3.) Also on this album, Jay took subliminal shots at Mobb Deep (“Come and Get Me”), whom he also mentioned on his previous album, Vol. But by the release of his fourth album in 1999, Jay Z had obviously gotten over his grief as he entertained beef with then-little-known 50 Cent, giving him his first mainstream big ups in the beef arena. The Hip Hop community had largely chosen to favor unity, letting bygones be bygones as everyone was still healing from the jolting murders of the two biggest names in Hip Hop. Some People Hate: “ My attitude is fuck it cuz muthafuckas love it.”Īfter 1997, nobody in mainstream Hip Hop wanted to touch any beef. According to Jay, success sucks, and the game of Life has him jaded. While I don’t have any personal insight as to what Jay Z’s day to day reality is like, listening to his lyrics would lead one to believe that he is ungracious at best for the success and fame he has created. What is more vital than how much money you have is how often you are at peace, whether or not there is continuous joy in your life, and whether or not you can live with yourself at the end of the day. Jay has made it out of the hood and built a small empire ($150 million is small when speaking of empires) in the process, but what is the point, exactly? Who or what is he ultimately working for?įortunately, success is not strictly something that can be quantified by numbers of albums sold or how many dollars one has in his or her pocket or bank account if this were the case, a vast majority of the world’s population would be failures by default. If success is solely based on net worth, Jay has reached and surpassed standards held by the comparatively underprivileged masses. It is a commonly accepted fact that Jay Z is successful he has sold up to 50 million units in the United States, he tied Elvis for the second most number one studio albums sold, and he’s surely the most respected contemporary rapper in the game based on his business savvy and ability to amass gargantuan amounts of dollars. Success: “What I think of success? It sucks, too much stress.” As an admitted long-time fan of Jay Z, I feel that it is necessary to consider whether or not being a part of his fanbase is in alignment with me at this time in my life. Instead, I’d like to look at the information we know about Jay from a fresh perspective and pose some critical thought-based questions. Any factual logistic information I could provide here about Jay Z could easily be found on Wikipedia or some Hip Hop gossip website. We’re all familiar with the story about the Marcy Projects-bred, dope-dealing Shawn Carter who fell in love with the rap game leaving the dope game for true fame. In any case, when the smoke cleared and the bodies had been laid to rest, Jay Z emerged as the most dominant force in the game coming out of New York City. By this point, Jay was rebuilding his image with his third album after his second album left most fans disappointed and missing the Mafioso rap that he glamorized with Reasonable Doubt. it all ended with the successful assassination of both artists.
At the climax of this era of rivalries, the entire world watched as the media exacerbated animosities between the east and west coasts as represented by the camps of Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. During this time, Jay Z was a tranquil force coming off a first album in 1996 that sold modestly initially (compared to his most recent ten consecutive number one studio albums), reaching #25 on the Billboard top 200. From the late 1980s to the mid 1990s, Hip Hop was in its infancy and early adolescence the time was marked by a glamorization of mob/gang violence, and beef in Hip Hop was the fuel that propelled its popularity among the mainstream population. What Jay Z did accomplish, however, was one hell of a remodeling job on the game. Shawn Corey Carter may not be the original architect of Hip Hop (as we know it) he definitely didn’t write the blueprint and he surely didn’t lay any significant foundations like old heads Kool G Rap, Rakim, or Grandmaster Flash.
0 kommentar(er)
