Jay-Z once compared himself to Pope John Paul II-all the rappers follow him-but Brooklyn’s favorite son is probably closer to Peter the apostle.

He’s the foundation of the modern rap game, influencing, confounding and ultimately converting every rapper to release an album since 1997. He’s spread his gospel in videos, on TV commercials and from the Def Jam boardroom. Whether they’ll ever admit it or not, most rappers owe Jay some sort of debt.

Some of his followers love early Jigga, the playboy who focused on girls, guns and drugs; but in practice, none of them can come close to Jay’s verbal dexterity or deep thoughts on shallow subjects.

Others like his confessional, narrative style, but they cannot approximate Jay’s accessible, intelligent rhymes that, like the best videogames, are easy to pickup and rewardingly difficult to master.

With his legacy as the best MC of his generation intact, Jay-Z has to wonder what’s next. As The New York Times detailed in its review, Jay has run out of fresh topics to rap about.

He has rhymed about drugs and guns (notably on Reasonable Doubt and Hard Knock Life Vol.2) and created reflective, insightful masterpieces (The Blueprint and The Black Album). He has also rhymed about sex and celebrity in between his watershed albums. Now that he’s apparently over celebrity and hasa stable girlfriend. What’s next?

Jay’s latest, American Gangster (Nov. 6, Roc-a-Fella), comes at a crucial time in his career.

After 2006’s disappointing Kingdom Come, most of Jigga’s disciples are wondering what he is going to do. Will he rhyme about the same few topics, treading the path of middle-aged classic rockers who crank out albums that few outside of their dedicated fanbase will actually listen to? Or, will he bring something unique and innovative to the table?

Forgive the easy comparison, but Jay-Z’s approach to middle-aged rap is much like Denzel Washington’s approach to Hollywood.

Both men are charismatic, aging superstars looking for projects that won’t totally compromise their creative integrity and that are not too far outside of their established range. Even though they have past accomplishments, neither one wants to become a relic just yet.

To keep up with the young guns, Jay-Z has enlisted choice collaborators, including Lil’ Wayne (perhaps the best working rapper), former rival Nas and a team of A-list producers: The Neptunes, DJ Toomp (producer of T.I.’s “What You Know About That”), Kanye West, Mentor, NO-ID and Roc-a-fella stalwart Just Blaze.

Gangster samples everyone from Marvin Gaye to the Beastie Boys along the way. Shockingly, Diddy is credited with co-producing six cuts, none of which is embarrassing. Maybe all of Jay’s Biggie name-dropping finally motivated Diddy to focus on making beats instead of going to clubs.

Lyrically and thematically, American Gangster is more of a summation album that selectively hand picks and brings together different approaches and styles from Jay’s career.

The album is like a rap version of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ 2006 Stadium Arcadium, another album by aging performers that digs into the artists’ back catalogue to create something unique but strangely familiar.

“American Dream” finds the aged, academic, apologetic Jay-Z describing the various ins and outs of the drug trade from his executive suite. The beats in “Prey” sound like a Blueprint cast off; the rhymes sound as though they were created by a younger, hungrier and cockier Jay.

Jay uses his traditional combination of brags, wordplay and insight to keep up with Lil’ Wayne’s demented country singer flow on the bumping “Hello Brooklyn.” Jay and Nas work together like Pacino and De Niro in Heat on the jazz-organ fueled “Success”-the most immediate, memorable track on the album.

It is a little disconcerting that American Gangster is not overflowing with instantly appealing tracks like “Success,” but the album is far from an embarrassment. Jay has put a priority on crafting “Jay-Z tracks” that may not endear themselves to non-fans on first listen; however, his commitment to crafting quality albums that can stand with some of his best work is unquestioned.

Jay-Z could be the rap world’s U2, a consistently engaging band that innovates within their established framework-a much better scenario than being the rap world’s Kansas.