The Panther

Issue date: 11/15/06 Section: Entertainment

Was it a prophecy, good fortune, or just plain obvious that Jay-Z couldn't stay "retired"? According to a number of sources, He and Beyonce' are expecting, married, and took the Paris Hilton route with an unofficial tape, but in spite of all the internet rumors, Hovi's back with his 11th LP, Kingdom Come.

"What chu want me to do? I'm sorry... I'm back," Jay-Z boasts on the first single of the album, Show Me What You Got. The song is very "Hollywood" compared to his beefing-I'm from the ghetto-but I wear French cuffs-baddest chick in the game wearin' my chain lyricism. Just like in the video, his album overall embodies two things. Number one, he's not finished. The last rapper to speak of retiring, but of course didn't, was everyone's favorite ice cream man and rapping dad, Master P. It can be stated that this wasn't his best alternative, but for Jay-Z, it seems to work. For a man to make as many references of himself to Michael Jordan, he's filling those shoes very nicely. Secondly, Jay-Z is having a lot of fun with his money. Even at 37, he is the new 20-year-old. He explains this in 30 Something, which is produced by Dr. Dre. "I got black cards, good credit and stuff, baby boy cause I'm all grown up," he raps. With the beginning of this year's basketball season, it wouldn't be surprising to see him "BAAAALLLLINN" pretty soon.

Kingdom Come is still a producer's playground, by raising the bar again once more. Just Blaze, Swizz Beats, Kanye West and Dr. Dre lay their craft on the album, and surprisingly, for the first time, Timberland doesn't make an appearance on Hov's album. We all know Timbo has been busy making Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado's individual albums, so we forgive him. Scyience is a rare producer trying to make his mark; he made an up-beat record with Jay featuring Beyonce' called Hollywood. For this album, Jay made some changes, but it's still Jay. Go get the album next Tuesday, Nov. 21.

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