Halfway through the new Jay-Z record, and I have no idea why the new cool thing is to say he shouldn't have released it. "It starts to overflow/then the levee breaks" is a brilliant, and fairly dangerous, thing to say after "Minority Report" features a Hova on the verge of crying over the murder of New Orleans.

Kingdom Come faces unreasonable expectations. Look, half of The Black Album SUCKED. (What the fuck was "Change Clothes"?) But it's still a classic -- maybe not a Reasonable Doubt classic, but "Moment of Clarity" is one of the most brilliant introspections in the history of the genre, and "Lucifer," "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" and "99 Problems" are un-front-on-able. And it's the same thing with "Dig A Hole," "Minority Report" and "Trouble. " I don't like the "Show Me What You Got" single much, but it's more of a stretch than Amanda Mattos to say the beats are a hodgepodge. Yeah, Jay-Z has a weakness for corny R&B influences on occasion, but, for Chrissakes, he's always had that corniness on great records since Volume 2. By mid-December, there will be a backlash to the Kingdom Come-backlash and eventually, there will emerge a critical equilibrium -- and if not, the cars that blare "Dig A Hole" for years will have the last word.