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We would like to welcome Duane Lawton on board on Jay-zJournal.com. He will be dropping by once in a while to share his vision and research on lyrics by Jay-Z. We are honoured to have you and your work is already appreciated by us and we are sure it will for other Jay-Z fans. We love your stuff.
Succes
Julia
Jay-zJournal Team
I absolutely love rap collaborations. It’s a real treat to see two or more MCs brining their own style, creativity and interpretation to the same track. To me, music is like a conversation. The artist speaks and we as fans listen. A collaboration is like a conversation between two or more artists and we, the fans, get the chance to “ease drop”, if you will.
Jay-Z is a great artist whose body of work is unmatched in Hip-Hop. While he can obviously hold his own lyrically, he’s a great collaborator. He brings out the best in other MCs. Case in point: Memphis Bleek.
Bleek’s career never took off the way he, Jay, and fans like myself had hoped it would, but you just have to love his spirit, he gives it his all in the studio and on the stage and I think it’s pretty refreshing to see him still riding with Jay (I read somewhere that Bleek has been down with Jay since he was 15 years old! He’s 32 now).
The first time I heard Bleek was on “Coming of Age” from Jay’s classic debut album, Reasonable Doubt. The song tells the story about a successful and experienced hustler (Jay) who takes a young, hungry hustler in need of guidance (Bleek) under his wing. “Coming of Age” has the same impact of a book that’s a page-turner or a film that has you at the edge of your seat.
The drama continues a couple of albums later on “Coming of Age (Da Sequel)”. Memphis has joined Jay’s enterprise, soaked up the game from him and now they’re both successful in the drug trade but there’s tension in Bleek and Jay’s relationship that develops into conflict leading up to a confrontation.
Both the original “Coming of Age” and “Da Sequel” gives us some insight into the mentor/protégé relationship.
The tension, conflict and confrontation that we hear on “Coming of Age (Da Sequel)” are common in relationships of any kind. This build up not only occurs in the mentor/protégé relationship of drug dealers, it happens in relationships that we have with mentors in our personal or professional lives, in our friendships, relationships within our families, etc.
I think drama can be good for a relationship. Tension is a normal part of relating to someone else, it’s a part of any relationship’s “growing pains”. When tension grows, conflict develops. Conflict in life is inevitable. IT WILL HAPPEN! It's how we deal with and overcome the conflict that makes the difference between a confrontation that ends in stronger solidarity and one that ends in bitter discord.
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