My brain is already mixing thoughts. Hugely obvious - this album is such a mixed bag of sounds - shyt is all over the place. No transitioning and flow to the album at all. It's fast food. I enjoy listening and it definitely has elements that are all be parts of what could be a number of great albums, but these songs don't fit together - and I mean they don't fit together at all.
It's so close to being a great album, but the lack of a finishing sound and coherence (some tracks sounding OG and warm, others sounding cold, sterile, modern, and THIN) creates a dissonance. As a big Jay fan, big Nas fan, just a big rap fan in general, what I can take from this album is that Jay-Z was in the studio to have fun, and make some music. Didn't matter about it being an album, he had a session and this is what came of it. These were the tracks.
I am just hearing about Young Guru not being in on this album - anyone have any more details on that? Awesome Wells? I agree with what you're saying.. very interested in knowing more.