The thing that makes me say I'm not a titty-popping Jay-Z fan is that for every album he comes out with, there's rarely more than two tracks I'm feeling. The Black Album was the last one to do this to me; "99 Problems", "Lucifer" and "Threat" were hot, but nothing else. Kingdom Come had nada, which i suppose balanced things out. This fact also makes it undeniable that I regard Jay as one of the GOATs, as much as I hate his swagger and highly unNas-like ability to make this hip hop shit look easy. To hit even the most hardened nay-sayer (and I can't even lay claim to that title, although I come pretty damn close) with a favourite track almost every album is something Lil' Wayne needs to start doing. Hell, Fabolous jacked Hov's style years before Weezy did, and he still can't come close to coming out with an album that has at least one song for every possible facet of hip hop listenerdom.
Enter "Roc Boys (And The Winner Is)". Just look at me: I detest the man for his cockiness and I love the song that glorifies it. I don't know if American Gangster: The Album is a true concept album or not, but I'm trying to enjoy a standalone song, so fuck it. Exaggerated though it might be, Jay's account of his crack dealing heyday is, pardon the pun, intoxicating: an unapologetic tale of forbidden success in an environment where so many good things are forbidden, 'illegal' was easily misinterpreted as 'for whitey only'. And to think The Hitmen produced this. Damn you, Diddy. Are the horns cheesy? Sure, but they beat cheesy synths any day. And Jay rhymes better than he has in a while - he's on point, he's funny, he flows flawlessly, and he engages your attention span throughout the song. It is, indeed, a celebration, bitches.
Here's the video:
p.s.: I just realized i stopped linking albums up in here, which might cause you some dismay. I'm going to start back on that ... as soon as I find some albums worth my upload time.
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