tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7792017525834032948.post1115150009170665703..comments2023-11-02T07:25:35.005-04:00Comments on Two Day Old Shit: Retire for Real: The Trouble with Jay-ZUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7792017525834032948.post-40179854282151998162009-10-29T23:17:41.493-04:002009-10-29T23:17:41.493-04:00What do you think of Blu?What do you think of Blu?Joshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10412260252129473093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7792017525834032948.post-87820099778209086712009-10-29T20:29:39.472-04:002009-10-29T20:29:39.472-04:001. I agree Jay-Z doesn't push hip-hop to any n...1. I agree Jay-Z doesn't push hip-hop to any new frontier in the BP3, but I think he knows that he's not the person who's going to bring hip-hop to that point. I don't want to get too theoretical here, but I think Jay-Z expresses the kind of post-Obama paralysis gripping hip-hop at the moment. If we look at Jay-Z's recent oeuvre as a study in how to make cents and still "rhyme like Common Sense," then we can see a disruption in this new album. <br />On the first track he boasts about how "the coversation's changed" and how he's now concerned with "music," not with "rap." But he doesn’t further from the “keep it real” mentality he attacks. And I think the contradiction is too great to just ascribe to coincidence. Maybe the only song you really need to listen to grasp the album is the first one, because even when he’s talking about what we can’t talk about he’s still indulging our appetite for that played out mentality.<br /> <br />“Ain't nothing cool bout carryin' a strap<br />Bout worryin' your moms And buryin' your best cat<br />Talkin' bout revenge While carryin' his casket<br />All teary-eyed Bout to take it to a mattress” <br /><br />And probably the lines that best express this paradox are: <br /><br />"Talkin' bout progress I ain't lookin back<br />You know I run track Try not to get lapped"<br /><br />So with that said, I think this album is meant to be a wake up call. If the same dude who was running this rap shit in ’92 is still around more than 10 years later there is something seriously wrong with the state of hip-hop. <br /><br />“I was gonna 9/11 them but they didn’t need the help<br />and they did a good job, them boys is talented as hell,<br />so not only did they brick but they put a building up as well<br />then ran a plane into that building and when that building fell<br />ran to the crash site with no mask and inhaled, toxins deep inside they lungs<br />until both of em was filled, blew cloud out like an L, to a Jordan to a smell,<br />cos they heard the second hand smoke kills.<br />N-ggas thought they was ill, found out they was ILL<br />and its like you knew exactly how i wanted you to feel”<br /><br />2. I disagree with your take on American Gangster. Jay-Z is at his lyrical pinnacle on that album: rhythmically and visually it has that same quick-witted sense of variation and love of sounds that was so characteristic of early Nas and late Rakim.Adam Ahmedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15708735281137864185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7792017525834032948.post-61470451176884267142009-10-29T18:19:59.411-04:002009-10-29T18:19:59.411-04:00What do you think about Flobots?What do you think about Flobots?Stephaniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10744282392790305998noreply@blogger.com