In Brief

This much-hyped Jay-Z offshoot was supposed to be the pillar of his mentor’s dynasty. If so, that foundation is looking shaky. The normally assertive and interesting Philadelphia rapper flows like a sloth on nearly every cut of his second album, failing to elicit much excitement despite the solid, hard-core production.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent). The albums are already released unless otherwise noted.