Jadakiss – The Last Kiss (Album Review)

My sister says he looks like the Purple Ninja turtle...lol...just saying...

Did I ever tell y’all that I LOVE hip-hop music? I don’t know if I ever conveyed that idea across when I review my music…

Jadakiss has always been one of my favorite rappers. Whether it’s his laid back flow that seems to go good on ANY BEAT, of it’s the lyrical content that only comes with years of experience, or if it’s the “A-HAAAAAA!” ad-lib (that I’m sure he has an ad-lib button for in the studio now, he has to), or if it’s ability to show up on anyone’s song and instantly make it better, there is no question to any fan of hip-hop and rap music that Jadakiss is one of the experts of his craft.

Unfortunately for him, he’s been a victim of lukewarm album construction, which makes his solo career successful, but somewhat disappointing at the same time for some. With his new album, “The Last Kiss” looks posed to atone for that mistake as he tries to reach out to a wider audience with the several styles of songs he has on the 18-track album.

The album kicks off full force as Jada goes in over the intro track, “Pain and Torture”. From then on, a problem is evident throughout the course of the CD: the songs don’t flow together like an album should. The album literally jumps from one style to another with no real warning or transition.

For example, the CD goes from the feel-good self-anthem “You Can’t Stop Me” to an attempt at a club/dance song “Who’s Real”, into one of the best songs on the album – “Grind Hard” – which is just a perfect song in its own right. This would be ok, but the styles of songs are so starkly different that you can’t help but notice it, and it really does bring down the quality of a CD when you have to skip over tracks for your favorite songs as opposed to having a section of the CD that you can just let play.

That being said, some of the songs hurt this fact more than help. You can never say that Jadakiss is responsible for the downgrading of his CD, because all of his bars are stand-up, champion status. He flows well on EVERY beat on the album. But not even Mr. Kiss himself can save his album from some of the low-quality effort his cameos put out. As I mentioned earlier, “Who’s Real” with Swizz Beatz and OJ (AYE!) the (AYE!) Juiceman is one of the songs that just isn’t done well. Although the beat is solid, the hook is trash and OJ’s verse is disposable… the bad outweighs the good in this case. There are other songs that are just album missteps, but none are as severe as this track, in my personal opinion.

(I will say that “AYE!” ad-lib made Jada’s verse tighter…I like ad-libs man. What you expect, I was raised in the Crunk era… you know, when we spelled it with a K and not a C, lol)

However, overall, there is WAY MORE GOOD on this album than bad. The lyrical content is there, and some tracks are just “Standing Ovation” worthy, such as the Luther Vandross fueled track, “Things That I’ve Been Through”, “Grind Hard” (featuring Mary J. Blige), the “Why”-inspired “What If” (featuring Nas. PAY ATTENTION) and “Death Wish”, which…although it features Lil’ Wayne…it may be one of the best gritty, outro tracks I’ve heard in a long time.

It’s a solid album. Although it has no real flow to it, the album seems more like a compilation of new Jadakiss material. Some good, most are great, and a few, bad. Regardless if this album sells, Jada’s already proved a long time ago that hip-hop needs him way more than he needs hip-hop. Hopefully hip-hop will realize that fact before he’s gone.

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The Last Kiss

I usually put something funny as a caption...but I can't this time. I love the album art. Clever.

The Good – It’s Jadakiss. AHAAAAA!!! But seriously, Jada’s back, and he represents well for every aspect of hip-hop and the urban culture on this album. Don’t believe me?

• Lyrical content? (“Things That I’ve Been Through” w/ Luther) Check.
• Production? (“Grind Hard”) Check.
• Radio hit? (“By My Side” w/ Ne-Yo) Check.
• Cameos? (Every song, lol) Check.
• Storytelling? (“Smoking Gun” w/ Jazmine Sullivan) Surprisingly enough, check.

The Bad – Presentation? Not so much of a check… but it’s not horrible. The album just has no flow whatsoever. It’s like a compilation of Jada’s unreleased material… It bothers me that I can’t play this whole CD straight. I have to skip around for my favorite songs. And Swizz Beatz should be ashamed for that GARBAGE HOOK he gave for “Who’s Real.”

“If you real and you know it, clap your hands.” SERIOUSLY?!?!? …Sit….Down.

The- “Hey, I’ve Heard this Before….” – There’s some songs on here that’ll remind you of other songs…”What If” is basically “Why” part 2, and the “Letter To BIG” track got heavy play for the Notorious movie. Not to mention one of the songs on the CD (“Something Else”) gets remixed at the end of the album. It’s like a circle…

Final Word: Jadakiss is that dude. Hands down. If the album would’ve flowed better, this album could’ve been in the running for best album of the year…later in the year. Even if they would’ve just rearranged where some tracks were placed on the album, and not necessarily add/remove tracks, it would’ve been hotter. But they didn’t and so, it fails a little in the presentation department. That being said… Jada makes hot, powerful music, and there’s a lot of that on this album. It’s something here for everybody, and it would be a shame if you didn’t support the big homie.

RATING: 4/5