JAY-Z

Released: October 31, 2000

Songwriter: Just Blaze JAY-Z

Producer: Just Blaze

[Produced by Just Blaze]

[Intro]
It's the Dynasty, niggas
As promised
The world's most infamous, Roc-A-Fella Records
This is Roc La Familia
It's Young Hova
Beanie Sigel
Memphis Bleek
Amil-lion
It's the Dynasty, niggas
2000 to infinity
This is ghetto to ghetto, gutter to gutter
Street corner to street corner, project to project
Worldwide
Walk with us, niggas
Hoffa, Dash
It's The Dynasty, niggas
Check it out
Ugh, walk with me, talk to me, yo

[Verse]
The theme song to The Sopranos
Plays in the key of life on my mental piano
Got a strange way of seeing life, like
I'm Stevie Wonder with beads under the do-rag
Intuition is there, even when my vision's impaired, yeah
Knowing I can go just switching a spare
On the highway of life, nigga, it's sharp in my sight, oh!
Keen senses ever since I was a teen on the benches
Every time somebody like Ennis was mentioned
I would turn green—me, being in the trenches
Him, living adventurous, not worrying about expenditures
I'm braving temperatures below zero, no hero
No father figure; you gotta pardon a nigga
But I'm starving, my niggas, and the weight loss in my figure
Is starting to darken my heart, 'bout to get to my liver
Watch it, my niggas; I'm trying to be calm but I'm gon' get richer
Through any means with that thing that Malcolm palmed in the picture
Never read the Qur'an or Islamic scriptures
Only Psalms I read was on the arms of my niggas
Tattooed, so I carry on like I'm nonreligious
Clap whoever stand between Shawn and figures
Niggas say it's the dawn, but I'm superstitious
Shit is as dark as it's been, nothing has gone as you predicted
I move with biscuits, stop the heart of niggas acting too suspicious
This is food for thought—you do the dishes!

Having sold over 100 million records worldwide, and holding the solo artist record of 14 Billboard 200 #1 albums, Shawn “JAY-Z” Carter is possibly the most talented, accomplished and respected rapper of all-time. He has released 13 studio albums and five collaborative albums over his 30-year career.

Three of his albums, Reasonable Doubt, The Blueprint, and The Black Album, are considered landmarks in the genre, with all of them featured in Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Hov has won 21 Grammy Awards from sixty-four nominations, making him the 10th most awarded artist of all-time.

Legendary for never writing down his lyrics, JAY-Z’s flow is considered one of the greatest to grace the genre, his wordplay and metaphorical ability is unmatched, and his live shows push the envelope of what it means to be a hip hop artist. His MTV Unplugged appearance introduced the idea of having a full band (The Roots) backing up a hip hop artist at major concerts, and during his 2004 documentary Fade to Black he doubled down, selling out Madison Square Garden (in mere minutes) while featuring an enormous live band performance.

more tracks from the album

The Dynasty: Roc La Familia 2000

From the album

The Dynasty: Roc La Familia 2000 (2000)

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The Dynasty: Roc La Familia 2000