JAY-Z

Released: May 16, 2015

Songwriter: JAY-Z

[Verse]
So I'm the bad guy now I hear, because I don’t go with the flow
Don’t ever go with the flow, be the flow
And I don’t need no middle man to talk to my niggas
I understand if you don’t understand, I figure I’m Jigga
That’s where we differ
I take what’s mine, you accept what they they give you, I get you
I don’t take no checks I take my respect
Pharrell even told me go with the safest bet
Jimmy Iovine offered a safety net
Google dangled around a crazy check
I feel like YouTube is the biggest culprit
Them niggas pay you a tenth of what you supposed to get
You know niggas die for equal pay right?
You know when I work I ain't your slave right?
You know I ain't shucking and jiving and high fiving
You know this ain't back in the days right?
But I can't tell, like the way they killed Freddie Gray right
Shot down Mike Brown how they did Tray right?
Let them continue choking niggas
We gonna turn style, I ain't your token nigga
You know I came in this game independent right?
Tidal, my own label, same difference
Oh niggas is skeptical as their own shit
You bought 9 iPhones and Steve Jobs is rich
Phil Knight worth trillions you still bought those kicks
Spotify is 9 billion they ain't say shit
Lucy you got some 'splaining to do
The only one they hating on look the same as you
I know they trying to bamboozle you
Spending millions on media trying to confuse you
I had to talk to myself, Hov you used to it
It's politics as usual

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.

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