One of my favorite songs is What More Can I Say? by Jay Z. I vividly remember the highly anticipated Black Album release. It was a big deal because Jay Z claimed it would be his last album, and that he would go into retirement after it. I was in the eleventh grade and had recently got my permit and as is usual with most kids, would routinely smoke pot and cruise around aimlessly with friends. This album would be on repeat during such outings. As an impressionable 16 year old born and raised in Brooklyn, listening to the lyrics, I was so moved, inspired and impressed by Jay Z’s accomplishments that he became an idol. I felt like he represented Brooklyn so well. He really showed how different he was from other rappers at the time in this album and particularly this song. His rhymes place him echelons above any rapper. He sums up his rise and current feelings about the industry and almost boasts about his rein over New York and Hip Hop yet he feels he isn’t given his due credit and thus feels its time to part ways with the business. Its just so straight forward and raw, its synonymous with Brooklyn and gives me chills listening to it. Hes sick!
Pound-for-pound, I’m the best to ever come around here
Excluding nobody, look what I embody:
The soul of a hustler, I really ran the street
A CEO’s mind, that marketing plan was me
And no I ain’t get shot up a whole bunch of times
Or make up shit in a whole bunch of lines
And I ain’t animated like, say, Busta Rhymes
But the real shit you get when you bust down my lines
Add that to the fact I went plat’ a bunch of times
Times that by my influence on pop culture
I’m supposed to be number one on everybody list
We’ll see what happens when I no longer exist
Fuck this
(Knocks the mic over)
Another random Jay Z lyric Squeeze 1st
It’s about to get so obscene in a minute
I seen and live it, I did some things I admit it
Wasn’t proud of it, but I was a child fuck it
Kept a pow tucked in a brown belt
Couldn’t sit down, big gun kept stickin my pelvis
Shit it was either that or be livin wit Elvis
Niggas is jealous, hell is hot, you heard X
Wanted to tell God that I don’t deserve this
Was afraid that he’d tell me I deserve less
My life was nervous, you haven’t heard stress
Til you heard the cries of my mama, me givin her drama
Told her I ain’t promised tomorrow, gotta live for the day
And before she could say Jay…………………..!
I was out the door, pouch full of raw, a outlaw mentality
Men gotta do men things for men salary
Bad Boy, not Puff or Mike Lowery, damn B.I.G. woulda been proud of me
