Binary, Beats, and Basquiat: Reviewing Magna Carta Holy Grail

Originally published for Destroy to Rebuild 7/2013.

As I sit in Fort Tryon park, Jay-Z’s Magna Carta Holy Grail blaring through my (coincidentally) Roc Nation Skull Candy headphones, I feel the full weight of Hov’s power and influence. He has become a god among men by the standards of many, and he’s quite aware of it. Yet, there’s a new sentiment seeping through his self-acclaim that, ironically, gives him a new sense of humanity: vulnerability. This dichotomy permeates Hov’s twelfth solo release.

Jay-Z has always been a bravado rapper. He’s never had a problem talking about what he has, how he got it, and how far behind you are. This album still has plenty of the signature Hova swagger, but it has lost some of the arrogant edge. He seems to have transcended some of the egoism because: a) he’s just that far ahead, so it’s not as fun anymore and b) it seems that fatherhood has exposed some of his fears. Nowhere is this more evident than on “Jay-Z Blue” about his now 1 ½ year old daughter. He raps about his fears of failing her as a father because his wasn’t really in his life. This sentiment is even more strongly felt in a preview video where he gets choked up talking about the song and his frustration about not having a blueprint for how to be a good father and husband.

The first song of the album, the Justin Timberlake featured “Holy Grail”, is perhaps the song that most obviously plays into the duality theme. In it, Jay discusses his love/hate relationship with fame even giving a nod to Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” with the lyrics ‘And we’re all just entertainers/ And we’re stupid and contagious’. “Oceans”, featuring Frank Ocean, deals with the issue of having success while still being bound by one’s past using the imagery of yachting on the ocean versus being brought over those very waters as slaves.

This focus on duplicity helps to explain the gratuitous references to Jean-Michel Basquiat on MCHG. The late artist often depicted oppositional concepts in his work and his name appears in three songs (sometimes repeatedly) on the album. On “Picasso Baby” Jay actually proclaims himself to be the second coming Basquiat spitting “It ain’t hard to tell, I’m the new Jean-Michel”. It’s an admirable association, but perhaps not quite accurate.

The issue of Jay-Z as a business(man) cannot be avoided here. As we all know, he made an unprecedented deal with Samsung wherein they bought 1 million copies of the album prior to its release to distribute to users of its newest phone. After some debate, it was confirmed that this made MCHG platinum before it even debuted. This blockbuster deal aside, the album is littered with product mentions including D’Usse liquor, which gets more than a few references, and Tom Ford gets his own song. It would seem that now that Jay-Z has become powerful beyond measure, he doesn’t quite know how to accept it. I don’t know that Jay-Z has embraced the fact that he is no longer the rebel rapper in the boardroom, but is in many regards an accepted member of the good ol’ boys’ club. Basquiat, even at the height of his fame, was anti-establishment whilst Hov, with his many capitalist ventures, is an indelible part of it.

In fact, it can be argued that his little brother Kanye is more of the Basquiat-esque figure. His latest release Yeezus has had a polarizing response at best. The genre-bending album has had minimal positive feedback, with most people dismissing him for abandoning his rapping roots and most of the others just confused. Kanye has never really cared about what the fans wanted though (Heartbreaks and 808s anyone?) and this spirit of art for art’s sake is more in line with the profile of Basquiat. Jay-Z is more of the ambassador of cool—“Let me introduce you to this hot shit and make it cool for everyone to be down with this.” I guarantee you a bunch of people who didn’t know who he was or even care about art will be naming him as their favorite artist now. These differing approaches are evident when comparing Yeezus and MCHG: Yeezy throws stuff in your face and lets the chips fall while Hov uses finesse to gently charm new ideas into your consciousness.

Capitalism and comparisons aside, MCHG is a good album. It’s very listenable, if not quite cohesive. On Power 105.1’s The Breakfast Club Jay rated it as his 4^th best album and I’d say that’s about right. The beat on Tom Ford is an undeniable banger using what Timbaland describes as “lean music”. “F*ckwithmeyouknowigotit “ featuring Rick Ross is easily another radio hit. The lyrics to “Part II (On The Run)”(featuring his wife Beyoncé) will undoubtedly make endless cameos in Facebook statuses and Instagram captions for the rest of the summer, but if you look past the cheesy lyrics it’s actually a really smooth record. Some favorites are the Hit-Boy produced “Somewhere In America” with it’s funky horns and bouncy flow and “Nickels and Dimes” with it’s introspective content that captures a lot of his doubts and vulnerabilities. Surprisingly, award for most disappointing song goes to “BBC”, which features Nas and was produced by Pharell with Swizz Beatz and Timbaland also getting credits. The beat is almost too bouncy and the song elicits a resounding “Meh.”

The liner notes reads like a who’s who of producers. Everyone has seen the Samsung preview videos with Jay chilling in the studio with Timbaland, Pharell, Swizz Beatz and Rick Rubin, but other big names including Boi-1Da, Hit-Boy and Mike Will contributed. Timbaland oversaw much of the production, having a hand in all but a few of the songs on the album. Perhaps the most intriguing name on the list is Wondagirl, a sixteen-year-old high school student from Ontario who produced “Crown”, which samples Sizzla’s “Solid As A Rock”.

All in all Magna Carta Holy Grail is a testament to Jay-Z’ s journey. It’s a view from the top account from someone whose star is still rapidly rising. More than us learning about Jay though, this album was about Jay recognizing certain things about himself.