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''Kiss of Death'' is the 2004 album by rapper Jadakiss. It is the follow up to his 2001 gold selling debut album ''Kiss Tha Game Goodbye''. "Kiss of Death" was released in the US on the 22nd of June and reached #1 on both the Billboard 200 and the Rap Albums charts. In the UK it peaked at #65. Kiss Of Death was a popular album among many rap fans. It features the singles "Time's Up" (with Nate Dogg), followed by the political and world issue crossover hit "Why" (with Anthony Hamilton), "U Make Me Wanna" (with Mariah Carey) and ''Welcome to D-Block'' (with Eminem and D-Block). It was certified Gold by the RIAA with over 934,000 copies sold . - Wikipedia

Roger Ebert once opined, "Content is neutral until shaped by approach and style." Ebert has praised Halloween, for instance, which initiated the slasher-flick motif that sluts must die and good girls live. Noxious morality, sure, but Halloween is also bravura filmmaking, exacting its dubious judgments with style and wit. None of which applies to Kiss of Death. Seventeen years after Slick Rick taught us to "Treat Her Like a Prostitute," rap grows ever more morally suspect, style has petrified into disinterested affect, and wit has been ground down to a nub. What do you want me to say? That some of the beats are fire ("Hot Sauce," "Still Feel Me")? That a rag-tag collection of superproducers (Kanye, Pharrell, etc., etc.) overcompensates for lyrical boners? That producer Scott Storch ("Time's Up") continues to be the illest white boy in rap? That by the time a verse like "It was just bats then you know/ Beat a n***a down, take his rope/ Now we-a, heat a n***a down, take his coke" showed up I was so desensitized I couldn't even work up the proper Common-style indignation? A friend of mine says generic stuff like the Lox/ D-Block (Jada, Styles, Sheek) is the ultimate rap fan music-its very predictability triggers certain Pavlovian reflexes in the faithful. It makes me a little embarrassed to be both a rap fan and a human, knowing that at least a million paying customers are willing to value being the former over the latter.

"Roger Ebert once opined, ""Content is neutral until shaped by approach and style."" Ebert has praised Halloween, for instance, which initiated the slasher-flick motif that sluts must die and good girls live. Noxious morality, sure, but Halloween is also bravura filmmaking, exacting its dubious judgments with style and wit. None of which applies to Kiss of Death. Seventeen years after Slick Rick taught us to ""Treat Her Like a Prostitute,"" rap grows ever more morally suspect, style has petrified into disinterested affect, and wit has been ground down to a nub. What do you want me to say? That some of the beats are fire (""Hot Sauce,"" ""Still Feel Me"")? That a rag-tag collection of superproducers (Kanye, Pharrell, etc., etc.) overcompensates for lyrical boners? That producer Scott Storch (""Time's Up"") continues to be the illest white boy in rap? That by the time a verse like ""It was just bats then you know/ Beat a n***a down, take his rope/ Now we-a, heat a n***a down, take his coke"" showed up I was so desensitized I couldn't even work up the proper Common-style indignation? A friend of mine says generic stuff like the Lox/ D-Block (Jada, Styles, Sheek) is the ultimate rap fan music-its very predictability triggers certain Pavlovian reflexes in the faithful. It makes me a little embarrassed to be both a rap fan and a human, knowing that at least a million paying customers are willing to value being the former over the latter.

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