Magna Carta... Holy Grail

JAY-Z - Magna Carta... Holy Grail
Critic Score
Based on 40 reviews
2013 Ratings: #1010 / 1115
User Score
Based on 913 ratings
2013 Rank: #512
Liked by 27 people
Sign In to rate and review

CRITIC REVIEWS

85
The Young Folks

Magna Carta…Holy Grail is an album that is outstanding both production-wise and lyrically, delivering more of the same rags to riches story that we know about Jay-Z, just that this time around he is more conflicted about what it all means and where this will take him.

80
XXL
He may be coming to grips with the fact that there are limits to what you can do at the top, as his clash with Billboard regarding his Samsung deal showed, but that doesn't stop him—lyrically, promotionally, or otherwise—from trying to push the boundaries out a little further.
80
HipHopDX

What is a surprise is that this is the most cohesive project Jay’s put together since The Blueprint

70
Consequence of Sound

The pieces congeal, eventually, to form a semblance of one of our most prominent cultural figures. The image just isn’t as defined, as focused, or as powerful, as it once was.

70
The Line of Best Fit

The bizarre juxtaposition of  Jay-Z on hit and miss form and a borderline-perfectly produced record makes it a trying listen. 

67
Pretty Much Amazing

Beyond some excellent beats and a few flashes of lyrical prowess, Magna Carta… Holy Grail doesn’t invite the kind of intrigue that Jay-Z is capable of.

66
Paste

This is by far Hova’s most casual record; he could’ve called it Shrugging in Luxury. It’s interesting, but it’s never happy, sad, angry or romantic. It’s not even overly smug.

60
The Needle Drop

Jay-Z returns to putting out rap albums with Maga Carta... Holy Grail, and raps about as well as you'd expect at this point in his career over some pretty fresh production.

60
Clash

Running to an hour long, ‘Magna Carta…’ becomes exhausting, bumping familiar motifs with such frequency that, as the album nears its close, the senses feel entirely numbed.

60
Rolling Stone
In part, he’s the victim of his own remarkable longevity and extraordinary success.
60
Spectrum Culture
Rather than controlling the image of massive success and hardscrabble street roots that made him a star, his 12th studio album shows him as unable to see anything beyond it.
60
DIY

Jay-Z’s latest does little to prove that he can come up with anything that isn’t entirely predictable.

60
The Fly

‘Magna Carta… Holy Grail’ is a solid example of a decent modern rap album and nothing more.

60
PopMatters

The fact of the matter is, Jay-Z probably just can’t carry an entire album anymore if you’re a lyrics head. But Jay was always custom built for a world where beats take precedence over rhymes

60
AllMusic
The album's remainder is sporadically energized and frequently hasty-sounding, played safe with just enough timely pop-culture references and sonic curveballs to demonstrate that Jay-Z still has his finger on the pulse.
60
NME
At this stage in his career, he more resembles Springsteen or Dylan: a wise old soul, a wordsmith. And that’s fine.
58
Pitchfork

Only a small subset could acquire Magna Carta Holy Grail on its release date, and it seems safe to say that fewer still will relate to it in a meaningful way.

58
Entertainment Weekly

Time will tell whether or not MCHG is a stopgap or a stepping stone, though either way it’s below par.

55
The 405

Musically, it feels relatively safe with a lot of moments that remind you of other songs, whilst lyrically it rarely offers us new insights into the man.

50
SPIN

This isn't Watch the Throne, full of rich and weighty contributions from a man who is still enormously talented. It's rap music as a transaction, with a host of stars and hip names wrangled together to convince you it's not.

43
A.V. Club

The bulk of Magna Carta, however, really is just an obscenely rich dude gloating about his spoils. 

40
musicOMH

On Magna Carta… Holy Grail, however, Jay is not looking back or looking forward. He’s looking nowhere except in his overcrowded closet, the switch in his brilliant brain in the “off” position.

40
Tiny Mix Tapes

If you ask me, Hov is the real King John here — well-liked, living the high life, godlike — but out of touch with the rest of us peasants, who just so happen to be the customers.

40
Drowned in Sound

Magna Carta… Holy Grail isn't a total bust, but neither is it anywhere close to Jay-Z's finest moments.

40
Slant Magazine

The title reference to the Magna Carta, a document stripping English kings of their unbounded power, is fitting seeing that Magna Carta is an album that does the same, removing the gloss on an artist who’s long since ceased to be untouchable.

20
FACT Magazine

Magna Carta’s a mess, and not even an entertaining one – it’s simply a dull record by someone who’s in deep danger of going down as a dull human being.

LonelyHipHopFan
20

JAY-Z DISCOGRAPHY DEEP DIVE #15

Jay-Z and inconsistency. Name a better duo in hip hop, I'll wait. These two go hand in hand, one would not exist without the other. So, you shouldn't be surprised that this album is super inconsistent. It barely feels like a Jay project. It sounds fake as hell, Jay's flow is R.Kelly collaboration levels of ass and the lyrics are pretty mediocre. Hey, at least the features are really good and there are some great beats here. That's about it. It's not as bad as ... read more

luna128
20

Magna Carta Holy Fuck

depechemode4lif
76

I like this album. Parts of it do feel outdated but Hov brings 2010s edm and trap into his classic hip hop sound relativly smoothly. In some ways this feels similar to Blueprint 3, an album I dont like, but with some of the star studded featured executed their performances better. Throughout the runtime the album can start to drag, but luckily the production is slick, elegant, and flashy so it keeps your attention and makes some of the filler tracks more listenable. Def overhated.

purplerain70
80

Why tf does this have such low ratings... yall are h8ers

Urhomierabidhog
40

HOLY GRAIL

85

Prolly One of my favs albums from jayz yet since i didnt listen to his discography but i like this album very cool

Purchasing Magna Carta... Holy Grail from Amazon helps support Album of the Year. Or consider a donation?
Become a Donor
Donor badge, no ads + more benefits.
Advertisement

Track List

1Holy Grail
5:38
77
2Picasso Baby
4:05
77
3Tom Ford
3:09
61
4FuckWithMeYouKnowIGotIt
4:03
feat. Rick Ross
56
5Oceans
3:58
80
6F.U.T.W.
4:02
73
7Somewhereinamerica
2:28
75
8Crown
4:33
65
9Heaven
4:03
73
10Versus
0:51
51
11Part II (On the Run)
5:33
feat. Beyoncé
78
12Beach Is Better
0:55
56
13BBC
3:12
72
14JAY Z Blue
3:50
63
15La Familia
3:33
50
16Nickels and Dimes
5:03
67
Total Length: 59 minutes

Year End Lists

#23/Complex
#84/Amazon
Sign in to comment
4d
4mo
5mo
5mo
1y


Added on: June 16, 2013