What should you know about the album “Magna Carta Holy Grail” first and foremost?

Firstly, it is an album that you absolutely must listen to if you listen to rap at all. You must — that’s the end of it. It’s an album like the dozen that come out in a year.

Secondly — and this statement is equally true for any other Jay-Z album — if you are not familiar with the English language, 70% of the enjoyment is lost. Although those who listen to the ‘flow’ without delving into the essence of what is said will not be disappointed either. At least because Jay has an exemplary ‘flow’ (recognizable, individual, with an interesting flow) and unlimited opportunities to get any instrumentals from any musicians.

Thirdly, every album by a big rapper (and even a small one) often boils down to ‘well, look brother, how I’m doing.’ There have been a lot of interesting news since the “Blueprint 3.” He finally became a father (at 42). This fact is devoted a lot of space in the album, as it is in Jay’s life (who himself, as you remember, was raised without a father). He strengthened his position in the genre of ‘rap’, in music, in society, in business. He has moved up to a new high life step, looked around and shouts to us from there: “In general, these are the things.”

Jay-Z in the 2013 season is attracted to mature topics and atypical reflections. The album triumphantly begins with ‘Holy Grail’, which first pretends to be a song about love for a woman, but in fact about music and fame; about what it gives and takes away.

The following ‘Picasso Baby’ is packed with references to the world of contemporary art. It is clear why it was chosen for the performance at which the luminaries of contemporary art appeared. Recently, Jay and Kanye jointly turned owning works by Rothko and Condo into a real fetish for ‘new blacks’ with big money (for ‘old blacks’ such function was performed by the latest car model or a heavy chain).

By the third track, Jay’s self-presentation is finalized: he is a representative of a new generation of his people, whom the old (read — white) aristocracy do not like; and he is at a level in the industry where he can look down on more fashionable molly-rap and generally play only by his own rules.

The new role model for the rapper is Pablo Picasso, not Pablo Escobar. Gentleman Jay flaunts his consumer preferences: Hublot watches and Tom Ford suits. Why are we writing about him and not GQ?

Delving further into the album, we listen to musings on religion and society, the usual cheeky bravado of the series ‘I’m cool, you’re not’, intimate reflections on Blue Ivy (‘Jay-Z Blue’ is just a new song ‘Newcomer’) and Beyonce, jokes about Beyonce; lively interludes, no less important than full-fledged songs — in ‘Versus‘ he accurately places where he is and where competitors are; in ‘La Familia‘, as usual avoiding names, he sends a hefty boulder into Lil Wayne‘s garden.

He has the whole old arsenal: the ability to insert an unconventional metaphor, or on the contrary, the ability to state a very simple thought in very simple words, but in such a way that it’s straight-up ‘my brothers is my brother like my brother is / My nigga is my brother like my mother kids’. He has all those themes that Jay recalls on every album: origin (slums), crack game, Notorious B.I.G. He has a sense of irony: he is important, but if necessary, he knows how to not puff his cheeks, but to make fun of himself. In the track, which Jay decided to spice up with Italian words, he talks about his achievements: “Not bad for an aubergine?” — and eggplants are what Italian immigrants in the States call black people.

In general, rap can be cool even when its author is a bit dull. You can provide as many examples of this yourself as you’d like. But when the author is also smart, it’s doubly cool. Especially if the author is devoid of self-admiration in the spirit: ‘Look how smart I am! Look how erudite I am!’ And this is precisely the case with Shawn Carter.

Somewhere on the album, Jay voices the idea that this is his magnum opus — his creative peak. But that’s hardly true. Yes, Jay himself is now at the peak of importance and success. And few other businessmen will write you such an album. But perhaps this is the most boring Jay album in recent years.

It’s hard to back up such things with arguments. If you write that absolutely all the participants in the joint tracks outperformed Jigga, there will certainly be people who will claim the opposite. If you say that quoting Cobain in the context of ‘Holy Grail‘ is provocative hypocrisy because the words of this truly tragic hero in the mouths of respectable and prosperous Jay and Justin seem like a mockery, you might hear in response that on that level one percent of listeners will reflect on the song, and for the rest, the quote is quite OK. And so on.

And yet ‘Magna Carta Holy Grail’ reinforces the feeling that Jay has already told almost everything important and interesting. And further, there’s only walking in circles, which there is indeed a lot of on this album.