On the “Intro” to Jadakiss’ sophomore effort, Kiss Of Death, he marks his return as the people’s champion “back by popular demand of the hood.”  And while that mandate was not due to his misguided solo-debut, Kiss The Game Goodbye, as even its powerful singles “Knock Yourself Out” and the celebratory “We Gone Make It,” could not help it live up to its massive hype, it can be attributed to scene-stealing collaborations with Ghostface “Run” & the remix to Nas’ “Made U Look” and The Lox’s keen marketing ploy as the re-invented D-Block—all of which catered to the streets and not Billboard sales success. 

     Thanks to his second wind, Jada finds himself back in familiar territory with his sophomore release, Kiss Of Death, as its one of the summers most anticipated releases.  Though Kiss The Game went awry with commercial reaches, Jada revisits the same formula here (although he does manage to fine-tune things) for one simple reason as he illustrates on “Time’s Up”— “if you can’t do anything other then flow/life’s a bitch like the mother from Blow.”

     Sans a few commercial reaches with The Neptunes (“Hot Sauce To Go”) where Jada and Pharrell dedicate another ode to the female posterior, “Shine” w/Snoop & DJ Quik, “U Make Me Wanna” which thanks to Scott Storch’s slithery Middle Eastern scented production and Mariah’s hook is a sure contender for heavy radio play and a chemistry deficient collaboration with Eminem (“Welcome To D-Block”).  Jada finally begins to locate a comfortable medium meshing his yearning for mainstream success with tracks that appeal to both the casual and core fan bases; breaking through and letting his guard down on the introspective “Why” w/Anthony Hamilton where Jada goes Micheal Moore asking “Why did Bush knock down the towers” over a serious change of pace from Havoc whose percussion invokes shades of The Clipse “Grindin’” and “Time’s Up” f/ a smoky hook from Nate Dogg.

     While Jada still remains more moving in grind mode, “Bring U Down,” “Still Feel Me” and “Shootouts” where Styles P joins the fold too spit D-Block heat rocks over drums from Elite that sound like rounds being unloaded, its obvious that Jada not only learned a valuable lesson from his debut, but implemented them on Kiss Of Death.  And while Jada still spreads himself a little too thin trying to please everyone all the time, he’s not trying to disguise it, which he validates on “What You So Mad At??”—-”I’m everything controversial/underground/gangsta rap/commercial.”
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