There is no better way to end a career than the way Jay-Z had announced he would with the release of "The Black Album". And no reasonable soul could imagine that the CEO of the ROC would have a typical retirement. So collaborations on other artists' albums, new ventures in clothing and sports were all part of the anticipated program. However, some believed the sincerity of the moment when Jay-Z had expressed the ambition to leave the game while he was still at the very top, and he often referred to Michael Jordan's missed return from retirement, and Jay-Z had promised that he would not make the mistake one of his heroes and inspiration had done.
So it sounded almost cheap when the New York rap mogul after only two years announced his return in the form of "Kingdom Come". He knows it, which is probably why the first words of his single "Show Me What You Got" are "What do you want me to do, I'm sorry, I'm back!". But let there be no mistake, aside from this reference to the cheapest trick from Cher's book of marketing, NOTHING on "Kingdome Come" is cheap: as he had done for "The Black Album", he did not show-up by himself, Just Blaze, Kanye West, Dr Dre, the Neptunes are producing and John Legend, Pharrell, Beyoncé, and Coldplay's Chris Martin are happy to come and say more than just hello.
The title track "Kingdome Come" is fabulous, "Hollywood" a duet with Beyoncé, is his take on today's celebrity obsessed culture, but our clear favorite his "Minority Report", it's an incredible track about Hurricane Katrina, with lots of samples, including Kanye's unscripted edit from the NBC live benefit. Finally, the album closes with a Coldplay-produced "Beach Chair" where Jay-Z reminds us that he's a poet and reminding us in very lyrical terms that "life is but a dream" with Chris Martin in the background to add even more spirituality to this closing. As I read somewhere: "If you thought it would never work again, you were clearly underestimating"!
His previous effort "R&G" is not an easy album to top. From the "Sign" with a catchy Justin Timberlake and "Drop It Like It's Hot". So almost 2 years later, Snoop's back with some impressive surprises, all of them under "Tha Blue Carpet Treatment". 
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