Six months later, new Jay-Z verses are still leaking out one by one, and I kind of wish he'd just got it over with and gone out with a real big bang with the album, instead of trickling out half-assed guest appearances on Lenny Kravitz records and shit like that for months and months afterwards. But he just dropped maybe the last batch, and finally got together some of his own Black Album remixes, and thankfully they're mostly over new Just Blaze beats instead of stupid Beatles/Weezer/Pavement 'mashups'. The best of them is "Public Service Announcement" Part 2, which has another organ heavy beat and Jay does some of the rhymes from that freestyle over the "Stand Up" that he did in the booth last time he was on Rap City. And there's the "Allure" remix with a lush "Song Cry" type soul beat. But then Just drops the ball with a "99 Problems" remix over one of his crappy faux-old school beats. And a couple of the 'new' tracks that have leaked, which are outtakes from the Black Album that JB talked about in a couple interviews, have his same regrettable wannabe Run DMC style. "Lookin' At My S. Dots" sounds like every drum came from a different kit and it doesn't fit together at all. "Warm It Up" is a little better, though, starts off flipping some rhymes from "La La La" and then it starts to get good but the version I have fades out early which sucks.

The whole hype/controversy over the "99 Problems" video is silly, but "shocking" money shots aside, it's a pretty enjoyable video and fits the song as well as I could've hoped it to. Jay actually projects some swagger like he hasn't in a video in way too long, especially in my favorite part, the 2nd verse with the exchange with the cop. His weird drawling accent when he does the cop's voice is funny, especially since didn't he say in interviews that that verse is based on something that really happened when he was driving through Virginia? If Jay thinks VA is part of the south, dude has been hanging around with Timbaland way too long.