Singled Out - Glory by Jay-Z ft B.I.C

It's nice of Jay to take a second away from the Lennox Hill Hopsital Suite/Mobile 40/40 club to drop a new track honoring his baby girl. But I almost kinda wished he didn't.

 Jay still is, a magnificent rapper. His word play and flow are, all things considered, consistently remarkable over a long career.

 But that's just it. This is a remarkably unremarkable song for Hov. And it's a remarkably unremarkable song for his first born to boot.

The lyrics are treacle over the top, even given the subject matter. I paint the sky blue? That's real cute. Sounds of her cooing? No. Talk about conception in Paris? Ew. I kinda gave up on it with his line about Destiny's child. I might've thrown up in my mouth a little.

 The only thing redeeming is The Neptune's produced track underneath. Pharrell always turns out

I'm happy for Jay and Beyonce. I wish them all the happiness that their daughter will bring to their life, because I know the happiness that my two boys have brought to mine. But maybe not tribute songs to her or the next one anymore?

 Stream Jay-Z's "Glory" at Life + Times

Best Albums of 2011 - Something About Hip Hop and R&B

I don't get a lot of music, but I really don't get much of modern hip hop. I thought Lil Wayne's effort this year was garbage, I find Drake to be boring, and Rick Ross to be less than engaging. That said, I listened to some pretty amazing hip hop and R&B this year. So maybe I shouldn't complain too much.

There was the outsized egos of Jay Z and Kanye pairing up for Watch the Throne , and album so conspicuous in its excess and grandeur it was almost impossible to see this album for what it was: two guys having a ton of fun. It wasn't the most brilliant album this year, but by forgoing any restraint, Kanye bookended last year's MBDTF with a masterpiece that had Jay around for polish.

On the flip side was The Roots with Undun , proof that ?uestlove is the hardest working man out there right now. A perfectionist to the utmost limit, he and the Roots have used their time as Jimmy Fallon's house band to make sure every note and every tap is in its right place. He's evoking pure 70s Philly era soul on this album, and it works. every track feels labored over; you just want to roll around in it for awhile.

And between those two you have two remarkable, must owns from the next generation. First is Frank Ocean's Nostalgia/ULTRA, and album that I simply ADORE. Here we have someone nimbly fusing real love problems over A+ major producer beats with an astonishing voice, to incredible effect. From enhancing Coldplay's Strawberry Swing to reinventing The Eagles' Hotel California as some sort of young urban love and divorce story, Frank Ocean is want you want playing when you're solo or lounging with company.

The second is Childish Gambino's Camp . Here we have a guy rapping about getting laid, getting drunk, and getting paid. But he's also speaking about the duality that millions of middle and upper middle class black kids are growing up with. It's a universal them of non-inclusion to be sure, but that double consciousness speaks more potently to them. And it's that awareness that elevates Donald Glover from just another rapper to the big leagues.

What We're Listening To - JAY Z and Kanye West's Watch The Throne

The long awaited collab of hip-hop's two reigning titans arrived this week, after fits and starts and a lock down so tight no one heard it until they said so.

And it's good. Not great by any stretch, but it shows Jay-Z back in good form and Kanye finding the sweet spot he hit on MBDTF and keeping it going.

When H.A.M. dropped, I was admittedly not impressed. That gaudy single art, the lackluster lazy rhyming, the trash heap beats. Then came the threat of a full collab album, something Jay has quite frankly never been able to pull off. Need I remind you of Best of Both Worlds AND Unfinished Business? Not to mention Collision Course and The Dynasty.

And Kanye, notoriously a weak rapper, has been growing lyrically and eating Jay for lunch. Where Jay killed it on Diamonds from Sierra Leone, Ye destroyed it on Run This Town and Haters.

But here we are, and in a weird bit of alchemy, all these elements that together should make a miserable album instead create a solid experience.

They've invited a ton of friends to come lamp: Beyonce, Frank Ocean, Bon Iver. It is an album that is singularly Kanye's vision in its scope, size and production. Prime example: they paid nothing short of a trillion dollars to clear Otis Redding's Try a Little Tenderness. It was 100 percent worth it and shows the two at their most comfortable. No hooks, horns and an Otis Redding that go nowehere, it feels simultaneously fresh and a throwback to early Kanye. Gotta Have It samples a skittish James Brown, with some assist from the Neptunes, you can tell this is going to be a party.

Jay-Z over his entire career has never dreamed this big (his masterpiece The Blueprint is remarkable for its restraint and smoothness). And at times he gets swallowed in. You would think New Life, a RZA coproduced track sampling Nina SImone would be perfect. And the idea is great: two guys rapping to their unborn children. But Jay doesn't do sentimentality (exception: Song Cry), and Kanye never sounds sincere (I find it hard to breathe in when the next track is That's My Bitch).

But when it shines, it burns bright. Niggas in Paris is possibly my favorite track on the album, built off of frantic rapping, a tapping high hat and synth, and some nonsense half bits from Ye and Jigga.

What is the end to this collaboration? These two have been appearing on each other's records for a solid decade now, so this is nothing new. I'm glad to see whatever falling out they had has been resolved. Ye still is looking up to his Big Brother, and in some ways, Jay-Z still needs Kanye to stoke that fire and hunger. But where this album leaves us I'm not quite sure.

Buy JAY Z and Kanye West's Watch the Throne from Amazon's MP3 Store

Best Albums of 2009: No. 4 - Jay-Z's The Blueprint III

I was kinda conflicted about ranking this album this high. It's a great album to be sure, and from a legend nearing the edge of his prime to put out work this flawless and this phenomenal is an accomplishment all by itself (let's give it up for old people!)

The truth though is that this album will never compare with the Blueprint I (I'm not even going to talk Reasonable Doubt or The Black Album, which combined form a hip hop trinity that ensures Jigga is bigger and better than Biggie or Pac).

But by itself, in 2009, it is one of the best. Jigga does what he always does: wrangles the best producers, invites the hottest guests, and churns out bangers that even your moms likes. Every old ass cute with a Coogie was singing Empire State of Mind.

But the formula falters sometimes. You invite Kanye to rap, and the Louis Vuitton Don, a notoriously weak rhymer, outshines you on Run This Town. Drake (WTF?) holds his own. The best part of Young Forever is Mr Hudson's crooning. I bought a Jigga album and got singles from seven other people.

But there is no one bringing wordplay, flow, rhyme, swagger and logic so effortlessly like the CEO. Each verse requires a double take. Yes that is him telling you the exact location of where he hid is dope.

This isn't a classic like The Blueprint, but it's still a contender in 2009.