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Kingdom Come (Jay-Z album)

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Untitled

Kingdom Come is the ninth studio album by American rap artist Jay-Z released on November 21, 2006. This is considered a "comeback album" for the established rapper as 2003's The Black Album was slated to be his final release. The album was a big commercial success, selling about 680,000 copies in its first week, making it Jay-Z's highest selling album within a one-week period. The album received generally positive to mixed reviews.

Music

Kingdom Come was the first Jay-Z album released since 2003's The Black Album, which had been widely hyped as Jay-Z's "retirement" album. The video for that album's hit single "99 Problems" had ended with Jay-Z going down in a hail of gunfire. Jay-Z stated in interviews that that scene represented the "death" of Jay-Z and the "rebirth" of Shawn Carter. Because of this, Jay-Z had originally planned to release Kingdom Come under the name of Shawn Carter, but decided in the end to release it under his more-famous stage name. Jay-Z's second single, "Lost One" (produced by Dr. Dre) addresses Jay's split with Roc-A-Fella co-founder Damon Dash, the death of his nephew, and supposedly his relationship with actress Rosario Dawson.

Past collaborators Kanye West and particularly Just Blaze made significant contributions to the album's production. This is the first time Dr. Dre has played a substantial role in a Jay-Z album, as he produced four beats and mixed every song on the album. Relatively unknown newcomers B-Money, Scyience, and DJ Khalil also contributed to the album's production, as well as Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin. Kingdom Come's opening track "The Prelude" features the additional vocals and the return of Pain in da Ass who often featured on some of Jay-Z's earlier album introductions impersonating characters from movies such as Scarface, GoodFellas, and Carlito's Way.

Carl Crawford uses "Dig a Hole" as one of his entrance songs when he comes up to bat. Fox used an instrumental version of "Oh My God" in a promo leading up to the 6th season premiere of 24. The third track "Kingdom Come" which was the same title as the album received high digital sales in the U.S., as it peaked at #98 on the Billboard Hot 100,[1] and #99 on the Pop 100.[2]

Reception

Kingdom Come was a commercial success, with 680,000 copies sold in its first week of release. This also made it Jay-Z's highest selling album within one week. The album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200. As of 2009, the album has sold over 2.5 million copies within the United States alone and a further 900,000 overseas.

Kingdom Come opened up to generally positive reviews. It currently holds an average score of 67/100 on the website aggregator Metacritic. Allmusic wrote: "...the album is a display of complacency and retreads — a gratuitous, easily resistible victory lap — that very slightly upgrades the relative worth of The Blueprint²." Entertainment Weekly wrote: "Four duds out of 14 tracks isn't a fireable offense. But shouldn't the corner-office mogul demand more of his top earner?" Many critics criticised the album for it "not being the comeback fans were expecting."

Track listing

# Title Producer(s) Samples Time
1 "The Prelude" B-Money 2:44
2 "Oh My God" Just Blaze 4:18
3 "Kingdom Come" Just Blaze 4:24
4 "Show Me What You Got" Just Blaze 3:43
5 "Lost One" (featuring Chrisette Michele) Dr. Dre, Mark Batson 3:44
6 "Do U Wanna Ride" (featuring John Legend) Kanye West 5:29
7 "30 Something" Dr. Dre 4:13
8 "I Made It" DJ Khalil 3:28
9 "Anything" (featuring Usher & Pharrell) The Neptunes 4:22
10 "Hollywood" (featuring Beyoncé) Syience 4:18
11 "Trouble" Dr. Dre, Mark Batson 4:53
12 "Dig a Hole" (featuring Sterling Simms) Swizz Beatz
  • Samples copyrighted material under license from Tappan Zee Records, Inc
 4:11
13 "Minority Report" (featuring Ne-Yo) Dr. Dre 4:34
14 "Beach Chair" (featuring Chris Martin) Chris Martin 5:09
15* "44 Fours" (live from Radio City Music Hall) Lou Reed 3:36
Limited Edition

The limited edition version of the Vinyl Record was only released in the U.K and Ireland.It features not only the bonus track but also a live concert of Jay-Z in Britain and the making and behind the scenes footage of several videos. There was also a limited special edition released in the U.S. that was available as the original explicit and an edited or clean version. This version contained the original album, and a bonus DVD with concert type of footage. It came packaged in a slip case, with a booklet that contained an exclusive cover.

Chart history

Chart procession and succession

Preceded by Billboard 200 number-one album
December 3, 2006 - December 9, 2006 		Succeeded by

References

  1. ^ Billboard Hot 100 chart listing for Kingdom Come, billboard.com
  2. ^ Pop 100 chart listing for Kingdom Come, billboard.com
  3. ^ CRIA Gold & Platinum certifications for November 2006. Retrieved July 25, 2007.
  4. ^ CRIA Gold & Platinum certifications for November 2006
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