August 01, 2006 @ 6:25 pm

OPINION: Grown Man Style

Nova Slim

“You only know what the single is and single that out to be the meaning of what he’s about.” – Shawn Carter How badly does hip hop need Shawn Corey Carter? This is the question I’ve been asking myself since November 25th, 2003. Although many of us took Jay-Z’s retirement with a well-warranted grain of salt, we wondered just how much of a loss we’d suffer without our yearly Jigga release. Since then, we’ve seen the public pass on Beans and Bleek while Kanye West broke out as Roc-A-Fella’s marquee star. And just when we thought the mainstream embrace of crunk was passé, the South usurped New York’s throne with hit after commercial hit, causing some to wonder if New York had lost control of its baby. right Jigga has reared his head every now and then with Rick Ross, Young Jeezy and Pharrell. He publicly ignored Cam’s desperate cries for attention and attempted to galvanize the hip hop community into boycotting a product that its maker didn’t want us drinking in the first place. That’s right. He publicly denounced what was arguably his muse to make a “point” that had a lot of us scratching our heads. Is this "Grown Man Style" or a way to keep his name on our lips? But that all came and went with a giggle and now comes the news that Jigga is indeed working on another album. Is this the same album that he’s allegedly been working on for the past three years? Or is this the official album that will place him in competition with his Def Jam signees, most notably Nas? According to Timbaland, it is. And while we’ve all questioned the Michael Jordan of Rap’s loose definition of “retirement”, this return to the studio couldn’t come at a better time. This writer feels like he’s been outgrowing hip hop over the past couple of Jigga-free years. At first, I attributed this to simply becoming older. As someone who’s about as old as hip hop, seeing it develop from niche status to major business, it seems to have already peeked. Jay-Z’s “grown man” aesthetic appeals to me, natch. He symbolizes forward movement while keeping his ears and eyes to the streets. Say what you will about his perceived superficiality, gross usage of the n-bomb in multiple song titles and irresponsible perpetuation of the drug game, Jay-Z has made moves in this business that have forever changed the way we look at it. A new Jay-Z album, if done right, could reboot New York and hip hop in general. I’m sure Bill Gates would agree. Read more vibe.com online exclusives.

Article tags: Jay-z, Grown Man Style 

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