“It immediately clicked with me,” said Jay-Z, who has made passing references to gangster movies in previous recordings but has never delved so deeply into the genre.

There are some very positive things about this movie — terrific performances by Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe; a dramatic story filled with irony and action. It did raise some questions for me, however. What is the difference between homage to past gangster films, and plagiarism? Why include the statistic that 30% of combat troops in Vietnam were using hard drugs, when we know now that isn't the case? Is it fair to suggest that cops and criminals are merely different sides of the same coin?

Have you ever seen American Gangster? You know Bumpy, the guy at the start who has a heart attack? My grandpa used to work with him, he was his right-hand man in real life. They ran numbers together. Those guys had this drive to go out and make something of themselves by any means necessary. So I look at all of them, and I wonder why does it stop with me, and I realize that it's because I have so many options available.

I loved American Gangster.