Let me begin by saying that as far as hip hop goes, this man is, according to me, the only one who hasn't completely sold out. He is true and has remained true to his art and has gained millions of fans worldwide in the process.
My relationship with this man began after 'Hard knock life' followed by The Blueprint. After hearing 'Girls, girls, girls' for the first time, i was immediately a fan. 'Takeover' (we runnin this rap shit!) was, to me, the best diss record from any rap artist. After Nas (lol). It was so clever and tactful and i was completely wowed. Thus, i began a relationship with Jayz a.k.a Hov. This man continued to wow me with "The Black Album" which i think deserves a spot in the hip hop hall of fame or something. I could write about all his albums all day but lets face it, the man's a genius and deserves the fruits of his labor.
When i became a Jayz fan, i never once went beyond the music. It was just me, Jayz and the cleverly written lyrics which flowed on one-of-a-kind beats. I never questioned the content of these lyrics or tried to figure out the meaning beneath the surface. I had heard of several rumors of him being involved in "cult-like activities" but i shrugged it all off because i'm not one to buy into rumor. With the release of BP3, these rumors of him being involved in satanism/devil worship, free masonary/illumiati and bla bla have surfaced even more to the point where it has become more difficult to ignore them, especially when other artists are confirming this. He doesn't help to dispel any of these rumors either in his creepy videos and not so subtle references to his free mason activities. He calls himself Hov which is supposedly a derivative of Jehovah or something like he is a god. His latest video of the track "on to the next one" off BP3 is a disturbing slideshow of different symbols and things which leads one to conclude, WTF?
It makes me ask several questions. Is he making a joke of all these rumors by portraying these cryptic images in his recent videos? is he actually involved in all this stuff or are we just a very critical audience reading too much into a video or some lyrics? Are we over analyzing or is this man in fact indirectly telling us about his religious practices? Did he simply go to far? As a fan, how do i continue to love his art when i don't agree with any of the things he is so accused of? If these rumors are indeed truths, then i am sorry to say that i will have to take some measures toward the termination of my relationship with this man. And as with any ex, i will only admire from a distance while moving on to the next.
Maybe i am one of these over analyzing critics but i had to say something about his latest video. I mean the man had his video premier on NBC at 12:00am on New year. Who has that kind of power??? At the end of the day, though this relationship is one which has lasted, he's not paying my bills or putting food in my mouth. I'm the one "buying"(ehem) his music and paying his bills! so does this warrant as much attention as i am giving it? Hmmm
peace&love
So I just watched the Jay-Z video and I see where your coming from. I've always liked Jay-Z because I grew up on rap. But I'm also very in touch with my spiritual life and wasn't a big fan of the rumors i had been hearing about this man's practices. However, the video looks like a force to me. It seems he is just trying to play along with the rumors that have been said about him. Although I think this video is a joke, I do think he has some issues in terms of religion based on his lyrics like "Jesus can't save you. Life starts when the church ends" in Empire State of MInd. It is hard not to listen to his music because he is so talented. But it may have to be done.
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