Jadakiss - The Last Kiss Review

On his latest CD, The Last Kiss, Jadakiss says he's ''trying to get my s--- together and do it one more time.'' Give him points for honesty: It's been five years since his last release, and longer since his hardboiled lyricism was in style. When he caters to changed times, the results are forgettable. But when he stays in his lane, there's no one who can snarl a couplet quite like him....full text The nostalgia permeating Jadakiss's third solo album is difficult to place. Is it because Jada has officially -- that is to say, besides his mixtape appearances -- been absent for half a decade? Is it that hip-hop's relentless decentralization has made Jadakiss a mere reminder of rap's last Big Apple glory days? Or is it that the format he pursues on "The Last Kiss" -- wall-to-wall superstar guest shots, from Mary J. Blige to Pharrell to Lil Wayne -- seems a formula whose time has passed as well?



Whatever the answer, "The Last Kiss" ends up a reasonable, though backward-looking, outing. Jada's blunt-raw rasp is better suited to the rough-and-ready numbers like disc opener "Pain and Torture," but he's professional enough to make the slicker numbers (like "Can't Stop" and "Grind Hard," both knee-deep in female backing vocals) stand up as well....full text In a genre where albums frequently miss their street date, Jadakiss' The Last Kiss is an especially late hip-hop release, having been pushed back, retitled, and retooled numerous times. This problematic arrival shows too in the final product, but the problem may not be the much maligned rapper's ability or inspiration but the constant mishandling of his material. So many prime street cuts have been given away to comps, mixtapes, and soundtracks in the five years since Kiss of Death was released that only the slick, polished numbers remain, save the misleading kickoff "Pain & Torture." Two tracks later he's singing the silly "If you're real and you know it/Clap your hands" over an unsurprising Swizz Beats production, but it's "Grind Hard" that really disappoints, with the Mary J. Blige support coming off as standard. That's a first, but "What If" isn't a first at all, using the exact same structure as Kiss of Death's Nas collaboration "Why." One of the more interesting cuts, the heartfelt "Letter to B.I.G.," already appeared on the Notorious soundtrack, and the album's title is nonsense, as Jada had already declared his intention to keep going. Despite what the haters say, this is another missed opportunity for Jadakiss, a man whose best work never lands on the high-profile releases....full text