Fighter: Jadakiss
Trainer (Gym): None (D-Block Records, Def Jam Recordings)
Cutmen: Akon, Avenue Beatz, Arkatech Beatz, Bangladesh, Beat Butcha, Buda & Grandz, Dane Beats, Just Blaze, Lee On The Beats, Mark Batson, Posta, Rico Beats, Scram Jones, Swizz Beatz, Ty Fyffe
Weight Class: Lyrical Heavyweight, Hood Star
Notable Fire: Jason Feat. Swizz Beatz, Rain Feat. Nas & Styles P, Kill Feat. Lil Wayne
Notable Trash: Critical Feat. Jeezy
Tale of the Tape: Jadakiss is back after a four-year break but still bringing the lyricism that has kept him relevant and a contender for any hip-hop fan’s top five.
It’s hard to believe, but the raspy voiced emcee who’s been in the game since The Lox were rockin with Bad Boy and making “real songs with BIG, no made up shits”, is only now dropping his fourth solo album (his last major release was six years ago). Since the 2001 debut album Kiss Tha Game Goodbye, Jason Phillips has spit #BARS with a consistency that rivals any of his contemporaries. With his four albums and six official mixtapes, Jada has left little doubt about his skills on the mic, however his status amongst rap’s elite remains in flux. Kiss lacks a true “classic” album and has never been the kind of artist to move many units, although his sophomore album Kiss Of Death did go platinum, both of which along with consistency, hot songs and notable features are the tenants of any true competitor for a top five rapper. On #T5DoA Jadakiss exhibits many of the qualities that make up a contender for that top five.
The album has Kiss at unsurprisingly his most boastful from the intro where he rapped, “Most of them is lovin’ me, some of them is hatin’ me/Say he’s underrated, dependin on who’s ratin me/ I be destroying niggas on tracks blatantly/ Basically I’m patiently waiting on a vacancy.” The album starts off strong with :You Don’t Eat with Puffy, the single “You Can See” featuring Future (an odd combination, yes), and “Kill” which featured a Lil Wayne doing his “good Kobe game in his farewell season” performance, before hitting its stride with the gritty lead single “Jason”, where for nearly four minutes Swizz Beatz revived the Ruff Ryder camp’s glory days.
With “Synergy“, Just Blaze produced a spiritual successor to The Alchemist produced “We Gonna Make It” from the Kiss Tha Game Goodbye album. Jada and Styles once again passed the rock back and forth to create hip-hop energy in its purest form. Jada took the lead, as he does when paired up with Styles or Sheek, and dropped, “What’s the meaning of living when you barely survive/ You came from the dirt, now you touching the sky/You keep fuckin’ with me you must be rushin to die/ Cause I’m two slots after the third dead or alive.”
In the second half of the LP the two weakest songs are found and both are Rico Beats, a relative of Swizz perhaps, productions. “Critical” with Jeezy and “So High” appropriately featuring Wiz Khalifa aren’t trash, but they aren’t at the same level as the rest of the project. With 16 total tracks, these two songs could’ve been left on the cutting room floor and the album would’ve still remained a high quality product while achieving that rare no-skip quality.
The rest of Top Five Dead or Alive finishes out strong. “Rain” has Kiss flanked by Nas and Styles P, and is a must listen as Nas shows why he deserves to crash the top five conversation, “Hear these niggas talkin, who they talkin to/ I ascended from heaven, I can walk on the moon/Everybody a killa I guess everybody a goon/ Every don is a don til a don walk in the room”. New to the “Beatz” family, The Arkatech Beats duo crafted “Realest In the Game”, a banger in the car worthy beat for Jada to rhyme over.
Fight Night: Winner By 10th Round KO
Much like Jadakiss is as an artist himself, this is a very good album with very few holes. There are several features but many are on hooks or ad libs so it doesn’t completely undermine the artist’s credibility of work. Surprisingly, the T5DOA concept was able to sustain over the course of an 18-track LP without becoming too stale or corny.
There isn’t a ton of “turn up” type music on here, no dances necessary by design. Jadakiss once again proves he’s a force with a pen and pad, or however rhymes are being taken down these days. What the 40-year-old Kiss provided was pure lyricism with the street edge that has mostly become a thing of the past as hip-hop enters 2016. While the nerd rappers and the “singing-niggas” continue to prosper, the needs of the 30-something and 40-something-year-old rap fan remains largely neglected. Simply put, the game needs Jadakiss and the market for his brand of music is in dire need of sustenance.
Nas outshined Kiss on “Rain”, but again, that’s Nas. Still, it begs the question (as we patiently wait on a We Are The Streets sequel [we’re on year 15, by the way]): Is Jadakiss really top five?
Where does the Yonkers rapper rank for you?