“D.O.A” is cool, I get it. The Young Berg’s of the game have rendered the vocal effect somewhat corny and rinsed out. The thing that irks me about this song isn’t the fact someone is speaking out against the overuse of the auto-tune, its the fact that the one doing it is Jay-Z. It’s just out of character.

Let me start by saying, I’m probably this continents biggest Jay-Z fan stan. From the age of around 13 I’ve been obsessed with everything Roc-A-Fella. I know this mans lyrics back to front, from the “In My Lifetime” single to present day, and regard him as the artist that convinced me to make a career of this rap music. But beside Shawn Carter’s music, what made him the God MC was he was simply the coolest cunt alive, who’s trendsetting in pop culture was unrivaled in the late 90’s and the larger part of this decade. He always had that overly nonchalant persona too, reiterating his point by telling cats he’s “not a rapper” and that he was using rap as a vehicle to get out of the drug game, though he was simultaneously penning verses better than anyone… ever. This made the purists look like disgruntled old heads who didn’t understand the new wave of Hip-Hop, and before you knew it Young Hov had the culture eating out the palm of his hand.

It must be said though, he has always been more of a trend ambassador rather than creator. Others would catch the waves earlier, but he would surf it at its apex, better than the rest, so everyone on the shore knew he had owned it. He had a knack for knowing what was hot, and solidifying it as the rule of thumb in the industry. After Biggie and Nas’ seminal work with DJ Premier in the mid 90’s, he enlisted him to provide the gritty backdrop for his first two albums, marking some of the high points in both their careers. He also dabbled in the Bad Boy shiny-suit-80s-sample craze, marking a low point. Then in 1998 when the Ruff Ryders were riding high with Swizz Beatz’ Triton fueled soundscapes, and Timbaland had the world bouncing with Missy and various R&B acts, Jay-Z used their electro sensibilities for Volume’s 2 and 3 marking Primo’s decline from the mainstream and Diddy became known as more businessman than musician. In 2000 Ghostface Killah’s Supreme Clientele gained critical success for bringing back the soul, and Jay in turn got with youngsters Kanye West and Just Blaze to make the classic’s Dynasty: Roc La Familia and The Blueprint, meaning the Swizz’s of the world were bout to take a long hiatus from the spotlight. With clothing it was the same. You can find Big Boi rocking Mitchell & Ness throwbacks in the Aquemini booklet, but Jigga made it his own with the “throwback jersey and a fitted” line. He subsequently killed the fashion two years later, favouring the grown man look of a “crisp pair of jeans and a button up”. Hov embraced the trends of his culture, and let them enjoy unparalleled heights of success, then would end them before they grew stale. They were always his trends though, that he chose to love and leave at his pleasure, never coming off as an attempt to take away from the next man.

He has also never been one to abide to the the conventional laws of Hip-Hop. When folks were labeling Master P as moronic and talentless, he’d shout him out in songs as having the “hottest shit” out. When everyone outside of New Orleans were perplexed by Juvenile’s “Ha” he blessed the newcomer with a verse on the remix. When everyone was claiming Swizz’s production was worse than Hitler, he used those weird ass keyboard slides and presets to make anthems like “Money Cash Hoes” and “Jigga My Nigga”. Shit he did a verse for Punjabi MC! The mentoring of emerging talent, that people weren’t ready to recognize, continued throughout the years. He gave Kanye his first platform to spark his career as an MC. He took T.I. (a then local success only) on tour to open for him, Lupe too. He advised his Mrs to throw Lil Wayne on the “Soldier” remix, and the list continues.

This brings me to my point, when did Jigga become the disgruntled old head? The man that would say “rapping ass niggas, y’all funny to me” has for the first time voiced his displeasure with what’s hot, crusading for real hardcore Hip-Hop. And its hard for it not to come off with a tinge of jealousy. Jay-Hova using auto-tune would be hilarious, so its kind of like a skinny chick telling her girl to lose weight cause her ass looks nice’n’round in that dress. Jay-Z has explained that he’s cool with the handful of guys that patented it doing it, but the BET Awards was a perfect example of how that doesn’t add up as Jamie Foxx and Drake had two of the biggest songs of the night, auto-tune and all. Is it OK if the songs dope? Is it really “D.O.A (Unless Its Good Yo!)”. And then we have T-Pain, a confessed buffoon, disrespecting Jay-Z on the stage he made the premier Hip-Hop event, Summer Jam, which bookmarked the moment in time where his clout had officially faded. I’m not disheartened by the fact that Jay-Z is actually the Michael Jordan of rap. Verging on billionaire status, best to ever do it, but still trying to flex skills in a game that has changed dramatically since his heyday. I gain new levels of respect for those that continue to do their art against the odds, simply for the love and passion they have for it. Whether its MJ dancing his ass off at 50, or Jonah Lomu dreaming of an All Black start with a bung kidney. A better analogy is when a far past his prime Charles Barkley dissed Allen Iverson for “not playing the game right!”. Bitterness doesn’t suit super heroes. I guess Jigga said it best on the classic “Heart Of The City”, “oh you not feeling me? fine/ it costs you nothing, pay me no mind…what you eat don’t make me shit/ where’s the love?”.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 at 1:54 pm and is filed under Slick Talk, Waiata (Music). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.