My uncle retired from his long-time job at UPS. He's finished working there. Forever. He might go back to visit old friends, but he's never going to get another paycheck from the company. I think he plans on doing real estate or something now. But the point is, he's retired.

This is a concept that Jay-Z simply does not understand. When you retire, you're finished. Kaput. For-ev-er.

But here we are, three years removed from Jigga's "retirement" album, The Black Album, and the man is prepared to release Kingdom Come, due to drop on Nov. 21. Signed on to produce are Timbaland, Pharrell, Kanye West, Dr. Dre and Chris Martin of Coldplay. In other words, pretty much the best hip-hop producers alive ... plus Chris Martin.

It's a good thing too because without them, the album would fall flat, which it might do anyway. I love Jay-Z as much as anyone, but his retirement came at the right time. Kingdom Come is going to be like Michael Jordan with the Washington Wizards -- he's still one of the best to play the game, but his time has passed. Throw in the fact that he's been called out for stealing rhymes from other great rappers and it seems obvious that Hova is done for.

This comeback wouldn't even be possible if Jay weren't riding on the coattails of some other people.

Thanks to the success of Collision Course, Jay-Z's mash-up collaboration/train wreck with Linkin Park, we're probably going to see about a billion more collaborations just like it in the next few years. But the catalyst of all this was one DJ Danger Mouse, the creator of The Grey Album and one half of Gnarls Barkley.

Without the Mouse's groundbreaking bootleg mash-up of The Beatles' The White Album and The Black Album, there would have been no Collision Course and Jay-Z could have ridden into the sunset near the top of his game. But no, just like every artist in the music business today, he's gone against the wise words of Neil Young and decided that it's better to fade away than to burn out.

And as if the new prez of Def Jam Records needed any help promoting his own music, his trophy babe girlfriend Beyonce has enlisted his help on her new album. If Kingdom Come is anything like his contributions to that, that laundry list of great producers won't make much difference.

Jay-Z is past his prime as a rapper, and he's got nothing left to motivate him. He's out of the Marcy Projects, he's got a hot and talented girlfriend and he's more powerful than anyone in the hip-hop universe is. Sure, he's got his detractors, but who doesn't? He may be coming out of retirement, but his rhymes certainly aren't.

I'd like to hope that Jay changes his mind by Nov. 21, but that's obviously not going to happen. He'll start up his Def Jam hype machine, sell millions of records and probably win some meaningless Grammys or something equally insignificant. The only things he'll have left going for his career are nostalgia and good producers. Then he'll queue up some more mash-ups, and lather, rinse, repeat.

My uncle knows he's not going to work for UPS again, just as your grandparents who have retired to the Del Boca Vista Condos in Florida know they'll never go back to work for their old jobs. It's too bad we can't say the same for Jay-Z.