Peep the science. Jay-Z lays the blueprint for black America to Grow The Fuck Up. Genius.You aint got enough stamps in ya passport to fuck with Young H-O
International . . . (uhh)
Show young boys how to do this thing
The maturation of Jay-Z-Z (heh)
Check me out . .
30's the new 20 nigga I'm so hot still ...
Better broad, better automobile (Uhh)
Bet a yard? Naw. Bet a hundred mil
Then by the songs end I'll probably start another trend
I know everything you wann' do
I did all that by the age of twenty-one
By twenty-two,
I had that brand new Ac' coupe
I guess you could say that my legend just begun, I'm
Young enough to know the right car to buy
Yet grown enough not to put rims on it
I got that six-deuece with curtains, so you can't see me
And I didn't even have to put tints on it
I don't got the bright watch, I got the right watch
I don't buy out the bar, I bought the nightspot
I got the right stock, I- got
Stockbrokers that's movin' it like white tops
I know you like fuck! this is child abuse
Call DYFS, I might just be gettin' nicer
You young boys ain't ready for real
30's the new 20 nigga, I'm so hot still
I used to let my pants sag, not givin' a fuck
Baby boy now I'm all grown up
I used to cruise the used car lot, put chrome on the truck
Baby boy now I'm all grown up
I used to play the block like dat (like dat)
I used to carry knots like dat (like dat)
Now I got Black cards, good credit and such
Baby boy 'cause I'm all grown up
While handkerchief head Negros around the south are asking the government to pass laws making it "illegal for pants to sag" ... Jigga makes it disappear overnight by dropping the right words, the right way, over the right beat, with the right tone, and the right inflection and the right artistry at the right time - and makes it disappear overnight, by simply taking it out of style. Brilliant. One of the few black social engineers.
Betty Friedman. Abe Foxman. Rupert Murdoch. Jigga
Jigga is promoting being a grown up as sexy. I can't think of a more healthy message. Not only does he have the right message, he has secured the means to deliver it to millions. Who else can we say that about? Barack?
To think, as we speak, mental midgets are holding "hearings" to explore ways to "clean up hip hop". Amazing.
8 comments:
Good point. Jay Z has left the throwbacks and stabbings behind to become a mogul. Certainly, in the sense, he's role model. And he's got one woman too!
Justin,
You are right. But don't forget, when Jay made fun of Throwbacks on record, millions of cats who were too old to be wearing them in the first place stopped wearing them altogether. Including you.
Out of curiousity. Name another nearly as effective "role model".
Not saying they don't exist, mind you. But I'm just curious. Can you think of another American able to influence as many young people on such a fundamental level?
First he had 'em buying rims. Then he had 'em chasing diamonds. Now he has them pulling their pants up and wanting to buy stock. He is suggesting blunts are played out and traveling is in. Having "a" bad woman is in while bumpin' and grinding miscellaneous mediocre women is out. Acting your age is cool, childishness is out.
Next year maybe he'll spit:
"You got a baby momma nigga, I got a wife.
You tryin' to have fun nigga, I'm havin' a son."
Imagine the potential.
What's Barrack spittin'? ;-)
"The hateful lies that he may utter about Israel, the Holocaust"
I see your maturation from fiddy to Jigga. Jigga out of all of them is doing things that can be considered business like(a road map as to how to stay out of Rikers once you have made a little paper). Jigga represents enough of the clowing as he left Damon Dash and the knuckle heads behind... Conducting real business on and off the stage is most important. Showing respect for a sista versus photos of a sista's hands down your pants. These are the subtle differences between acceptable and non-productive behavior. A potential role model in terms of growing up becoming a man. Jordan never clowned. Tiger never clowns. Wynton never clowns. Jim Brown never clowns. There is something to be said about dignity. Maybe fiddy and snoop can learn a thing or two from Mr. Sean Carter.
for years i read articles and jay would say how he has pretty much always been in relationships, but he didn't want to mention it in songs. he went for big pimpin, and is that yo chick instead. "I don't even smoke" in one verse and "twist that" the next. the opportunity you mention was there a long time ago, he just needed his paper first, or for he himself to grow up because he too feared Jay the the one woman guy wouldn't resonate. its all business not some public service announcement. the people who bought Reasonable Doubt were growing with him. that audience could connect to 30's the new 20 because they were tiring of rims, platinum teeth and tall white tees. The fans were ready for it. I like Jay i just don't think its nearly as deep as you suggest. Now if you post some of Andre from Outkast's lyrics you'll see this grow up stuff times two.
"...make yo mama proud, take that thang two sizes down/ so you can look like the man that you are or rather could be/ i could give a damn bout your car but then i would be/ if it was considered a classic before the drastic change in production when cars were metal instead of plastic/ value is what i'm talkin' bout/ take two of these and walk it out/ you can't be the king of the parking lot forever..." - Dre from walk it out remix
International player w/UGK is worth peepin' too
KP
Some brothers do it without the fame too! Do your thing bro!
Led by CEO Gregory Jackson, Prestige Automotive reported total sales $1.5 billon, making it No. 1 on the BE AUTO DEALERS 100. Located in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, Prestige continues to thrive despite Detroit’s downturn, posting outstanding sales of Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, GM, Saturn, and Mercedes-Benz vehicles.
So is the line of demarcation between those who are grist for the point-source memetic engineering and those who have successfully commandeered the point-source machinery?
Have any of your exemplars truly "commandeered" any such machinery - or are they still just product?
Machinery is overrated.
Mere pipelines.
Content is king.
Are the people who delivered Picasso's canvasses any more relevant than the people who deliver Jay-Z's CD's?
Why?
Are the people who distributed Miles' wax any more relevant than the people who distribute Fiddy's downloads?
Why?
They can monopolize pipes and bandwidth and shelves at Barnes and Noble. But that can't monopolize spirit, which is the ultimate human currency.
"White men control Hip Hop" is a trendy theme these days.
The dismissive skepticism many people express towards Hip Hop, is not much different than some of the knee-jerk skepticism expressed towards CNu.
Their ability to appreciate is limited by their capacity to immediately understand.
In this era of immediate gratification and increasingly fragile egos one is much more likely to dismiss, than admit one does not yet get it.
I have a theory about black men who argue that white men ultimately hold all power and are responsible for all things effective. But we'll get into that later.
Beware The Tyranny of The Mediocre
I got to give Jay props for taking his financial affairs to the next level and being a shining expample to all our young millionaires in that regard. I see the attempt to promote a more positive message, and I appreciate it.
But how much force can that have when it's surrounded by negative messages. The young cats want what Jay got, and if they follow his blueprint, they got to start on the bottom, trap they way up, just like Hov. Pimping was o.k. when Jay did it so it must be o.k. now. Robbing and Stealing is just fine just so long as you get yours. Those messages also abound in jigga's lyrical catalogue.
It reminds me of all these pimping in the pulpit preachers these days. If you just listen to the message, it really sounds like good info. Love thy neighbor, respect and honor your parents, be thankful for your blessings, etc, etc. But I just cam't get past the total image that the messenger is giving me. When you tell me I should live like Jesus while you standing in my face living like Caesar, I get a very mixed message. Because the messenger is part of the message. You can't tell me you made it to the top slanging rocks, and then in the next breath tell me it's wrong for me to do it. Young people especially peep that kind of hypocrisy with the quickness.
This is my only problem with hip-hop. I don't expect any one artist or even hip hop as a whole to save the world. But as a cultural movement that I am very much a part of, I expected more of hip-hop culture than it has given me. Like you I do see much to be proud of in a lot of hip-hop, but frankly, some of it sickens me, and some of it makes me fear for my young brothers and sisters.
I understand the emergence of gangsta lyrics as the expression of the rage our communities had to deal with in the 80's and 90's. But very few of those cats ever grew up and used their well earned platforms for begin building. Instead they continued to degenerate even further into an abyss of decadence that the rest of us were busy trying to climb out of. And they passed that negativity on to the future generations of hip-hop.
We should praise Jay-Z, Diddy, 50, Mos Def, and all of the hip-hop community for the many good works in their art and in our communities. But we should, at the very same time and with no ambiguity, call them out for anything they do or say that contributes to perpetuating the negative behaviors and attitudes our young people are exhibiting these days.
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