The Last Kiss: A Review of Jadakiss' Third Album

He's a master of multisyllabic punchlines and more often than not you'll find yourself hitting rewind to catch some sharp lyric of his. He's been in the game since 1994 on several high profile labels (Bad Boy, Ruff Ryders, and Roc-A-Fella) and earned the respect of his peers in the industry, having collaborated with nearly ever elite emcee (B.I.G., Eminem, Jay-Z, DMX, Nas, Lil Wayne, etc.) All this begs the question, why has the man known to the world as Jadakiss not had the kind of commercial success befitting his pedigree?

Mostly this has to do with his solo material. Besides the lapse between them (his debut was released in 2001 and his sophomore album released in 2004), Jadakiss has been criticized for both a lack of personal lyrics on his albums and an abundance of radio-concessions. His last album was preceded by the excellent mixtape The Champ Is Here, with all of the music his fans were actually clamoring for. Similarly, this album was preceded by a raft of solid promo material, both more street-oriented and more personal, such as the Morning was Hash Browns freestyle over Nas' Stillmatic Intro beat.

This album, unfortunately follows in the same vein as previous records. There are simply too many radio concessions. And while Jadakiss can craft a solid R&B collaboration, he seemingly can create one that carries the album into the sales stratosphere a la Lil Wayne's Lollipop, Jay-Z's Big Pimpin, or 50 Cent's In da Club. Of course no one is selling records right now, but number one records might mitigate the alienation hardcore fans may be feeling.

There are some tracks here on which Jadakiss excels, which throw the R&B collaborations into sharp relief, such as the grimy Alchemist produced Death Wish featuring Lil Wayne who holds his own with the veteran L.O.X. member. Respect My Conglomerate with Busta Rhymes and Young Jeezy and Cartel Gathering with Ghostface and Raekwon are strong and representative offerings from Jadakiss. One More Step with Styles and Something Else with Young Jeezy are dope, and the kind of music he should be making regularly. Smoking Gun, with Jazmine Sullivan, and shows a rare attention to storytelling. Letter to B.I.G., with Faith Evans,is moving. On his own, Pain and Torture and Things I've Been Through are also solid.

But a part of the problem is that he's rarely on his own; there are 28 features on an album with 19 tracks. It's even more infrequent that the guests add much of anything to the tracks. Nas and Jadakiss underwhelm on What If. Swizz Beatz provides perhaps the worst hook of the year, along with a stupefyingly simple beat, on Who's Real. Mary J. Blige's vocals are wasted on a generic hook on Grind Hard. Pharell's beats are atypically uninteresting. And the R&B guests typically undercut the grit of the beats and lyrics.

It's good to hear Jadakiss again, as his lyricism is still in top form, but it would be better if his executive producer was able to help him craft tracks that fit his lyrics better. Or at the very least stopped him from throwing away much of his best fare on mixtape tracks. The Last Kiss is a solid entry in Jadakiss' catalogue, about the equal of Kiss of Death and far better than Kiss The Game Goodbye, but still, far from classic.

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