But, there really aren’t that many misses. Anyway, American Gangster puts Jay back where he’s most comfortable: talking about hustling drugs, why he did, and where it put him. Cut in the references to applying that same hustle to the music game, and you’ve got what usually turns out to be a quality Jay-Z album–not the overly reflective bullshit he called his comeback album. A few other points to note about this album: 1.) Diddy and The Hitmen(!) contributed production on about 5 songs. Is Bad Boy back?!?! 2.) The album won’t be available on iTunes for individual song download, which is a pretty big risk considering how huge that shit is now. It’ll be interesting to see how his numbers pan out. Unless the rumors start to fly again that Jay bought 250,000 copies of his own album. 3.) Jay-Z  loves Jews: Rich niggas, black bar mitzvahs/Mazel tav, it’s a celebration bitches, la heim/I wish for you a hundred years of success, but it’s my time