I’m in no mood to re-hash the “Jockin’ Jay” debate. Promise. However, this weekend in a bout of channel surfing, I caught some of VH1′s 100 Best Songs of the 90s Countdown. Along with reminding me that I really fucking hate VH1 talking heads, the five minutes I watched featured some (obvious) gems. Bell Biv Devoe’s “Poison.” Sophie B. Hawkin’s “Damn I Wish Your Lover” (yes, really) and “Can I Get A…” one of the finest Jay singles ever.
So can we get a moment to ruminate on the fact that Sean Carter was so red-hot in ’98, that he was somehow able to extemporaneously kick genius for Brett Ratner film soundtracks just to shut Amil up, keep things running smoothly and in the process also appease Def Jam. I mean was there any other explanation for the presence of Ja Rule? Speaking of which, do you know what the odds are of making a great song featuring both Ja Rule and Amil? The Rain Man couldn’t unlock the probability. (No Tropic Thunder).
Also, while we’re on the subject of Ja, in hindsight can we also safely concur that no rapper in the history of time has ever portrayed a less convincing thug. Dude looks like Dino, the dinosaur from the Flintstones, in a doo-rag.
What You Ain’t Know? It’s Easy To Pimp a Ho
Baby Girl Best Have My Money Fo’ Sho
Download:
MP3: Jay-Z ft. Amil & Ja Rule-”Can I Get A”
22 comments
goathair says:
August 17, 2008 at 11:34 pm (UTC -7)
It’s times like these where I’m glad to be up in the middle of the night. Stellar.
Jigga Man says:
August 18, 2008 at 12:01 am (UTC -7)
I got the Queen Bey and more cheese than Green Bay
But truth be told, I wanted Amil to rhyme like Jean Grae
I keep it so real but couldn’t get a *What What*
She Young Berg’d me like L’oreal and said no to my dark butt.
douglas martin says:
August 18, 2008 at 8:09 am (UTC -7)
although i’m not quite sold on the greatness on “can i get a…” (in fact, it’s the only song on hard knock life that i’ll skip without warning), i just wanted to point out that jay and ja had some unimpeachable team-ups. remember that one joint with hov, ja, and DMX on ja rule’s album? that one was nasty!
i always thought that “it’s alright” was severely underrated. and before you go bleek-hating, i’m pretty sure hov wrote his verse. i read the credits.
Tray says:
August 18, 2008 at 9:41 am (UTC -7)
If he were so red-hot in ’98, you’d think Volume 2 would’ve been a good album. Okay, it was good, but not very, and when he said he dumbed down his lyrics on The Black Album, I tend to think he was referring to stuff like Volume 2 more than anything.
Passion of the Weiss says:
August 18, 2008 at 9:45 am (UTC -7)
Volume 2 is a very good album. Probably my third favorite. I never saw and still don’t see its lyrics as being dumbed-down. If anything, I think he was referring to absolutely idiotic songs including but certainly not limited to: “Jigga My N-A,” “Change Clothes,” and yeah, maybe to a degree “Hard Knock Life.”
Disco Vietnam says:
August 18, 2008 at 12:20 pm (UTC -7)
His verse on this is a masterpiece
Passion of the Weiss says:
August 18, 2008 at 12:24 pm (UTC -7)
Yup.
Zilla Rocca says:
August 18, 2008 at 1:13 pm (UTC -7)
I was listening to the MTV Unplugged version of this over the weekend driving back from Rhode Island and realized how his lyrics on “Can I Get A” which I’ve heard about 1 billion times…just might be the best song written about golddiggers.
“Murder Gram” and “It’s Murda” proved why Ja should NEVER be on the same song with Jay. And “It’s Alright” is my favorite slept-on Jay-Z club joint. “On the jew-els, I blew more money than Latrell” that’s my shit!
DocZeus says:
August 18, 2008 at 2:24 pm (UTC -7)
About half of Vol. 2 is simply fantastic and half I skip without question.
And “Hard Knock Life” is STILL Jay’s best single to date.
Disco Vietnam says:
August 18, 2008 at 4:16 pm (UTC -7)
i cosign all that
Tray says:
August 18, 2008 at 4:18 pm (UTC -7)
“…. and half I skip without question.”
Exactly.
Sach says:
August 18, 2008 at 4:56 pm (UTC -7)
Volume 2 is very solid. A couple of duds on the back end but for the most part it’s possibly the most succesful pop-minded gangster rap album since Doggystyle. Dude sold 5 mill and did it without resorting to Puff/Nelly/Murder Inc level pandering.
Vol3 on the other hand had a LOT of filler between its shining moments.
Daniel says:
August 18, 2008 at 6:07 pm (UTC -7)
Speaking of “Can I Get A…,” there is still like 15-20% of the population that still thinks the song’s chorus goes “Can I get a uh-uh” because they’ve never heard the album version of the song. That always blows me away.
What songs are people skipping on Vol. 2? The first 11 songs (up to “Reservoir Dogs,” I think, which is the shit) are pretty solid.
DocZeus says:
August 18, 2008 at 7:21 pm (UTC -7)
“What songs are people skipping on Vol. 2? The first 11 songs (up to “Reservoir Dogs,” I think, which is the shit) are pretty solid.”
Basically everything that weren’t the singles, Resevoir Dogs, and the Intro.
“Hand It Down” is the best thing Bleek has ever been involved in…except of course, Garnier Fructis Shampoo. Siiiilky smooth, motherfuckers.
Tray says:
August 18, 2008 at 7:26 pm (UTC -7)
Puff-level pandering… I think it’s sort of a draw between sampling the Police and 70s children’s musicals, but that aside, I honestly prefer No Way Out. Better beats, better singles, better guest appearances… and a way worse leading rapper, but I’m not a huge fan of Jay’s ’98 flow.
Disco Vietnam says:
August 18, 2008 at 7:41 pm (UTC -7)
A Week Ago remains his greatest achievement I’m convinced.
douglas martin says:
August 19, 2008 at 3:54 am (UTC -7)
yeah, he sampled 70′s musicals, but he also sampled the talking heads (again, “it’s alright”). “hard knock life,” whether people like it or not, is when hov started having MTV on lock. i do think it’s one of his finest singles, as well. although my favorite jay single is “streets is watching,” it was a little dark for radio. “hard knock life” was a perfect crossover single.
volume 2, behind the early (reasonable doubt, of course), mid (blueprint) and late (the black album)-period classics, is my favorite jay record. it’s cluttered with guest appearances, but that doesn’t diminish the quality of the album. “reservoir dogs” is one of the best posse cuts of the 90′s.
DocZeus says:
August 19, 2008 at 5:48 am (UTC -7)
“Puff-level pandering… I think it’s sort of a draw between sampling the Police and 70s children’s musicals, but that aside, I honestly prefer No Way Out.”
What your failing to see is that sampling a Broadway musical like “Annie” was such a left field move for a hardcore rapper in ’98 there was a MORE than a decent chance that it would spectacularly fail. There was a 90% chance that record would flop and end his career and a 10% chance it would make him the biggest star on the planet. We look at the song now and we are like that such’s an obvious pop move but back then that was borderline insane to release. That’s why that song was genius and Jay’s best single to date.
“Hard Knock Life” was avant-garde in ’98.
Drewski says:
August 19, 2008 at 11:26 am (UTC -7)
“We look at the song now and we are like that such’s an obvious pop move but back then that was borderline insane to release… ‘Hard Knock Life’ was avant-garde in ‘98.”
Absolutely — I couldn’t have said it better. And it’s a testament to how weirdly successful it was that the song doesn’t strike us as at all strange when we hear it now. I mean, he’s dropping lyrics about murdering people right next to a cheery Broadway children’s choir. It seems like a joke — who in their right mind would do something like that?
It should have been commercial suicide, and yet it was just the opposite. “Hard Knock Life” is basically Jigga’s “Springtime for Hitler.”
And “Can I Get a…” is definitely an above average pop song, but I have a sort of Pavlovian response to the sound of Ja Rule’s voice that instantly puts me in a bad mood.. He’s certainly not the worst MC in history or anything, but I just HATE the guy.
douglas martin says:
August 19, 2008 at 8:36 pm (UTC -7)
zeus, you’re 100% OTM. “hard knock life” really was avant garde in ’98.
drew, mad props on comparing it to “springtime for hitler.” although it wasn’t designed to fail, it’s one of those singles that really COULD have failed spectacularly, and the greatest rapper alive could have been just a footnote as “the guy who rapped over that song that sampled orphan annie.”
this is why “hard knock life” is jay’s finest commercial single.
Tray says:
August 20, 2008 at 4:11 pm (UTC -7)
Yeah, it was incredibly avant-garde in the context of the genre, but that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t a pander, or play if you prefer, for a larger pop audience that didn’t care, or even know, what the conventions of hardcore rap were. It’s the sort of thing you could play for your white middle-aged parents – who of course weren’t thinking, “gee, hardcore rapper over kiddie musical, this is kind of pushing the envelope,’ but rather were thinking, “now this is rap even I can like.” The same’s true of Kanye. Very avant-garde for a rapper in 2003 to run around wearing all this preppy stuff and bitching about the time he fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into a truck, but to this whole larger audience that doesn’t give a shit about rap conventions – in fact, doesn’t listen to much rap precisely because of the conventions – it was like, “hey, a preppy emo rapper!”
S. Potter says:
August 21, 2008 at 8:36 am (UTC -7)
Better, older and even more fantastic was “Time to Build,” a track from Mic Geronimo, which featured not only an early Jay-Z but also early cuts from Ja Rule and DMX.