These formulaic moments are what hold the album back: a weed track with Wiz Khalifa (“So High”), a hugely dated Swizz Beatz effort in “Jason” and some skits that should have been left in the 90s. Even the Styles P duet on “Synergy” feels like a chopped up “We Gon’ Make It” with neither really tearing the track apart as they once would. For many, he was the one you waited for on a LOX track, the verse you anticipated on a Ruff Ryders collaboration. His performance is consistent throughout this album but never reaches excellence – the levels needed to be a legitimate Top 5 emcee. It also helps to highlight how Jadakiss isn’t stealing songs any more. Lil Wayne’s tasteless “She had cancer, I had to hit her with that chemo dick” is either hilarious or offensive depending on your experience with cancer, and overshadows a decent collaboration on “Kill”. Another strong song is “Ain’t Nothin New” which is precisely the type of track I want to hear more of from Jadakiss, with its Neo-Soul influence from Ne-Yo and a Buda/Grandz/Beat Butcha beat that has just enough of a filthy quality to it. The reliance on hooks is nothing new on Jadakiss albums, but “Main in the Mirror” shows that the man that claims to parallel park on the track is capable of delivering a good one himself. The Akon-produced instrumental shows Jadakiss has an ear for strong production, something that helped previous singles such as “Time’s Up”. (Youthful Offenders)”, bringing back memories of Styles P’s “Locked Up” from over a decade ago. The former is classic Jadakiss, throwing down one-liners atop a brash, cinematic Swizz Beatz instrumental that harks back to New York gems such as Fabolous’ “Breathe” and Fat Joe’s “300 Brolic”.Īkon joins Jada on “Y.O. This track won’t convert any Jadakiss followers to Future’s style of incoherent slurring atop ear-splitting bass, and sits uncomfortably between two strong tracks in “You Don’t Eat” and “Y.O. When Jada sticks to his traditional formula, he sounds infinitely more natural than he does trying to fit in with Future on “You Can See”.
Despite my reservations from first impressions, there’s some good music on “Top 5 Dead or Alive”.
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It’s as if Jadakiss knows full well that his claim is unrealistic and has had to enlist some superstar names to give it some level of legitimacy. That’s madness when this album is considered a comeback project from one of the greatest emcees of all time. My point is, to put yourself on that pedestal without any real evidence is supremely cocky, but then emcees have been claiming to be the best for years.Įxcluding the “Intro” Jadakiss has a guest on all but one other song. But this isn’t a piece about mine or anybody’s Top 5 list, as it can vary wildly and cause endless arguments. When you throw in names such as Biggie, KRS, Nas and Jay-Z, it can be argued that Jadakiss isn’t even a “Top 5 Dead or Alive” in New York alone. Pharoahe Monch and Rakim are two who are levels above Jadakiss for a start. Any list of five best emcees looks at the elite guys who have released classic material on a consistent basis. Considering he has been active for two decades, that’s a lot of missed opportunities. He doesn’t have a classic piece of work, either solo or as part of The LOX. Even while we were sitting there together you could feel the sadness in the air.Jadakiss is not a “Top 5 Dead or Alive emcee” – there I said it. Once he heard Jadakiss went straight to the hospital, but the rest is history. The news of the shooting spread like wildfire. Jadakiss ended up making it to that party, but Biggie never did. Biggie came over to Jadakiss's table as he was leaving to give him the after party details. He loved being in California, and had even canceled a month of scheduled events so he could stay in LA.
Not for a moment did he think anything would happen to him. Biggie felt indifferent to it, and just wanted to enjoy himself. Less than a year had passed since the tragic murder of Tupac Shakur. This was also when tensions between the East Coast and West Coast of hip-hop were at their highest. At the time Jadakiss was having issues with Diddy so even though they were in the same venue they were not sitting together. He recalled being at the club with Biggie that night. Speaking on the night of Biggie's death was difficult for Jadakiss.
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