Kingdom Come (Jay-Z album)

Kingdom Come
Studio album by Jay-Z
Released	November 20, 2006
Recorded	2006
Genre	Hip-Hop
Length	59:21
Label	Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam
Producer	Jay-Z (Exec.) Antonio "L.A." Reid (Co-exec.) B-Money, Just Blaze, Dr. Dre, Mark Batson, Kanye West, DJ Khalil, The Neptunes, Scyience, Swizz Beatz, Chris Martin
Jay-Z chronology
Collision Course (2003) Kingdom Come (2006) American Gangster (2007)
Singles from Kingdom Come
"Show Me What You Got" Released: October 10, 2006 "Lost One" Released: December 4, 2006 "30 Something" Released: January 9, 2007 "Hollywood" Released: March 20, 2007

Kingdom Come is the ninth studio album by American rap artist Jay-Z. It was released on November 21, 2006. It was 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. Kingdom Come was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album,^[1] losing to Kanye West's Graduation at the 50th Grammy Awards^[2] Many of the CD pressings come in a transparent red jewel case.

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. The album'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 singer Beyonce Knowles.

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 additional vocals from Pain in da Ass who featured on some of Jay-Z's earlier album introductions, impersonating characters from movies such as Scarface, GoodFellas, and Carlito's Way.

Baseball star 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 title track "Kingdom Come" was not released as an official single but still received high enough digital sales in the U.S. to peak at #98 on the Billboard Hot 100,^[3] and #99 on the Pop 100.^[4] The Dr. Dre's produced track "Minority Report" received a MTV video. It was dedicated to the victims of Katrina.

The album's name was influenced by Jay-Z's production engineer Young Guru who is an avid comic book fan. Young Guru told Jay-Z of a comic book called Kingdom Come in which an aged Superman comes out of retirement to show the younger generation of super heroes how to be "real heroes". In contrast, hip hop as a whole was considered dead and Jay-Z was to make a come back and save hip hop and influence the newest generation of rappers. This is evidenced by the song "Kingdom Come" in which Jay-Z makes references to Superman, Clark Kent, Batman, and Spider-Man.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[5]
The A.V. Club	(B+)[6]
Entertainment Weekly	(B)[7]
The Guardian	[8]
The New York Times	(mixed)[9]
The Observer	[10]
Pitchfork Media	(5.0/10)[11]
Rolling Stone	[12]
Slant Magazine	[13]
The Village Voice	(mixed)[14]

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 December 14, 2009, the album has been certified double platinum^[15] in the United States.

Kingdom Come opened up to generally positive reviews. It currently holds an average score of 67/100 on the website aggregator Metacritic. Andy Kellman of 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."^[5] 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?"^[7] 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	"Keep the Faith" by Mel & Tim Excerpt from 1972 film Super Fly	2:44
2	"Oh My God"	Just Blaze	"Whipping Post" as performed by Genya Ravan	4:18
3	"Kingdom Come"	Just Blaze	"Super Freak" by Rick James "100 Guns" by Boogie Down Productions	4:24
4	"Show Me What You Got"	Just Blaze	"Shaft in Africa" by Johnny Pate "Show 'Em Whatcha Got" by Public Enemy "Darkest Light" by Lafayette Afro Rock Band "Rump Shaker" by Wreckx-n-Effect	3:43
5	"Lost One" (featuring Chrisette Michele)	Dr. Dre, Mark Batson		3:44
6	"Do U Wanna Ride?" (featuring John Legend)	Kanye West		5:28
7	"30 Something"	Dr. Dre		4:14
8	"I Made It"	DJ Khalil		3:28
9	"Anything" (featuring Usher & Pharrell)	The Neptunes		4:21
10	"Hollywood" (featuring Beyoncé)	Syience		4:18
11	"Trouble"	Dr. Dre, Mark Batson		4:55
12	"Dig a Hole" (featuring Sterling Simms)	Swizz Beatz		4:12
13	"Minority Report" (featuring Ne-Yo)	Dr. Dre	"Non ti scordar di me" by Luciano Pavarotti	4:34
14	"Beach Chair" (featuring Chris Martin)	Chris Martin		5:13
15*	"44 Fours" (Live from Radio City Music Hall)	N/A	"Can I Kick It?" by A Tribe Called Quest	3:35

Limited Edition

A limited edition version of the vinyl record was only released in the UK 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 Chart (2006) Peak position Swedish Albums Chart 45 U.S. Billboard 200 1 U.S. Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums 1 U.S. Billboard Top Rap Albums 2 Canadian Albums Chart 6

Certifications Country Certification Sales/shipments Canada Platinum[16] 100,000 United States 1x Platinum[17] 1,510,000

Chart procession and succession

Preceded by Doctor's Advocate by The Game

Billboard 200 number-one album December 3, 2006 - December 9, 2006

Succeeded by Light Grenades by Incubus

See also

• List of number-one albums of 2006 (U.S.)
• List of number-one R&B albums of 2006 (U.S.)

References

1. ^ List of Grammy Award Nominess. Retrieved on 2011-5-10.
2. ^ Grammy Award Winner 2008. Retrieved on 2011-5-10.
3. ^ Billboard Hot 100 chart listing for Kingdom Come, billboard.com
4. ^ Pop 100 chart listing for Kingdom Come, billboard.com
5. ^ ^{a b} Kellman, Andy. "Kingdom Come - Jay-Z > Review". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/kingdom-come-r936559/review. Retrieved December 12, 2010. 
6. ^ Rabin, Nathan. "Kingdom Come - Jay-Z > Review". The A.V. Club. http://www.avclub.com/articles/jayz,8065/. Retrieved December 12, 2010. 
7. ^ ^{a b} Endelman, Michael. "Kingdom Come - Jay-Z > Review". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/review/movie/0,6115,1562802_1_0_,00.html. Retrieved December 12, 2010. 
8. ^ Sullivan, Caroline (November 17, 2006). "Kingdom Come - Jay-Z > Review". London: The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2006/nov/17/urban.jayz. Retrieved December 12, 2010. 
9. ^ Sanneh, Kelefa (November 19, 2006). "Kingdom Come - Jay-Z > Review". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/19/arts/music/19sann.html?_r=2&ref=music. Retrieved December 12, 2010. 
10. ^ Wilkinson, Carl (November 12, 2006). "Kingdom Come - Jay-Z > Review". London: The Observer. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2006/nov/12/urban.jayz. Retrieved December 12, 2010. 
11. ^ Macia, Peter. "Kingdom Come - Jay-Z > Review". Pitchfork Media. http://pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/39760/JayZ_Kingdom_Come. Retrieved December 12, 2010. 
12. ^ Sheffield, Rob. "Kingdom Come - Jay-Z > Review". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/reviews/album/7910/39451. Retrieved December 12, 2010. 
13. ^ Jones, Preston (November 22, 2006). "Jay-Z: Kingdom Come | Music Review". Slant Magazine. http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/review/jay-z-kingdom-come/1008. Retrieved July 28, 2011. 
14. ^ Lewis, Miles Marshall. "Kingdom Come - Jay-Z > Review". The Village Voice. http://www.villagevoice.com/2006-11-21/music/hova-s-slight-return/. Retrieved December 12, 2010. 
15. ^ http://www.riaa.com/newsitem.php?id=2A8441CD-99AD-EA6A-AFE4-8BBF80B165AE&searchterms=kingdom%20come&terminclude=&termexact=
16. ^ CRIA Gold & Platinum certifications for November 2006. Retrieved July 25, 2007.
17. ^ CRIA Gold & Platinum certifications for November 2006

External links

• Kingdom Come at Discogs
• Album Review at USA Today