I just heard some great news, as a Jay-Z fan. Jigga is planning on releasing his next album on November 6! The title of this new album will be American Gangster.

American Gangster is a “concept album“, and, in an interview with The New York Times, Jay-Z revealed that the album is inspired by the 2007 film of the same name, and that he has recorded nine tracks for the album so far, almost every one of them based on a specific scene from the film. Jay-Z also said that the album will be a “return to a tougher, more unflinching view of street life.”

The first single was released to radio yesterday and is called “Blue Magic“. It is produced by and features Pharrell Williams of The Neptunes. So far there is only a radio rip circulating the Internet and the quality is pretty bad, so I’m not basing any opinions off of that. We should probably see a CD quality version on the Net within the week. From what I heard of the track it does sound a little grittier than what we’re used to from Hov and especially more grittier than anything we’ve heard from Pharrell. As the quality was so bad, I couldn’t catch all the lyrics, but Jigga’s tone sounded focused. The hook that Pharrell sings kinda reminds me of the chorus in En Vogue’s “Hold On”. Not quite sure yet if that fits well with the overall theme of the song.

As I was saying, this album is great news for Jay-Z fans. It was a surprise for me as most artists hype up their albums months in advance, but this is expected from Hov. I think it was this time last year that I had first heard about his comeback album, Kingdom Come, which was also released in November. Historically, most albums Jay-Z puts out are released in the fall, with the exception of Reasonable Doubt, which was released in June. At any rate, I really hope American Gangster will be a true return from Jay-Z as Kingdom Come is probably my least favorite album from him, minus a few tracks. Let’s hope Hov can bring it with this one or he may have to officially retire. THE ROC IS IN THE BUILDING!

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