Written by ELLA
As usual, every time Jay-Z is on a track, the world holds its breath. The track is, obviously, fire. But, just like everyone, I have an opinion.
Jay Electronica jumps on and immediately rides the beat, “stylin” and “wylin on the record”. He addresses the mind frame of the former slave, expressing the beauty of the freedom in wisdom. I believe it’s a beautiful verse that allows one to understand where Jay Electronica probably spends his time when he’s not in the studio – learning, knee deep in social/political conversation. It’s something you truly have to listen to, not to hear, rather because he aims to educate us on powerful Black figures he compares himself to, because the world refuses to recognize his power:
The devil, the haters, the bloggers, the papers, the labels, they labeled me
But they can’t relate to our struggle, my nigga, we came up from slavery
Apologies go out to all of my fans cause they waited so patiently. This one is for all of the lost and forgotten black angels that prayed for me.
Jay-Z this, Jay-Z that. Every time Jay-Z raps people listen so intently for him to drop a name… so he does. “Sorry Mrs. Drizzy for so much art talk” he apologizes… whether this is directly to Drake or… who knows? First and foremost, Jay-Z just wants us to know that he “hopped out the slave ship popping [his] chain.” He actually came from nothing. Perhaps it takes Jay-Z to say it, but how long has it been since we’ve been listening to rappers who aren’t about what they rap about it? Named “We Made it,” perhaps this is a stab at the “started from the bottom” era of rappers who actually got their start in art schools, moved onto film and then started acting like rappers. Even I’ve had to look at some people, disgusted at how much effort they think they’re putting in. It’s understandable that Hov be a bit upset at people thinking that they’ve worked as hard as he did and don’t even have half the accolades that he has.
I mostly agree with the part of the song where neither Jay is speaking, “it seems like mutherfuckers should be shutting the hell up and enjoying the show.” I was soooooo very turned off by the Twitter explosion where everyone had an opinion of whose verse was better and what the “subliminals” meant. I enjoy the Hov verse because it both addressed and provoked the obvious saturation of Hip Hop –full of people who think they know something. Peter Rosenberg decided to call Jay-Z’s verse “vintage 2003″… #ThisJustIn there’s nothing “vintage” about 2003. I’ve always thought Rosenberg needed more melatonin in his opinions, anyway. (Yea, that’s racist.) He’s one of the people who has opinions about everything, without truly understanding the detail – which is why Jay-Z had to call him and “G-Check” him about some comments he made. Jay-Z is the plain truth. I love him and everything he says because he means it and says it with no fear. This wasn’t a life changing verse, and I don’t think he meant it to be. His delivery is mean as usual but Jay Electronica is on Roc Nation. This was business. Jay Electronica did his thing; Jay-Z provided a wonderful introduction to the mindless masses by both simply stating truths. I’m looking forward to more.
EllaThought 