Rating: NNN
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You can either imitate or innovate, and when the latter isn’t working you might as well abandon your underground thug love in favour of, uh, Jay-Z’s commercial fan base. 534 finds Memphis Bleek hitching his modus operandi to Jigga’s highly successful train of gangsta swagger, saccharine braggadoccio and slick production by the Roc-A-Fella squad. This is more a Black Album facsimile than Bleek’s self-professed coming of age, and he sacrifices storytelling by dumbing it down with profitable party anthems and ladies’ jams. While it might not be his offering, 534 is one of Jay’s – I mean Bleek’s – most consistent albums in years.
