Album Review: Jadakiss – The Last Kiss (2009)

Album Review: Jadakiss – The Last Kiss (2009)
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Potholes. 

Jadakiss albums don’t come along very often. In fact, they happen less regularly than presidential elections, the Olympic Games, and remotely amusing or original Omid Djalili jokes. Taking this into consideration, you could have been forgiven for The Last Kiss being one of your most anticipated releases of 2009, but it’s likely that you’d have been disappointed upon finally hearing it.

Part of its failure is that it suffers from the same problems as the last two Jadakiss efforts – overlong, filler, some strange beat selections, awkward crossover attempts – and while these things aren’t completely damning of an album as a whole, it’s not really good enough for a rapper who a) has never really lived up to his promise, and b) doesn’t tend to release music all that regularly.

There are highlights, but even these will make the listener feel that they are still not hearing much that will stay in the memory for too long. ‘What If’ (featuring Nas), for example, is well produced and insightful (Nas’ reference to the reptilian humanoid theory aside), yet despite being one of the album’s better songs, you can’t help but feel that it comes across as a somewhat lazy attempt to recreate the success of 2004’s “Why”. Possibly the best track on offer is “Things That I’ve Been Through” – a retrospective look at the rapper’s career over a simple, yet effective Luther Vandross sampled backdrop, but this is so strong in comparison to almost everything else that it unfortunately serves as a reminder of what The Last Kiss could have been with a little more effort.

At one point it seemed to be generally accepted by Hip-Hop fans that it was a matter of when and not if Jadakiss would make the album that saw him reach his full capabilities as a solo artist. While all is not lost just yet, the release of more mediocrity at similarly distant intervals will eventually lead people to ask the question of just how much potential he actually has. The Last Kiss should not be dismissed completely, but marks a worrying future for someone who could have done so much more, and while not entirely terrible, it certainly doesn’t justify the amount of time it has taken for an established MC to deliver.