Maybe it was the fact that it was New Years Eve, its a cold evening and downtown traffic is starting to get heavy. Parking was still a bit difficult so you think things are normal. WRONG! tonight is anything but normal. Me and my woman go into Copra a nice mediterrean spot on Charles Street. Only thing is we are the only people there. Or maybe it would have been better if we literally were the only people there. I dont believe that I have ever in my life of going to restaurants being the only patron(s) there. The waiter shows us our seats. Plenty to chose from since its no one else there. So we are sitting there amused and alittle creeped out that no one esle is there. That should have been a sign to get out while we could right. WRONG! we stayed. With the absense of any people there you notice things. In perticular, chairs that are missing part of the backs to them. Which in essence means they are broken. You think that a restaurant would not want to have broken chairs in there establisment but Copra is an exception. We are looking at the menu, which oddly seems a lot different then the online menu and we feel alittle cheated. I stay cold for awhile so im staring at the soup, which by the way says "soup of the night." I hate when menus say "soup of the night," what im I gonna do base the night I come to the restaurant on the notion that you serve cream of crab on Thursday? Right...Gimme a break. So I ask, "what's the soup of the night?" He replies, "Cream of mushroom." I hate mushrooms and my face clearly displayed that I hated mushrooms so why he decided to tell me how good it was and how warm I would be if I got it is beyond me. Put the weed down.

So we placed our orders. 3...2..1. Its done in a flash...hell it should be, there aren't any other orders to take! For the lady, crabcakes and mac and cheese. For me, shrimp and calamari penne. Ahhh. Ok. Let me break this down. My dish was ok, the shrimp were great, but I didnt have any sauce. The closest thing that resembled sauce was this green brown liquid that was stirring at the bottom of my plate....no thanks. For the lady, served with the crabcakes was this headache indusing concoction of some sort of salsa. It reminded me of something that could be in an oldtime remedy book. Got a rash...mix ass and sulphur than let it pickle in a jar for 3 days....eat up! But the coup de grace was the macaroni and cheese. It tasted like someone had some old elbow macaroni and threw it in the microwave...no cheese...no seasoning!!! NASTY. So in our disguist, when the waiter came back to ask how was everything, we looked at him with scrunched faes and replied, "it was ookkkk." "Just ok," he said. "Yeah," just ok buddy geez. "So would you guys like anything else," "No...no we're good." I guess being of somewhat sane people...if you can't get us anything else, you've taken our plates away...and we didnt want anything wrapped to go with us....WHY IN THE HELL WOULD YOU BRING A DESSERT MENU!!!???!!!! No dessert dumbass, just bring us the check, so we can get out of here like everybody else already did. Then a Britney Spears song comes on the radio. I know your thinking what kind of restaurant plays the radio...this isnt a bar this is a restaurant! Then some crap comes on the radio...I say they should put that Britney back on. The waiter hears me, he says something something "Avril Levine." Im like word. Then he said "yeah listening to this drives me crazy, I have to listen to Kanye West 100 times a day." IM DONE!!!!!!! You should be lucky your listening to Kanye homie damn. What type of stuff is that to say. Just take this check please. We are outta here....finally. It was like getting out of a PUNK'D episode. I didnt even care that it was ass cold outside, I was just glad to get out of there. So Copra the hindi word for Coconut, to me translates to: awful food, awful atmosphere and, awful service. Be sure to leave them in 07 along with the nasty taste they left in our mouths. Happy New Year!

When it first comes on..im on the train.. i like listening to albums the first time when im going somewhere and always in headphones b/c to me its more personal and when things are moving its almost like a soundtrack to my life. So im on the train i have my other ipod cause my main one lamed out on me. So my other ipod has very limited battery. the intro comes on ..i get this rush a feeling ..not chills just a feeling a great feeling. pray comes on its dark its real its that shit i love. i can see where he ties in american gangster and why he chose to do what he did. but even if u didnt see the movie the song is gripping. then american dreamin comes on...im like i got baltimore dreamin'....look at hov tryna be like me. ... i was at westport at that moment...thats why i like listening to music while going somewhere cause i always remember where i was when i first heard a song. once again though its so gripping and dark and 3 or 4 minutes jay- z is directing a movie and u are a character in that movie. U might be a lead, a supporting character or even an extra but you are there. Dig. Skip that Brooklyn song. Its just beyond me right now...i still have to phathom the Lil Waynr element of that song. Im off the train now on my 7 minute walk from my stop to my building. "No Hook" comes on when he says "I dont need no hook for this shit." i smile...cause he is making a reference to a song that is getting alotta radio burn right now (no idea why that is but...). He goes in on that song. He addresses the rumors, the haters, the dudes that claim J owes them something. "Fuck DeHaven" im laughing hysterically on the street ppl, must think im nuts...and they are right but still... his lines are so sharp so precise its so current and classic at the same time. Still walking. Im at Charles street right now. Hoping i have enough battery to last the day. "Roc boys" comes on. Granted i have heard this song about 50 times before but there is no chance that im skipping this one. This is the victory song. This is the look we made it song. And the video just throws an exclamation mark on the whole thing. Its brillant, simply amazing. Im here im in my building a bunch of stuffy ppl in there khakis devoid of human emotion. I cut off my ipod as i enter the elevator. the security dude says something corny as usual. Fast forward. 6:30ish im off. Walking back to the train."Sweet" "I Know" and "Party Life" continue to be great even if its not as dark as the beginning of the album, though conceptually thinking it is on course with the rise and fall of a Drug Kingpin. We're in party mode, good life mode. but we get to a place in the CD where somethings are feeling forced. "Ignorant Shit" being a main track while "Blue Magic" a bonus track is baffling. the Beanie verse was obviously cut short which made it feel uneccessary. The extra verse by Jay was suprising and very relevent i.e. the Imus remark. But even given that it could have been left for a Bonus Hidden song. "Say Hello" the verses are excellent the hook though sub-par and annoying. "Success" is no "Black Republicans" and i swear Nas dissed Jay in his verse but maybe not. Fallin' is a bit odd as a last song. the beat is a bit off but so is Jay's flow on this one. It doesnt convey the darkness of true falling, maybe b/c Jay never really fell. But in seeing the movie and the look on Frank Lucas' (Denzel's) face as he was set free in 1991. The emptiness the was in his eyes. The feeling of being lost in the world, with nowhere to go and no one to run to, thats what the last song should have been. If he had rapped some parts as and acapella then maybe he could have captured that emptiness. And the listener could have truly understood "Fallin'" But as a whole this album is solid. It give you a bit of old Jay-Z and a bit of new Jay-Z. Maybe i'll put together a mixtape of Jay songs and call it American Kingdom, or Gangster Kingdom