The rapper/entrepreneur/producer is well known for not being active on social media, so there was some excitement when he showed up on the Gram this week.
(To hear a free Sound Bite from this album, call Post-Haste at 20 and press 8152.One day after Jay-Z launched his verified Instagram account, it appears he deleted it. We know, Jay-Z, we know, you took us there.
There are no surprises in the lyrics either, just a few closing statements for a convincing argument: I'm a hustler, baby. It's mostly mid-tempo, bass-heavy funk-perfectly adequate. "The Dynasty," as one of is own choruses says, "ain't nothin' different." Musically there are none of the risks of past Jay-Z projects. Compare and contrast: guest Snoop Dogg is quick to sneer "bitch" and threaten physical abuse on "Get Your Mind Right" while Jigga doesn't mind spending some cash in exchange for a little companionship and the proper discretion. The women who inhabit Jay-Z's playland are stereotypical gold-digging model types, but aside from that he goes surprisingly easy on the misogyny. On "Change the Game" he praises his middle-class audience for using its disposable income wisely: "Fourth album, still Jay, still spittin' that real / Volume three still sold more records than Will Smith." Regret-filled introspections like "This Can't Be Life" and "Soon You'll Understand" paint our hero three-dimensional but no less invincible.
Jay-Z's fluidly articulated thug tenets target the imagination of wannabe thugs with full-time jobs and honest-to-goodness baddies alike.
In all his arrogance and embellishment, Jay-Z knows how to make "the life" entertaining, and therefore convincing enough: "How many times have I got to prove? / How many loved ones have you got to lose / Before you realize that it's probably true? / Whatever Jigga say, Jigga probably do." It all whirls around a mythical figure, Jay-Z, who in turn is at once a merciless drug czar (Hova), a relentless womanizer (Jigga) and a legitimate businessman (Sean Carter). Call it Roc-A-World, a theme park of dangerous streets and troublesome women. With the help of Jay's Roc-A-Fella family-Beanie Sigel, Memphis Bleek and Amil-album four completes this construction. Welcome to "The Dynasty: Roc La Familia," the hustler's handbook.įor three straight albums-not to mention spinoffs and soundtracks-the godfather figure who calls himself Jay Hova has been creating a gangster's paradise in the studio. In short, it's a pimp anthem and, as such, a perfect prelude to the album that follows, the fourth in Jay-Z's Donald Goines-esque series.
Rather than underdressed, overpriced females wiggling, the song conjures images of bejeweled players sipping champagne and eyeballing the ladies from the VIP section. The hook, courtesy of production duo-du-jour the Neptunes, recalls one they sang for Mystikal.īut Jay-Z's "I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)" is more than just a dance floor ditty. "I'm a hustler, baby, I just want you to know / It's not where I've been, but where I'm 'bout to go." Already the silky chorus of Jay-Z's latest street serenade can be heard oozing from nearly every form of urban transport.