# Jay-Z Deep Dive: Best Songs, Albums & Top 10 Picks | Bald Brothers

An episode of [The Bald Brothers Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1652772265), 27 Oct 2026, 1 h 09 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/8e215d59-cd7c-4cab-97b0-b4a2014d6a6c/e1cea4d0-b352-483e-ac8b-b4ef0187edea/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=fd57b390-fede-4dd1-aa14-b4a2014d6a83

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: All right, here we go.
[0:00] Speaker 2: What up, y'all? It's your boy, Kemo State.
[0:02] Speaker 1: Tony Baker.
[0:03] Speaker 3: This is the Ball Brothers.
[0:04] Speaker 2: Podcast, where me and Tony make up things to talk about,
[0:08] Speaker 2: go on a whole bunch of tangents based off the
[0:10] Speaker 2: main topic.
[0:12] Speaker 3: I laugh a lot. I get sweaty.
[0:14] Speaker 2: And then I go home, and he goes home, and
[0:16] Speaker 2: we say, text each other, man, that podcast was a
[0:19] Speaker 2: good time.
[0:19] Speaker 1: Man, though.
[0:20] Speaker 3: We text each other, man, the Ball Brothers is a
[0:23] Speaker 3: good time.
[0:23] Speaker 1: It was a good time.
[0:24] Speaker 2: We hope you guys enjoy it as much as we do.
[0:26] Speaker 2: So we've been doing these actor deep dives. And we
[0:30] Speaker 2: had an idea to do a musician deep dive. We're
[0:33] Speaker 2: going to kick it off with Jay-Z. Since he announced
[0:36] Speaker 2: that he is going to be performing at the Super
[0:39] Speaker 2: Bowl this year, here's what we do. Jay-Z, first song
[0:44] Speaker 2: you remember hearing. Favorite song, best song, best album, least
[0:49] Speaker 2: favorite album, favorite music video, favorite feature. Now, favorite feature,
[0:54] Speaker 2: are we going them on somebody else's album or somebody else's?
[0:59] Speaker 3: Yeah, their album.
[1:00] Speaker 1: Favorite feature would be them featuring on somebody else's song.
[1:03] Speaker 3: Okay, them featuring somebody else's song.
[1:05] Speaker 2: Most underrated song, overrated song, collab we'd like to see,
[1:10] Speaker 2: and then top 10 songs.
[1:14] Speaker 1: That's going to be tough.
[1:15] Speaker 2: That's going to be tough. Especially with an artist like Jay-Z.
[1:18] Speaker 2: I'm going to just be throwing stuff out there.
[1:20] Speaker 3: And it's okay.
[1:21] Speaker 1: I ain't even got it together.
[1:23] Speaker 2: And that's fine. And when we do somebody like Stevie Wonder, man,
[1:26] Speaker 2: it's just going to be, there's just too much.
[1:30] Speaker 3: It's just too much.
[1:31] Speaker 1: It's too much real estate.
[1:32] Speaker 3: There's too many.
[1:33] Speaker 1: Ten songs is tough.
[1:35] Speaker 3: But we got to make it tough, Tone.
[1:36] Speaker 1: All right.
[1:36] Speaker 2: All right, let's kick it off. The first Jay-Z song
[1:40] Speaker 2: you remember hearing. This is also interesting because me and
[1:43] Speaker 2: Tony have totally different hip hop experiences.
[1:46] Speaker 1: Oh, for sure.
[1:47] Speaker 2: I grew up in the church. I was not deep
[1:49] Speaker 2: into the albums. Y'all know that. This is also for
[1:52] Speaker 2: you at home to decide for yourself. Don't get mad
[1:55] Speaker 2: at me because I'm not going to lie. If the
[1:57] Speaker 2: first song that I came up with was Magnum Carter,
[1:59] Speaker 2: Holy Grail, then let it be.
[2:01] Speaker 1: Okay?
[2:02] Speaker 3: That would be crazy. I'm going to keep it honest.
[2:04] Speaker 3: That's not the case. Keep it honest. But I'm going
[2:06] Speaker 3: to keep it honest.
[2:08] Speaker 2: All right. What's the first song you ever remember hearing?
[2:10] Speaker 1: With Jay-Z on it, or does it have to be
[2:12] Speaker 1: his song?
[2:13] Speaker 3: It could be Jay-Z on it.
[2:15] Speaker 4: The first time I remember hearing Jay-Z, it was on
[2:18] Speaker 4: a song called It's Time to Build by Mike Geronimo.
[2:23] Speaker 4: Mike Geronimo was a Queens rapper. He was down with
[2:27] Speaker 4: Irv Gotti and them back when... Back when Irv Gotti
[2:31] Speaker 4: had the Cash Money click, this was before Cash Money.
[2:34] Speaker 3: Okay.
[2:35] Speaker 4: And on this song, Mike Geronimo's album came out. It
[2:38] Speaker 4: was called The Natural. It came out in 95. On
[2:42] Speaker 4: the song A Time to Build, it was Jay-Z, DMX.
[2:47] Speaker 1: Ja Rule. What year is that?
[2:49] Speaker 4: On one track, 95. So this is before any of
[2:52] Speaker 4: them ever put out any solo album. Those three were
[2:57] Speaker 4: on the same track.
[2:59] Speaker 3: And this is the song you're talking about? Yes. I've
[3:00] Speaker 3: never even heard of Mike Geronimo.
[3:02] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[3:03] Speaker 1: Yep.
[3:04] Speaker 3: He's a rapper?
[3:05] Speaker 1: He's a rapper from Queens.
[3:07] Speaker 3: Did he ever make it big?
[3:08] Speaker 1: I mean, he never really blew up like that.
[3:12] Speaker 3: Outside of New York?
[3:14] Speaker 1: Or period?
[3:14] Speaker 4: Well, I knew about him outside of New York, but
[3:16] Speaker 4: he just never exploded.
[3:18] Speaker 2: I've never heard of Mike Geronimo.
[3:20] Speaker 1: That song, A Time to.
[3:21] Speaker 4: Build, had all of them on there, and it was
[3:24] Speaker 4: before any of them debuted with an album.
[3:26] Speaker 1: Wow. Yeah. That was my first time taking Jay-Z in.
[3:30] Speaker 4: And even around that same time, maybe even a little
[3:33] Speaker 4: bit earlier, Big Daddy Kane had a song called Show
[3:37] Speaker 4: and Prove, and Jay-Z was on there.
[3:39] Speaker 3: Okay.
[3:40] Speaker 1: That might have.
[3:43] Speaker 3: Maybe that.
[3:43] Speaker 1: I can't remember which song came out first.
[3:46] Speaker 3: Got you.
[3:46] Speaker 1: But Jay-Z was on there as well. So it would
[3:49] Speaker 1: have to be between one of those two. Okay.
[3:51] Speaker 2: Give me a second, because I'm checking some dates.
[3:53] Speaker 4: While you're checking, man, So, Show and Prove was a
[3:57] Speaker 4: Big Daddy Kane song. It had Old Dirty Bastards on there, Cheyenne, Jay-Z,
[4:03] Speaker 4: and I forget who else was on there. Some dude
[4:06] Speaker 4: with like a high-pitched voice. But that was like an
[4:11] Speaker 4: early Jay-Z exposure right there.
[4:13] Speaker 1: I don't remember Hawaiian Sophie.
[4:15] Speaker 4: I know a lot of people talk about the Jazz-O song,
[4:17] Speaker 4: but I don't remember.
[4:18] Speaker 1: Him on there. You never even heard of it.
[4:20] Speaker 3: Mine is 1998.
[4:21] Speaker 2: Wow.
[4:25] Speaker 1: Hard Knock Life?
[4:25] Speaker 3: Hard Knock Life. I was in 10th grade.
[4:29] Speaker 2: Wow. And Hard Knock Life came out, and I'm like, yo.
[4:32] Speaker 2: It was the song, Hard Knock Life. Hard Knock Life.
[4:34] Speaker 2: I remember the... Was it an Annie sample?
[4:38] Speaker 1: Yeah, Annie sample.
[4:39] Speaker 3: Annie sample.
[4:39] Speaker 2: Of course, I knew of Annie. And I remember hearing
[4:43] Speaker 2: this like, yo, I like this. In El Paso, Texas.
[4:47] Speaker 2: And it's so interesting, because I lived in North Carolina
[4:49] Speaker 2: prior to that, and that was when I was on
[4:51] Speaker 2: the East Coast, West Coast stuff. But I feel like,
[4:53] Speaker 2: because I was in North Carolina... North Carolina was more
[4:55] Speaker 2: heavily influenced by the South than New York.
[4:58] Speaker 1: Okay.
[4:58] Speaker 3: To me, at least with my friends.
[5:00] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[5:00] Speaker 3: So I was much more up on Dungeon Family, Outkast.
[5:04] Speaker 4: Okay.
[5:04] Speaker 2: You know, I remember Cool Breeze.
[5:09] Speaker 1: Yeah, Cool Breeze.
[5:09] Speaker 2: Cool Breeze.
[5:10] Speaker 1: Watch for the hook.
[5:11] Speaker 3: Watch for the hook. But, I mean, New York, you
[5:13] Speaker 3: obviously hear of DMX.
[5:14] Speaker 2: I mean, Biggie and the huge people, but Jay-Z came
[5:18] Speaker 2: on to me in 19, came into my, periphery.
[5:23] Speaker 1: Came on to me was wild.
[5:24] Speaker 3: Man, I just.
[5:25] Speaker 1: Came on to me was wild.
[5:27] Speaker 2: I was hoping you would stall me out, man.
[5:33] Speaker 1: Jay-Z came on to me in 98. And then I
[5:35] Speaker 1: said came into me.
[5:37] Speaker 2: And then I came into my periphery.
[5:40] Speaker 4: If you was on there with Cam and Mase, they
[5:43] Speaker 4: would have hoisted you onto that grill. The whole episode
[5:49] Speaker 4: would have been about what you just said.
[5:55] Speaker 1: He came on to me and came into me. God damn, dog.
[6:00] Speaker 2: Izzy was busy in 1998, man.
[6:02] Speaker 1: The fact that you tried to clean it up, he
[6:04] Speaker 1: came on to me. Wait, no. He came into me.
[6:07] Speaker 2: Oh, oh.
[6:08] Speaker 1: I think that's worse. You made it worse. I'm sorry.
[6:12] Speaker 1: The thing.
[6:15] Speaker 2: Is, Jay-Z was inside of me. Listen, I became aware
[6:22] Speaker 2: of his music, is what I want to say. But yeah, 1998,
[6:28] Speaker 2: Hard Knock Live.
[6:29] Speaker 1: That's his best-selling album, by the way.
[6:31] Speaker 3: Is it?
[6:32] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[6:33] Speaker 1: Really? That's his best-selling album.
[6:35] Speaker 2: Wow, I didn't know that. So yeah, I remember he was...
[6:38] Speaker 2: Because you remember my hip-hop experience, for the most part,
[6:43] Speaker 2: was big radio.
[6:46] Speaker 3: Songs, songs with really memorable... Music videos.
[6:51] Speaker 4: So let me ask you this. You never heard Ain't
[6:53] Speaker 4: No Nigga with him and Foxy?
[6:55] Speaker 2: Ain't No Nigga.
[6:57] Speaker 1: Almost. On the Nugget Professor soundtrack?
[7:01] Speaker 2: You absolutely right.
[7:02] Speaker 1: That was 96.
[7:04] Speaker 3: That is the first song.
[7:05] Speaker 2: Okay.
[7:06] Speaker 1: Ain't No Nigga.
[7:07] Speaker 2: That, with Ain't No Nigga Otherwise, absolutely. I was in
[7:11] Speaker 2: North Carolina then.
[7:12] Speaker 1: They threw that on the Nutty Professor soundtrack, too.
[7:15] Speaker 2: I didn't even, maybe because it was on Nutty Professor,
[7:17] Speaker 2: I didn't associate that as like, but that's 1,000% the
[7:21] Speaker 2: first song.
[7:22] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[7:23] Speaker 2: I totally forgot about that.
[7:25] Speaker 4: No one can you better.
[7:29] Speaker 1: She's surrounding you in love.
[7:31] Speaker 2: Cause you ain't got nothing where the... Man. I don't
[7:35] Speaker 2: know if I knew that was Jay-Z, though.
[7:37] Speaker 1: Oh, that makes sense.
[7:38] Speaker 2: Like, I remember just liking that song, but I don't
[7:41] Speaker 2: remember being like, oh, that's Jay-Z.
[7:43] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[7:44] Speaker 2: And in retrospect, I realized it was Jay-Z, but I
[7:46] Speaker 2: remember Hard Knock Life like, this is Jay-Z.
[7:49] Speaker 1: Who is this guy?
[7:50] Speaker 2: Yeah, like, but it's absolutely that song.
[7:52] Speaker 3: Dang.
[7:53] Speaker 1: Okay.
[7:53] Speaker 2: Good call on that, Tom. All right.
[7:57] Speaker 3: Favorites. Favorite Jay-Z song.
[8:01] Speaker 1: Oh, we doing this early.
[8:02] Speaker 2: Yeah, that's second up.
[8:04] Speaker 4: Favorite Jay-Z. My favorite Jay-Z song is Dead Presidents. 1996. Yeah,
[8:09] Speaker 4: that's my favorite Jay-Z song. Got the Nas sample. I
[8:12] Speaker 4: love the beat on that song. And that's what made
[8:15] Speaker 4: me get the album. This song is great.
[8:19] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[8:19] Speaker 4: So that's still my favorite Jay-Z song. That's my favorite
[8:23] Speaker 4: Jay-Z album.
[8:24] Speaker 1: Reasonable Doubt.
[8:25] Speaker 3: That's a lot of people. That's his first album?
[8:27] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[8:28] Speaker 1: A lot of people, they always say the Blueprint are reasonable.
[8:31] Speaker 2: Yeah, those are the one or two. I actually went
[8:36] Speaker 2: back through Jay-Z's catalog and listened to all his albums.
[8:42] Speaker 2: three or four years ago. I was just like, Kev,
[8:46] Speaker 2: go through the album. And I knew way more songs
[8:49] Speaker 2: than I realized.
[8:50] Speaker 3: But I got it.
[8:51] Speaker 2: I was like, oh, dang, this nigga was really, really rapping.
[8:54] Speaker 2: He's very good, and I realize I like this type
[8:58] Speaker 2: of rapper. Jay-Z makes you a passenger in the story
[9:02] Speaker 2: of his life. Specifically when he's rapping, I remember the song,
[9:06] Speaker 2: but y'all know when he's like, the police is like
[9:10] Speaker 2: going to glove compartment.
[9:11] Speaker 1: He was like, Oh, that's a problem.
[9:14] Speaker 3: Yeah. I, I feel like I'm watching.
[9:16] Speaker 1: He took us through there. Oh man.
[9:17] Speaker 3: I'm in there.
[9:18] Speaker 1: He took us through there. He took us through there.
[9:20] Speaker 2: Right. Came on to me, came into me. Now he
[9:22] Speaker 2: took us through there.
[9:23] Speaker 3: All right. We're doing something with Jay-Z that we shouldn't
[9:25] Speaker 3: be doing. He just took us along. Well, I don't even.
[9:30] Speaker 1: Want to say to our backs out.
[9:31] Speaker 3: That don't even make sense.
[9:32] Speaker 1: He blew our backs out.
[9:36] Speaker 2: I was going to say he took us along for
[9:38] Speaker 2: the ride, but this is all so crazy. Blew our
[9:40] Speaker 2: backs out.
[9:41] Speaker 4: He talked us through it. He talked us through it.
[9:44] Speaker 4: But he really did talk us through it.
[9:46] Speaker 2: I can see the police officer in the glove compartment.
[9:49] Speaker 2: And also, I don't know these things. So as far
[9:52] Speaker 2: as like, I don't know if your glove compartment's locked,
[9:53] Speaker 2: you need a warrant, trunk's locked. I don't know any
[9:56] Speaker 2: of these crime things. So I'm like, oh, I didn't
[9:58] Speaker 2: even know. I'm not getting pulled over. over. I don't
[10:00] Speaker 2: even have a car. I don't interact with the police
[10:03] Speaker 2: a lot. So I'm like, I had no idea that
[10:05] Speaker 2: that's how this worked. But I love, like you can
[10:08] Speaker 2: see the stories that he's telling.
[10:11] Speaker 3: Oh, sure.
[10:11] Speaker 2: Okay. My favorite Jay-Z song is Song Cry.
[10:18] Speaker 1: Song Cry is amazing.
[10:19] Speaker 2: Song Cry is yours, man.
[10:21] Speaker 1: That's a great song.
[10:22] Speaker 2: Can't see him coming down my high, so I gotta
[10:25] Speaker 2: make this song cry.
[10:27] Speaker 1: This is human Jay-Z, man. That's what I was saying earlier.
[10:32] Speaker 4: Jay-Z, he was telling stories and street tales, but I
[10:36] Speaker 4: didn't really get a bead on his humanity until the
[10:40] Speaker 4: Blueprint and the Black Album. That's when I was like,
[10:43] Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying? I'm listening to songs December 4th.
[10:45] Speaker 4: I hear his mom in the beginning. talking about him
[10:48] Speaker 4: growing up. So now I'm getting like life, Jay-Z, rather
[10:52] Speaker 4: than the flash and the drug dealing and the pimp
[10:55] Speaker 4: fly shit.
[10:55] Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[10:56] Speaker 3: Which is all cool.
[10:57] Speaker 1: Which is great.
[10:58] Speaker 3: But I love it introspective.
[10:59] Speaker 1: But now, you know what I'm saying? Let me know
[11:01] Speaker 1: who you will. Let me know who you will. Yeah,
[11:04] Speaker 1: we big pimping and spending time.
[11:06] Speaker 2: For sure, we spending time.
[11:07] Speaker 1: Yeah, you know what I'm saying? But then, you know,
[11:09] Speaker 1: you got feelings.
[11:10] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[11:11] Speaker 4: You never loved a girl, you know what I'm saying?
[11:13] Speaker 2: Take me into your life.
[11:15] Speaker 1: Take us through this.
[11:16] Speaker 3: Yes.
[11:17] Speaker 1: Yeah. So Song Cry is amazing. Song Cry is amazing.
[11:20] Speaker 1: All right.
[11:21] Speaker 3: Best song.
[11:25] Speaker 1: Best song. Yeah.
[11:26] Speaker 2: And here's my problem with this. Man, this is tough, right?
[11:33] Speaker 2: Because Jay-Z's best song to me is going to be
[11:43] Speaker 2: Nostalgia Laden.
[11:45] Speaker 1: Okay.
[11:45] Speaker 3: And it's because of.
[11:46] Speaker 2: It's going to be Big Pimpin', and I'm going to
[11:48] Speaker 2: tell you why. I love Big Pimpin'. I was in
[11:51] Speaker 2: Texas when this song came out. So the UGK factor.
[11:56] Speaker 3: Was up there.
[11:57] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[11:58] Speaker 2: The music video at that time of my life, I
[12:01] Speaker 2: love everything. But Jay-Z's verse, Pimp C, and Bun B,
[12:09] Speaker 2: that is a perfect song.
[12:12] Speaker 1: It wasn't no fat on the bone.
[12:14] Speaker 2: Man.
[12:14] Speaker 1: No weak links.
[12:15] Speaker 3: It was.
[12:17] Speaker 4: Pimp C was just like, I heard Pimp C was
[12:20] Speaker 4: notoriously difficult.
[12:22] Speaker 2: I heard that, which adds to the lore for me.
[12:24] Speaker 1: He's just like, I ain't about to do a long-ass verse.
[12:27] Speaker 4: I'm wearing a hot-ass coat in Miami.
[12:30] Speaker 1: Y'all going to get this short verse, and y'all going
[12:33] Speaker 1: to shut the hell up. Man.
[12:37] Speaker 3: It's great.
[12:38] Speaker 2: I'm throwing up, keep a liter in my cup.
[12:43] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[12:44] Speaker 2: All my car got leather and wood. And then Kendrick
[12:47] Speaker 2: Lamar sampled that leather wood for a song on Section 80. Oh, shit.
[12:52] Speaker 2: Feels like a Section 80. Oh, yeah.
[12:53] Speaker 3: I love Bun B's verse.
[12:55] Speaker 1: Bun B? I'm listening to his verse. All the time.
[13:01] Speaker 2: Don't read a book, you illiterate son of a bitch.
[13:03] Speaker 1: Step up your vocab.
[13:04] Speaker 2: What a great thing to say.
[13:07] Speaker 1: Don't read a book, you illiterate son of a bitch.
[13:09] Speaker 1: Step up your vocab.
[13:11] Speaker 2: Outside of that rap song, I be wanting to tell
[13:14] Speaker 2: people that on the internet.
[13:15] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[13:16] Speaker 3: Because it's just a great.
[13:19] Speaker 2: It's great insult.
[13:20] Speaker 1: My bad. It's my scenario.
[13:22] Speaker 2: Oh, I can't trust a scary hoe.
[13:24] Speaker 1: Bun B was cooking.
[13:26] Speaker 2: They were all.
[13:27] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[13:28] Speaker 3: And I remember like this was just, we would hang
[13:30] Speaker 3: out after school.
[13:31] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[13:32] Speaker 3: You would just, people would just open the trunk of
[13:34] Speaker 3: their car. A little misogyny.
[13:35] Speaker 2: Oh, for sure. A lot of misogyny.
[13:44] Speaker 4: The video was crazy. I wanted to be there. I
[13:47] Speaker 4: wanted to be in the big pimping video somewhere. I
[13:51] Speaker 4: wanted to be doing this. Every beat piece. I wanted
[13:59] Speaker 4: to be out there sweaty.
[14:01] Speaker 1: Women in the carnival. I wanted to be behind the
[14:07] Speaker 1: peacock feathers.
[14:08] Speaker 3: Man.
[14:11] Speaker 1: Take me through this.
[14:13] Speaker 2: Why are you doing that dance?
[14:15] Speaker 1: It's so funny.
[14:18] Speaker 2: Hey, what's Tony Baker doing, y'all? He wanted to be here, y'all. See,
[14:22] Speaker 2: he was a good guy. He got the dance down. Oh,
[14:28] Speaker 2: it's a good time. Yeah. So, yeah, I'm going with that.
[14:32] Speaker 1: Big Pimpin'. Man, his best song.
[14:35] Speaker 3: He got a lot of songs. So, I mean, there's
[14:37] Speaker 3: no wrong answer when you talk about yourself.
[14:39] Speaker 2: I'm going to go Soundcraft.
[14:41] Speaker 3: Okay.
[14:41] Speaker 4: I might have to go Song Cry. It just has
[14:44] Speaker 4: all the elements. The production is fantastic. It's emotional. The
[14:49] Speaker 4: lyricism is top tier. He's taking you somewhere. I like
[14:55] Speaker 4: songs like that. So I'm going to go with Song
[14:56] Speaker 4: Cry because that's a flawless song.
[14:59] Speaker 1: Yeah. But he has a lot that I can choose from.
[15:02] Speaker 3: There's no wrong answer. It's your life.
[15:06] Speaker 2: You can choose your own adventure. And you pick what
[15:10] Speaker 2: you want with Jay-Z. This is what we pick with
[15:12] Speaker 2: Jameson Zia.
[15:13] Speaker 3: All right.
[15:14] Speaker 2: Best album, Tone.
[15:18] Speaker 1: I go back and forth.
[15:19] Speaker 4: So he has three bonafide classics.
[15:24] Speaker 3: List them out for those of us who.
[15:26] Speaker 1: Reasonable Doubt, Blueprint, Black Album.
[15:30] Speaker 3: Everybody says those three.
[15:32] Speaker 1: This is how good the Black Album was.
[15:34] Speaker 4: During the Jay-Z Nas beef, If y'all don't know, Nas
[15:37] Speaker 4: is my favorite rapper of all time.
[15:40] Speaker 1: I chose Sides.
[15:42] Speaker 3: You chose Jay-Z?
[15:43] Speaker 1: I chose Sides. And I chose Nas.
[15:46] Speaker 3: Oh, okay. Oh, but you still respected.
[15:49] Speaker 4: So, you know, I was just like, yeah, man. I
[15:52] Speaker 4: just chose Nas. When the Black Album came out.
[15:56] Speaker 2: I think a lot of people chose Nas.
[15:57] Speaker 3: I think it's pretty.
[15:58] Speaker 1: Initially....
[16:00] Speaker 4: They were like, yeah, he won with Ether, but it
[16:02] Speaker 4: was still like Jay-Z was the more popular of the two.
[16:05] Speaker 3: Oh, okay.
[16:05] Speaker 4: So it was like, now we got this revisionist vibe
[16:08] Speaker 4: with Jay-Z. Now people acting like they don't fuck with Jay-Z.
[16:11] Speaker 4: So now they ultra Nas now. But back then in
[16:14] Speaker 4: real time.
[16:14] Speaker 1: For sure.
[16:15] Speaker 3: That's very true.
[16:16] Speaker 1: It was different.
[16:17] Speaker 3: It's the capitalism stuff.
[16:19] Speaker 1: All that stuff.
[16:19] Speaker 4: So now they're trying to be like, Jay-Z could never
[16:21] Speaker 4: shut the hell up. He was only listening to Jay-Z
[16:23] Speaker 4: in New York.
[16:24] Speaker 1: Shut the hell up.
[16:24] Speaker 4: Although that's just not true. So- I was super pro Nas.
[16:32] Speaker 4: The Black Album was so good, though. And this came
[16:35] Speaker 4: out in prime beef.
[16:36] Speaker 3: Prime beef.
[16:38] Speaker 4: I was still rotating the shit out of the Black Album.
[16:41] Speaker 4: I was like, man, this album's incredible.
[16:43] Speaker 2: But you know what, though? This point has been made
[16:45] Speaker 2: a lot during the Kendrick and Drake beef. During the
[16:49] Speaker 2: Jay-Z and Nas thing, it was the consensus song for song.
[16:54] Speaker 2: Nas won with that. But there wasn't this like, The
[17:00] Speaker 2: way Kendrick and even Drake and Meek Mill. It was
[17:05] Speaker 2: very clear that Drake won the Meek Mill thing.
[17:08] Speaker 1: For sure.
[17:08] Speaker 2: But we wasn't like, now Meek Mill, dreams and nightmares,
[17:11] Speaker 2: one part of the nigga we.
[17:13] Speaker 3: It was like, and I feel like Meek Mill got obliterated.
[17:16] Speaker 4: He got kicked down the steps. Hands full of groceries.
[17:20] Speaker 2: It was the first time I remember a beef Drake
[17:23] Speaker 2: used versus bars, even charged up, to me, doesn't get
[17:28] Speaker 2: as much respect as a great diss song.
[17:30] Speaker 1: I like Drake.
[17:32] Speaker 2: Charged up.
[17:33] Speaker 1: Right.
[17:33] Speaker 2: But then Back to Back was just like... Back to
[17:35] Speaker 2: Back was... And then you... Meek Mill was the first
[17:39] Speaker 2: rapper I remember to also be beat by the internet.
[17:42] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[17:42] Speaker 2: Because Drake, he... This is your tour, your girls' tour,
[17:47] Speaker 2: your world tour, your girls' tour.
[17:48] Speaker 1: Yeah. And it was.
[17:49] Speaker 3: Meek was also getting mean.
[17:51] Speaker 2: Yeah. And Meek, he had an okay response, but the
[17:54] Speaker 2: tide was turned.
[17:56] Speaker 1: It just wasn't.
[17:57] Speaker 2: So, I mean, you know what I'm saying?
[17:59] Speaker 1: I don't even remember. But.
[18:02] Speaker 2: When Jay-Z and Nas were going back, it was like
[18:03] Speaker 2: Nas won, but it wasn't like now we only Nas,
[18:07] Speaker 2: Jay-Z trashed the way Kendrick and Drake is like.
[18:09] Speaker 4: I was still buying both of their albums. I didn't
[18:13] Speaker 4: even stop. It was just like, oh, Black Album's out?
[18:16] Speaker 1: Purchase.
[18:17] Speaker 3: Filmatic?
[18:18] Speaker 1: Purchase. Purchase.
[18:20] Speaker 3: People was doing that. So yeah, go ahead.
[18:26] Speaker 1: Wait, what was.
[18:28] Speaker 4: Oh, so the Black Album.
[18:31] Speaker 1: I'm still going... Reasonable.
[18:33] Speaker 4: Doubt is still my favorite Jay-Z album. The Black album
[18:38] Speaker 4: is a close second. Blueprint is a close third. They're
[18:41] Speaker 4: all super close. But those three right there, all three
[18:44] Speaker 4: of them are classics. I got to pick one. Reasonable
[18:47] Speaker 4: Doubt is my favorite.
[18:48] Speaker 1: All right, y'all.
[18:49] Speaker 3: Feel how you feel? Feel how you feel.
[18:51] Speaker 1: 444.
[18:54] Speaker 4: That's your favorite Jay-Z album of all time.
[18:57] Speaker 2: Yes.
[18:58] Speaker 4: Now....
[19:00] Speaker 2: The first Jay-Z album I listened to in full wasn't
[19:04] Speaker 2: even a Jay-Z album solo.
[19:07] Speaker 3: It was the Watch the Throne album, which is.
[19:09] Speaker 2: A brilliant collaboratory piece of art. Watch the Throne is
[19:17] Speaker 2: a great album. I still run... Watch the Throne, some
[19:21] Speaker 2: of my favorite.
[19:22] Speaker 3: Kanye and Jay-Z was on.
[19:25] Speaker 1: Yeah. Niggas in Paris was almost my pick for best song.
[19:28] Speaker 3: I wouldn't argue with you. Niggas in Paris was seismic.
[19:32] Speaker 2: Yeah. I remember Jay, my brother Jason, he went to
[19:36] Speaker 2: the Tacoma Dome when Jay-Z and Kanye performed Watch the
[19:39] Speaker 2: Throne Tour at Tacoma Dome. Tickets were $ 80. I was like, man,
[19:44] Speaker 2: how you got that? You got $ 80? But Tacoma Dome
[19:50] Speaker 2: was seven minutes from my home. That ticket might as
[19:53] Speaker 2: well have been.
[19:53] Speaker 1: $ 3, 000. $ 80 is tough. I was like, man, you got $ 80?
[19:57] Speaker 3: He was like, yeah, I can.
[19:59] Speaker 1: Living the dream.
[20:00] Speaker 3: I was in there with trash bags.
[20:02] Speaker 4: Why I got you pictures outside the cardboard box.
[20:07] Speaker 1: Man, you got $ 80.
[20:08] Speaker 3: $ 80.
[20:09] Speaker 2: Man, Jay, I had fun, man. You at the Tacoma Dome,
[20:14] Speaker 2: you got money.
[20:14] Speaker 1: Bring back some fun for me, huh? Tell Jay-Z I
[20:18] Speaker 1: said God bless. You covered up with the box.
[20:22] Speaker 2: Hey, kids, your rat tail and gruel stew is ready, y'all.
[20:26] Speaker 2: Your Uncle Jay is going to see Jay-Z and Kanye
[20:30] Speaker 2: at the Tacoma Dome for $ 80. You had popcorn, too?
[20:35] Speaker 3: Wow, man. This nigga went to Willy Wonka's house. As
[20:39] Speaker 3: far as I'm concerned.
[20:40] Speaker 2: Mr.
[20:40] Speaker 1: Sergio Bowl of Rat Soup. He was like, thank you, honey. $ 80. $ 80.
[20:55] Speaker 3: My brother was like, you ain't got it? I was like, no, man.
[20:59] Speaker 2: So when I talked to that man the next time,
[21:01] Speaker 2: he was like, yeah. They played niggas in Paris 14
[21:06] Speaker 2: times in a row. Yeah, I heard they were playing
[21:08] Speaker 2: that back. He was like, Kev, it was the best.
[21:11] Speaker 2: I was like, all the way through, huh? He said,
[21:15] Speaker 2: sometimes they didn't. They just started over.
[21:17] Speaker 1: Balls on.
[21:18] Speaker 3: I was like, wow.
[21:20] Speaker 2: Keep that fire going, children. I got to work at
[21:23] Speaker 2: the mill in the morning. I make steel with my
[21:27] Speaker 2: bare hands.
[21:27] Speaker 1: That's really amazing.
[21:30] Speaker 3: Whatever happened to predictability?
[21:33] Speaker 1: Why is this a silent financial struggle?
[21:36] Speaker 3: Man, that sounds amazing, Jay.
[21:39] Speaker 1: I'm going to go back here. My boss, Ebenezer Scrooge,
[21:42] Speaker 1: wants me to come in early. Thank you for sharing.
[21:49] Speaker 2: But it was mythical to play a song 14. And
[21:54] Speaker 2: every city, I remember on social media, people were like, oh,
[21:56] Speaker 2: they did it 12 times in this city. And Jay
[21:59] Speaker 2: was like, man, they did it 14 times.
[22:01] Speaker 1: That's crazy.
[22:01] Speaker 2: And I was just like, yeah. All right, I guess
[22:07] Speaker 2: I'll take this mule on down to town. I'm getting
[22:10] Speaker 2: some milk for the boy. You know, JoJo has polio.
[22:15] Speaker 2: So anyway, but 440, so that was the first. album
[22:20] Speaker 2: that I listened to in full, before I went back
[22:24] Speaker 2: to his discography.
[22:25] Speaker 3: So I don't resonate, I don't have that thing.
[22:28] Speaker 1: You don't have no extras attached to the other albums.
[22:30] Speaker 3: I just burn through them. I'm like, this is good,
[22:32] Speaker 3: this is good, these are good.
[22:33] Speaker 2: But 444 was like, I knew this stuff. It's like,
[22:38] Speaker 2: to me, a companion piece to Lemonade. It was like,
[22:40] Speaker 2: Beyonce came out with Lemonade and was like, nigga, I
[22:43] Speaker 2: wish you would. And that was a work of art.
[22:46] Speaker 2: And 444 was a whole, I am sorry... My bad.
[22:50] Speaker 2: My bad.
[22:51] Speaker 1: My bad.
[22:52] Speaker 2: For everything.
[22:54] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[22:54] Speaker 3: The miscarriages, the cheating. I was tripping.
[22:59] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[23:00] Speaker 2: In rap. And I like that, you know, Jay-Z... especially
[23:05] Speaker 2: listening to his early stuff all the way through that.
[23:08] Speaker 2: I like that his subject matter, when you listen to
[23:10] Speaker 2: all his albums, after a point, he don't talk about
[23:13] Speaker 2: selling drugs as much. The further away he gets from that,
[23:19] Speaker 2: now you're talking about buying properties, mistakes he's made as
[23:22] Speaker 2: a man. This is what I like about your artistry.
[23:26] Speaker 2: I like when it reflects your life.
[23:27] Speaker 1: For sure, and that's the evolution.
[23:30] Speaker 2: Yeah, you don't have a lot of.
[23:32] Speaker 3: How many rappers can you think.
[23:34] Speaker 2: that can go from the Reasonable Doubt to Watch the
[23:41] Speaker 2: Throne to 444 and have different concepts and subject matter.
[23:47] Speaker 2: There's less and less. One of the things, and I
[23:49] Speaker 2: don't listen to enough Drake albums to argue this, but
[23:54] Speaker 2: one of the things even fans of his complain about
[23:56] Speaker 2: is like, yo, the subject matter is the same. Over
[23:59] Speaker 2: and over and over, you rapping about the same things. Like,
[24:02] Speaker 2: And some of his fans will be like, no, it's different.
[24:04] Speaker 2: But by and large, one of his.
[24:06] Speaker 1: It's too hard to decipher the differences, though.
[24:09] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[24:09] Speaker 4: Like, when I listen to Drake, it be sounding like
[24:12] Speaker 4: one track a lot of times. I'm talking about New Drake, Iceman,
[24:17] Speaker 4: the Habibi album. I was letting everything play out.
[24:21] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[24:21] Speaker 4: And I was just finding myself like, a lot of
[24:25] Speaker 4: the songs just blended together into one. I was just like,
[24:28] Speaker 4: nothing really snatched me up by the collar.
[24:31] Speaker 2: You had three albums in a day or a week.
[24:34] Speaker 4: Yeah, and I'm just like, this is a lot of material.
[24:37] Speaker 4: Nothing's really sounding that much different. There were moments of
[24:41] Speaker 4: just like, oh, shit.
[24:44] Speaker 1: Overall, it was just like, Mm-hmm. You got monotonous.
[24:48] Speaker 3: I agree.
[24:49] Speaker 1: And so, you know, you lose points for that.
[24:51] Speaker 2: Kendrick Lamar, and obviously I don't listen to a whole
[24:54] Speaker 2: bunch of rap, but hardly any rappers get seven, eight,
[24:56] Speaker 2: nine albums that you're actually listening to.
[24:59] Speaker 1: Right.
[24:59] Speaker 3: That you enjoy.
[25:00] Speaker 2: Kanye's done it, but, you know, he's one of the
[25:02] Speaker 2: ones that I would argue do it, but I don't
[25:04] Speaker 2: think he's had a coherent, reflective.
[25:06] Speaker 1: I faded out on Kanye after Pablo. Yeah, I'm out. Like,
[25:09] Speaker 1: I'll pull up and be like, all right, man, you
[25:11] Speaker 1: know what I'm saying? I can't even do... Pablo, but
[25:13] Speaker 1: that's still from.
[25:15] Speaker 4: College dropout to Pablo, that's a good run.
[25:19] Speaker 3: For sure.
[25:19] Speaker 2: A lot of rappers, man. They ain't even done that.
[25:22] Speaker 1: Getting two albums, I'm listening too hard.
[25:25] Speaker 3: Absolutely. And Kanye has six for me.
[25:32] Speaker 1: Kanye got- First three. First three for sure. Yeah. 808s,
[25:36] Speaker 1: I'm going to give 808s his props.
[25:38] Speaker 3: Yeah, I skip a few, but I'll still listen to them.
[25:41] Speaker 1: I listen to Heartbreak. I sing that all the time. Perfect.
[25:45] Speaker 2: In the night.
[25:46] Speaker 1: That's one of my favorites, too. My dark, twisted fantasy.
[25:49] Speaker 3: All the way through.
[25:50] Speaker 1: And then.
[25:51] Speaker 2: I don't listen to Yeezus.
[25:53] Speaker 3: No, no, me neither. I respect it, but.
[25:55] Speaker 1: Fuck that album.
[25:56] Speaker 2: That's six albums that I listen to the majority of.
[26:00] Speaker 2: As a career, you can fart around for 12 albums. Yeah.
[26:05] Speaker 3: You've done six albums that I respect.
[26:07] Speaker 5: Yeah.
[26:07] Speaker 3: All right, boom, here we go.
[26:09] Speaker 2: Want to take a quick break from the show to
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[27:11] Speaker 3: And now back to the show. You said your best?
[27:16] Speaker 1: Yes.
[27:16] Speaker 3: Okay, your least favorite album.
[27:18] Speaker 1: Least favorite?
[27:18] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[27:19] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[27:21] Speaker 4: It would be between Magna Carter and.
[27:29] Speaker 1: We're not including his collab albums.
[27:33] Speaker 3: I'd say Solo.
[27:35] Speaker 1: Solo, okay.
[27:35] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[27:36] Speaker 1: Was it Best of Both Worlds?
[27:38] Speaker 4: Huh?
[27:38] Speaker 3: Were you going to say Best of Both Worlds?
[27:41] Speaker 1: Oh, hell yeah. Yeah.
[27:42] Speaker 3: Is it because then or the revision?
[27:45] Speaker 4: Even then, I was just like, When the first one
[27:48] Speaker 4: came out, I was like, I remember liking the first song.
[27:50] Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[27:51] Speaker 1: And I was just like, all right, man, skip, skip. Yeah. Skip, skip, skip.
[27:54] Speaker 1: And the second one, I was just like, man, get
[27:55] Speaker 1: this shit out of here.
[27:57] Speaker 3: Yeah, let's stick with solo. For me, it's Magna Carta,
[28:01] Speaker 3: Holy Grail.
[28:02] Speaker 2: I'm thinking it's going to be Magna Carta. I was
[28:05] Speaker 2: not feeling that, man. I would skip.
[28:07] Speaker 4: Around that mug like a goddamn little girl on the
[28:10] Speaker 4: playground and skips.
[28:14] Speaker 1: Skips.
[28:14] Speaker 3: Man, I just was like, man.
[28:16] Speaker 1: Kingdom Come got some skips, too.
[28:18] Speaker 3: That's the one a lot of people mentioned as well.
[28:20] Speaker 1: Big skips on this as well.
[28:22] Speaker 4: But I would say I like the songs that I
[28:25] Speaker 4: really like on Kingdom Come outweigh what I like on
[28:29] Speaker 4: Magna Carta.
[28:30] Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.
[28:32] Speaker 1: So, yeah, I would go Magna Carta.
[28:33] Speaker 3: Okay, boom. Favorite music video.
[28:43] Speaker 1: You got some good ones. Big Pimpin' is legendary, as
[28:45] Speaker 1: we discussed. I might have to go... You.
[28:55] Speaker 4: Know what my favorite Jay-Z video is?
[29:01] Speaker 3: It's actually.
[29:08] Speaker 1: The Life of OJ.
[29:11] Speaker 2: Oh!
[29:12] Speaker 3: Okay.
[29:13] Speaker 4: Even though he not in it, it was just the concept,
[29:16] Speaker 4: the style, the subject matter, the visuals.
[29:19] Speaker 1: I was like, yo, this is genius.
[29:22] Speaker 3: I love it. That might be my.
[29:24] Speaker 1: Favorite Jay-Z video. I know it's late in the game.
[29:26] Speaker 2: It is. And I think that wasn't expected either.
[29:30] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[29:31] Speaker 2: Like from that song, nor that music video being animated.
[29:36] Speaker 1: I watched that over and over again.
[29:38] Speaker 3: It's super dope.
[29:39] Speaker 2: And it's still, referenced a lot today mine is Big
[29:43] Speaker 2: Pimpin I was full on puberty I was in 10th
[29:47] Speaker 2: grade and I was like man that Ajax is.
[29:51] Speaker 1: Mine that Hyde Williams was in his bag on that.
[29:54] Speaker 4: One Hyde Williams man Hyde Williams was in his bag.
[29:58] Speaker 2: I do really miss and I know we'll never get
[30:01] Speaker 2: back to it, music video budgets at that time just,
[30:06] Speaker 2: they was doing millions, because that was the marketing. A
[30:10] Speaker 2: great music video made us be like, I will now
[30:13] Speaker 2: go and spend $ 15.
[30:16] Speaker 3: A great song on the radio, music video, Sam Goody. $ 15, FYI.
[30:22] Speaker 1: Man, let me go, you can preview. Yeah. Them shits
[30:28] Speaker 1: was movies, man. Man, they was making many movies.
[30:33] Speaker 2: You could have a career as a video vixen.
[30:36] Speaker 1: For sure.
[30:36] Speaker 3: You could get paid.
[30:38] Speaker 2: Good. It was a big... Tyrese, even in Keisha Cole,
[30:43] Speaker 2: which is in the 2000s, early 2000s, got Tyrese in there.
[30:47] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[30:48] Speaker 2: While he's making movies, and he's also an artist of
[30:50] Speaker 2: his own accord. Right, right. It's like, yeah, Tyrese is
[30:53] Speaker 2: the boyfriend in this. Gary Dordan is in there with
[30:57] Speaker 2: Janet Jackson. When Gary Dordan is still working.
[31:01] Speaker 3: And I was like, dang.
[31:02] Speaker 4: There's bad actors in music videos. I remember Derek Luke
[31:05] Speaker 4: in their Monica videos. There was a bunch of male
[31:08] Speaker 4: actors in that En Vogue video.
[31:10] Speaker 1: Give them some. They were sitting in the audience.
[31:13] Speaker 2: In here.
[31:13] Speaker 1: Because it was a good look.
[31:15] Speaker 2: Eminem had some of my... His early career, his music
[31:18] Speaker 2: videos were so.
[31:19] Speaker 3: different. Hi, my name is... I was like, yo, this is...
[31:24] Speaker 3: What the hell is this?
[31:24] Speaker 1: What the hell is this?
[31:26] Speaker 2: I recorded that music video because I was like, man,
[31:29] Speaker 2: I want to study.
[31:30] Speaker 3: I ain't never seen nothing like this.
[31:32] Speaker 1: Yeah. And then Busta and Missy, their video.
[31:34] Speaker 3: I mean, these things are just like.
[31:36] Speaker 1: That was just insane.
[31:37] Speaker 2: Busta and Janet Jackson was like, yo, how are y'all
[31:41] Speaker 2: even doing?
[31:41] Speaker 3: How are you even doing this, man?
[31:44] Speaker 1: This is crazy.
[31:45] Speaker 2: T-1000. Yeah.
[31:46] Speaker 3: And Janet Jackson was. Come on, man. God. Come on.
[31:49] Speaker 3: Bless America. Come on. I was like, dang.
[31:53] Speaker 2: Janet Jackson.
[31:54] Speaker 3: Is sexy.
[31:56] Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely. She, one of my favorite, person I'm the
[32:01] Speaker 2: most jealous of, Janet Jackson used to strap them men
[32:04] Speaker 2: in her concert.
[32:05] Speaker 3: Man, watch out.
[32:07] Speaker 4: They was losing they mind in that strap. They was like,
[32:11] Speaker 4: they was having convulsions. 12,000 people strapped me up.
[32:17] Speaker 3: Man, she was taking it there.
[32:21] Speaker 4: I would have been like, we don't need to be
[32:22] Speaker 4: doing this. Before she even got on top of me,
[32:28] Speaker 4: I was like, we don't need to be doing this.
[32:31] Speaker 1: Take me out. Unstrap me. I'm done.
[32:34] Speaker 3: You know what? Somebody said she needs her flowers.
[32:36] Speaker 2: Does she?
[32:37] Speaker 3: I don't think she needs her flowers.
[32:40] Speaker 2: I think she needs her deep dive.
[32:44] Speaker 1: She needs a deep dive.
[32:45] Speaker 3: We should do her next week.
[32:47] Speaker 1: Janet next week on the deep dive.
[32:49] Speaker 2: Janet deep dive would be good because as big as
[32:52] Speaker 2: Janet is, I still think people don't appreciate Janet Jackson.
[32:57] Speaker 1: She don't get her prize because of who her brother is.
[33:00] Speaker 2: If she was Janet.
[33:01] Speaker 1: Montgomery, if she was Janet Turnbuckle, We've been talking about
[33:10] Speaker 1: her all the time.
[33:14] Speaker 2: You're absolutely right. She's in the show.
[33:17] Speaker 4: That's the only reason she'll get talked about more than
[33:21] Speaker 4: she should.
[33:22] Speaker 2: Janet Turnbuckle is probably talked about as one of the
[33:26] Speaker 2: greatest female artists. Janet Jackson is not talking about where
[33:30] Speaker 2: she belongs as one of the greatest female artists of
[33:33] Speaker 2: all time.
[33:33] Speaker 1: Agreed.
[33:35] Speaker 2: Some people have argued she's much closer to Michael Jackson
[33:39] Speaker 2: than she gets credit for.
[33:40] Speaker 1: She is.
[33:40] Speaker 2: But what happens is what edges him above her for
[33:45] Speaker 2: a lot of people, his highest high album sales wise
[33:48] Speaker 2: and his Jackson 5. So he was famous for longer.
[33:53] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[33:53] Speaker 2: But Prime, Prime, Janet A. Great albums, differently themed album.
[34:04] Speaker 2: Velvet Rope and Rhythm Nation.
[34:09] Speaker 3: These are not even.
[34:10] Speaker 4: If you look at Control, Rhythm Nation, Janet and Velvet Rope.
[34:18] Speaker 1: These are four different pieces of art. They are vastly different.
[34:21] Speaker 1: Four different pieces of art. And they were all fire.
[34:24] Speaker 2: And she went from military clothes to soft and smooth, sexy, sensual.
[34:30] Speaker 3: R & B.
[34:31] Speaker 4: Her transition was so organically beautiful.
[34:36] Speaker 1: It was like control. She was like, hey, I'm doing
[34:39] Speaker 1: my own thing.
[34:40] Speaker 3: I'm showing up.
[34:42] Speaker 4: I'm a young woman. I'm trying to, you know what
[34:44] Speaker 4: I'm saying? She dancing in Pleasure Principle. And then... You
[34:48] Speaker 4: know what, man, we gotta talk about what's going on
[34:50] Speaker 4: in the world. There's a lot going on out here.
[34:53] Speaker 3: But also, love, love, escapade.
[34:55] Speaker 4: Love will never do without you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you
[34:57] Speaker 4: know what I'm saying? But also, Rhythm Nation, we gotta
[35:00] Speaker 4: make some changes out here. And then, she was a
[35:03] Speaker 4: grown woman with Janet.
[35:05] Speaker 2: And she was everything she thought she was.
[35:08] Speaker 1: At any time, any place. Man.
[35:10] Speaker 2: Man, come on, man.
[35:11] Speaker 1: What the hell going on?
[35:14] Speaker 4: It wasn't like, and it never felt jarring. Like, when
[35:18] Speaker 4: Mariah Carey turned sexy, I was like.
[35:22] Speaker 1: It was little.
[35:22] Speaker 3: It was jarred.
[35:23] Speaker 2: We slammed on the brakes.
[35:24] Speaker 1: I was like, hold on, Mariah. Put a shirt on.
[35:27] Speaker 3: We slammed on the brakes.
[35:28] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[35:29] Speaker 3: We slammed on the brakes. It should also be a
[35:31] Speaker 3: great deep dive.
[35:32] Speaker 1: Oh, hell yeah.
[35:32] Speaker 3: Because her... Yeah. Hey, man.
[35:35] Speaker 1: Hey.
[35:36] Speaker 3: Her discography and her.
[35:38] Speaker 2: She's other.
[35:39] Speaker 3: She might be the last diva.
[35:42] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[35:43] Speaker 3: I think she's the last of the divas.
[35:46] Speaker 1: And she's still got the most number one hits of
[35:48] Speaker 1: any artist.
[35:49] Speaker 3: And you know what?
[35:50] Speaker 2: It's just about time for her to start cashing TF out.
[35:54] Speaker 2: Soon as Halloween is over, we about to turn that
[36:00] Speaker 2: Two months of straight. She wrote a new Christmas song.
[36:05] Speaker 1: Every year.
[36:05] Speaker 2: Ain't nobody topped that Christmas song since that Christmas song.
[36:08] Speaker 1: That's eternal, man.
[36:09] Speaker 3: Eternal. Even Melissa went and saw her in the Hollywood Bowl.
[36:11] Speaker 3: We were freezing.
[36:12] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[36:13] Speaker 2: Perfect. And it was just Christmassy stuff. Yeah.
[36:17] Speaker 1: Beast.
[36:18] Speaker 2: Janet, then Mariah. Okay.
[36:20] Speaker 1: Don't promise me a good time. All right.
[36:26] Speaker 3: Favorite feature.
[36:30] Speaker 1: Oh, I know mine.
[36:32] Speaker 3: Favorite feature. This is them on somebody else's album.
[36:34] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[36:35] Speaker 3: Okay, go ahead.
[36:36] Speaker 1: Go ahead. Mine is actually, it's on Frontin' by Pharrell.
[36:41] Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
[36:42] Speaker 1: I love Jay-Z's verse on there. It was just perfect.
[36:45] Speaker 3: I was just frontin'. Yeah.
[36:46] Speaker 1: You know I love it, girl. Jay-Z's feature on there
[36:50] Speaker 1: was perfect.
[36:51] Speaker 2: I don't disagree.
[36:52] Speaker 1: Yeah, that was a great feature.
[36:55] Speaker 3: That's a good, that's good.
[36:57] Speaker 2: I'ma go Diamonds. Okay. From Sierra Leone. I just really like.
[37:03] Speaker 3: I'm not a businessman.
[37:05] Speaker 1: I'm a businessman. Yeah. He said that on that song?
[37:09] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[37:09] Speaker 1: Okay.
[37:10] Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure. I could be wrong. If he is,
[37:14] Speaker 2: I don't care. It was a good feature nonetheless. It
[37:16] Speaker 2: was a good feature. You know, they're not going to
[37:20] Speaker 2: get back together and it's alright.
[37:21] Speaker 3: I understand.
[37:22] Speaker 1: Alright.
[37:23] Speaker 2: Most underrated song. Now, let me jump in here. And
[37:30] Speaker 2: I ain't even going to tell you that I know
[37:31] Speaker 2: what song it was. But me and Melissa was watching
[37:34] Speaker 2: Jay-Z and Infinity. You'll probably know what song it is.
[37:37] Speaker 2: This is underrated for me because I don't know this song.
[37:39] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[37:39] Speaker 3: And I don't hear people talking about it nearly as
[37:41] Speaker 3: much as they should based on what it was.
[37:43] Speaker 2: Him and Beanie Siegel was talking about their dads.
[37:46] Speaker 1: Oh, okay.
[37:47] Speaker 2: Tone.
[37:47] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[37:48] Speaker 3: Me and Melissa, neither of us had... I said... First
[37:51] Speaker 3: of all, Beanie Siegel's verse.
[37:53] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[37:54] Speaker 1: I said.
[37:55] Speaker 2: That song is... I was kind of mad that I
[37:57] Speaker 2: grew up the way I did. Because as a person
[38:01] Speaker 2: who didn't have their dad, like I didn't, you know,
[38:03] Speaker 2: Beanie had to raise his brother News and all that stuff.
[38:07] Speaker 2: But man, when they was rapping, I said, yo, this is,
[38:12] Speaker 2: I like what they.
[38:13] Speaker 3: Talking about here.
[38:15] Speaker 2: And I never heard nobody talk about that song in
[38:19] Speaker 2: my life.
[38:19] Speaker 1: You talking about where have you been?
[38:22] Speaker 3: Is that it?
[38:23] Speaker 1: Yeah. You talking about where have you been? It's like this.
[38:27] Speaker 1: Hold on.
[38:32] Speaker 3: Yep.
[38:32] Speaker 4: This is on the Dynasty album.
[38:35] Speaker 3: That's it.
[38:37] Speaker 2: So now because Jay-Z was talking about it and I
[38:40] Speaker 2: heard Bean's verse, I was like, first of all, I
[38:43] Speaker 2: need to dig into Beanie Sigel.
[38:45] Speaker 1: Beanie Sigel's dope, man.
[38:47] Speaker 2: I don't want to say he was wrapping circles around Jay,
[38:51] Speaker 2: But I enjoyed that verse.
[38:53] Speaker 4: Beanie Sigel's gift is he can take you there in
[38:59] Speaker 4: terms of what he's talking about. There's an urgency and
[39:03] Speaker 4: a seriousness to what Beanie is talking about.
[39:05] Speaker 3: Grittiness and urgency.
[39:07] Speaker 1: It's very gritty. It's like he's holding you like this.
[39:12] Speaker 3: The bottom.
[39:13] Speaker 1: He'll hit you. He'll hit those beads.
[39:15] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[39:16] Speaker 4: It's like Benny Siegel grabbed both arms and just talking
[39:19] Speaker 4: to you and just standing there.
[39:21] Speaker 1: All right, man. No, no, you don't got it.
[39:23] Speaker 4: No, man. The sink to the bottom. He can take
[39:27] Speaker 4: it there. You can feel the anger and the grit
[39:32] Speaker 4: of Beanie Sigel.
[39:34] Speaker 1: Oh, okay.
[39:34] Speaker 2: That's good. That was two different lines.
[39:36] Speaker 1: Wait, what was it? What category was that?
[39:38] Speaker 3: That was favorite feature.
[39:39] Speaker 1: Oh, that was feature. Okay.
[39:40] Speaker 3: Favorite feature. Okay, boom. Now we going into... Wait, no,
[39:48] Speaker 3: that wasn't a feature.
[39:48] Speaker 2: No. Underrated song. Underrated song.
[39:51] Speaker 1: Let me get my underrated. My bad.
[39:52] Speaker 3: I skipped all over you. I talked to them. We
[39:54] Speaker 3: was done with that.
[39:55] Speaker 1: Imaginary Players.
[39:57] Speaker 3: What's that?
[39:58] Speaker 1: It's on his second album. I love that song.
[40:01] Speaker 4: Cardi B recently did a rap verse to that beat.
[40:05] Speaker 3: And people didn't like it.
[40:06] Speaker 1: It wasn't. It wasn't.
[40:07] Speaker 3: And do you think that's because of the....
[40:11] Speaker 1: I can't even tell you.
[40:12] Speaker 4: But I do know when I listen to it, I
[40:14] Speaker 4: cut it off and put the Jay-Z song on.
[40:17] Speaker 1: Imaginary players is easily one of my favorite jay-z songs
[40:21] Speaker 1: i feel like i.
[40:22] Speaker 4: Feel like that's an underrated gem because like when you
[40:24] Speaker 4: bring it up people are like oh yeah yeah yeah
[40:27] Speaker 4: so go imaginary play.
[40:28] Speaker 2: Okay okay overrated song oh shit overrated huh.
[40:42] Speaker 4: Let me see i want to look at let me
[40:45] Speaker 4: look at his singles discography Get in there, Tone. I
[40:48] Speaker 4: could go deep cut, but I'm going to go with
[40:50] Speaker 4: something that was a single.
[40:53] Speaker 1: Because we talking overrated. Let's go with... Let me look
[41:04] Speaker 1: at his singles. 99 Problems, Miles?
[41:11] Speaker 2: 99 Problems?
[41:11] Speaker 1: I don't love that song.
[41:12] Speaker 2: Miles, you think 99 Problems is overrated? Jeff, ace to
[41:18] Speaker 2: the Izzo.
[41:23] Speaker 1: Oh, I know.
[41:24] Speaker 2: I agree with you, Crimson Chain. This is mine while
[41:25] Speaker 2: you look over it up.
[41:27] Speaker 1: You got yours, kid?
[41:28] Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so. Empire State of Mind.
[41:34] Speaker 1: Oh, that's yours?
[41:35] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[41:35] Speaker 1: Ooh, New York. Yeah, just, man, watch out. Oh, I
[41:41] Speaker 1: know mine. Go ahead.
[41:43] Speaker 4: Bonnie and Clyde. I could care less about that goddamn song.
[41:49] Speaker 1: Really? Man, it skips.
[41:55] Speaker 4: I've never cared about that damn song. Bonnie and Clyde
[42:01] Speaker 4: could get the hell up out of you. I know
[42:04] Speaker 4: y'all girl Beyonce is on there, but I could care less.
[42:09] Speaker 2: Wow. Okay.
[42:12] Speaker 4: All I need in this life is sin. Now cue
[42:15] Speaker 4: up the Tupac version. Get this Bonnie and Clyde out
[42:20] Speaker 4: of here, man.
[42:20] Speaker 2: That's great. I feel like for it to be overrated,
[42:24] Speaker 2: it got to be a song that a lot of people,
[42:25] Speaker 2: it can't be a deep cut.
[42:27] Speaker 1: No, no deep cut.
[42:28] Speaker 4: That's why I had to make sure I was looking
[42:30] Speaker 4: at the popular stuff.
[42:32] Speaker 2: Deep cut don't count.
[42:33] Speaker 1: Bonnie and Clyde, that was a hit too.
[42:35] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[42:37] Speaker 1: Cut it off. All I need in this life is sin.
[42:41] Speaker 1: Cut it off.
[42:44] Speaker 4: Just let the Tupac song sit where it was at.
[42:47] Speaker 4: We'll leave it at that.
[42:48] Speaker 2: Fair enough.
[42:50] Speaker 4: All right.
[42:51] Speaker 3: Okay. All right. We're almost done. Collab you'd like to see.
[42:59] Speaker 1: Jay-Z.
[43:05] Speaker 2: Oh, come on, Mary T91. Talking about song cry because
[43:08] Speaker 2: you guys be gassing it. Song cried deservedly gas.
[43:13] Speaker 3: Married T91. A lot of people are saying Change Clothes.
[43:16] Speaker 1: I like Change Clothes.
[43:17] Speaker 3: People ain't feeling Change Clothes.
[43:19] Speaker 2: That's the most common one I'm seeing in the Patreon
[43:22] Speaker 2: is saying, girl.
[43:24] Speaker 4: I promise you no substitution. I like Change Clothes. It's
[43:30] Speaker 4: all right with me.
[43:31] Speaker 3: Y'all not feeling Change Clothes.
[43:34] Speaker 1: Okay. A collab I would want to see.
[43:36] Speaker 3: I hate Change Clothes. Jesus. That's crazy.
[43:40] Speaker 4: I'm going to go with people that are alive.
[43:46] Speaker 1: So I'm not going to dig into the.
[43:47] Speaker 3: Oh, yeah. We don't want no dead.
[43:49] Speaker 1: I'm not going to dig into the dead. Girl, I
[43:54] Speaker 1: promise you no substitution. A collab I would want to see.
[44:11] Speaker 3: Oh, this is good.
[44:12] Speaker 2: V Child says Jay-Z and Jasmine Sullivan. Wait, are we
[44:16] Speaker 2: thinking producer or another artist?
[44:18] Speaker 1: I was thinking of another artist.
[44:19] Speaker 3: Yeah, me too. Okay. I didn't think she said.
[44:23] Speaker 3: Somebody said.
[44:27] Speaker 3: Oh, Jay-Z and Pharrell couldn't do nothing wrong. Made me
[44:29] Speaker 3: think of producer. Oh, gotcha, gotcha. Does he have a
[44:32] Speaker 3: song with Nas?
[44:33] Speaker 1: Yeah, he got several. Okay. Black Republican is.
[44:37] Speaker 4: Black Republican might be my favorite Nas and Jay-Z song.
[44:42] Speaker 3: What they talking about on that?
[44:45] Speaker 4: It feel like a Black Republican money I got coming in.
[44:49] Speaker 1: You ain't heard that?
[44:51] Speaker 3: I feel like that might be.
[44:53] Speaker 4: It's not what you think it is, though, because Nas
[44:55] Speaker 4: ain't going for that shit.
[44:58] Speaker 1: What am I thinking it is?
[44:59] Speaker 4: Well, I don't know if you was thinking like, hey, man,
[45:02] Speaker 4: they on some Republican type shit?
[45:04] Speaker 3: No, I'm talking about making money. Yeah, yeah. I mean,
[45:06] Speaker 3: that's what they mad at Jay-Z for now.
[45:09] Speaker 1: This is on Nas' Hip Hop Is Dead album. I'll
[45:18] Speaker 1: let you hear the chorus. It's coming in.
[45:23] Speaker 2: All right, man.
[45:24] Speaker 3: Start rapping, Chase.
[45:26] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[45:45] Speaker 1: Back in the hood. Like, fuck it, man.
[45:50] Speaker 3: Fresh years.
[45:50] Speaker 1: You know, man, this is a great song.
[45:53] Speaker 3: Fresh years.
[45:53] Speaker 1: That's my favorite Nas and Jay-Z collab for sure.
[45:56] Speaker 2: Um... Have Jay-Z and SZA done a song together?
[46:02] Speaker 1: I was thinking SZA and Jay-Z.
[46:04] Speaker 3: SZA's a good collab artist.
[46:07] Speaker 1: She be dope as hell on features.
[46:09] Speaker 2: From Kendrick to Maroon 5.
[46:14] Speaker 1: She be dope as hell on features. Every time I
[46:15] Speaker 1: hear her on the feature, I be like, man, once again.
[46:18] Speaker 3: I like Jay-Z and SZA.
[46:20] Speaker 1: She just featured on Victoria Monet's album.
[46:23] Speaker 3: I ain't tapped into that yet.
[46:25] Speaker 1: I pulled up on that song in particular. I was like, oh,
[46:27] Speaker 1: SZA got a feature on there. So I pulled up.
[46:29] Speaker 1: It's good. It's good.
[46:30] Speaker 3: How do you like the album?
[46:31] Speaker 1: I didn't listen to the whole album yet. Oh, you
[46:32] Speaker 1: just listened to that song?
[46:33] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[46:34] Speaker 1: She got a feature with Isaiah Rashad.
[46:36] Speaker 2: I heard he came out. I heard he was, his
[46:40] Speaker 2: last album was Fire.
[46:41] Speaker 1: It's good.
[46:42] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[46:42] Speaker 1: Yeah, but that song, they got together.
[46:44] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[46:45] Speaker 1: That's one of my favorite songs of the year.
[46:47] Speaker 3: All right. Time for the tough knock.
[46:50] Speaker 1: Time for the who?
[46:52] Speaker 3: I don't know.
[46:54] Speaker 1: I don't know what I said.
[47:04] Speaker 3: I think I said.
[47:05] Speaker 2: I think I was trying to say.
[47:10] Speaker 2: I think I was trying to say tough one and
[47:12] Speaker 2: tough part. You ain't been stalling me out at all today.
[47:18] Speaker 3: I said I'm in a tough one.
[47:23] Speaker 2: Because I was really confused.
[47:25] Speaker 4: I was just like, wait, what's the last category? Like,
[47:28] Speaker 4: that was genuine what you said. It wasn't even like me, like, oh.
[47:34] Speaker 1: It wasn't even a oh. That was genuine, like, what
[47:37] Speaker 1: the hell was that?
[47:40] Speaker 2: Tough mountain. I don't know. It's time for top 10
[47:44] Speaker 2: Jay-Z songs of all time.
[47:48] Speaker 4: That's what that was supposed to be.
[47:52] Speaker 2: That's what I'm telling y'all.
[47:54] Speaker 1: That's what that was supposed to be.
[47:55] Speaker 2: Top 10. Top of the top. Just fell off the cliff.
[48:01] Speaker 3: I hope nobody noticed what was happening.
[48:04] Speaker 1: Top of the top.
[48:05] Speaker 3: Oh, shit.
[48:06] Speaker 1: All right.
[48:07] Speaker 2: Top 10 Jay-Z songs of all time. Please remember, you
[48:11] Speaker 2: can pick your own song.
[48:13] Speaker 3: All right?
[48:15] Speaker 1: This is hard.
[48:16] Speaker 3: This is tough, man. This is tough.
[48:20] Speaker 2: It's going to be really hard when an artist has
[48:22] Speaker 2: a discography like this. You know what I'm saying, man?
[48:24] Speaker 2: Because you could do 10 Jay-Z features. You could do
[48:27] Speaker 2: 10 all kind of stuff.
[48:28] Speaker 1: But it don't matter.
[48:29] Speaker 3: You could pick whatever you want, however you want to
[48:32] Speaker 3: slice it or dice it. But top 10 Jay-Z songs.
[48:38] Speaker 1: I'm going to just be throwing stuff out here.
[48:41] Speaker 3: Throw it out.
[48:41] Speaker 1: I didn't have time to get my feet together.
[48:45] Speaker 2: Just scan through your list. I'm scanning through mine.
[48:47] Speaker 1: Well, I know Dead Presidents is on there.
[48:50] Speaker 3: Okay.
[48:50] Speaker 2: Dead Presidents makes sense.
[48:51] Speaker 1: Yeah. Dead Presidents is on there for me.
[48:53] Speaker 2: Okay. I'm going to go Song Cry.
[48:55] Speaker 1: Okay.
[48:56] Speaker 2: Song Cry is absolutely on there for me, for Jay-Z.
[48:59] Speaker 2: That might be one of my favorite rap songs, period, honestly.
[49:03] Speaker 1: So we got two out the way.
[49:04] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[49:06] Speaker 1: I'm going to go. I'm going to go. Yeah. I'm
[49:25] Speaker 1: going to go Encore. I like Encore a lot. You
[49:29] Speaker 1: want more?
[49:30] Speaker 2: Okay.
[49:31] Speaker 1: I like Encore a lot.
[49:32] Speaker 2: All right.
[49:33] Speaker 3: I'm going to go Big Pimpin'. Yes.
[49:36] Speaker 2: I'm going right back to high school 1998.
[49:41] Speaker 3: I believe, is when I first heard that.
[49:44] Speaker 1: I'm going to go... Can't knock the hustle.
[49:47] Speaker 3: Oh, that's a lot.
[49:47] Speaker 2: A lot of people on the Patreon are saying that, too.
[49:49] Speaker 2: I love that song. A lot of people like that song.
[49:51] Speaker 1: I'm not looking at y'all in the.
[49:52] Speaker 2: Chat, either. I don't want y'all infecting my thoughts. I
[49:57] Speaker 2: just noticed that. I'm going to go... What did I
[50:02] Speaker 2: say last time?
[50:03] Speaker 3: Oh, Big Pimpin'? I'm going to say Hard Knock Life.
[50:06] Speaker 1: Hard Knock Life is a great song.
[50:08] Speaker 2: I'm doing songs that matter to me. I love Hard
[50:11] Speaker 2: Knock Life.
[50:12] Speaker 1: I'm going to go Imaginary Players.
[50:14] Speaker 2: I thought you was going to go that earlier than that.
[50:20] Speaker 2: I'm going to go 444.
[50:22] Speaker 1: As a song?
[50:23] Speaker 3: As a song.
[50:24] Speaker 1: Okay.
[50:24] Speaker 2: I love that song. I love where Jay-Z is at.
[50:28] Speaker 2: I connect with that as a married man for many
[50:30] Speaker 2: years by that time in my life, as was he.
[50:33] Speaker 3: I feel you.
[50:34] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[50:35] Speaker 3: I feel you, Jay.
[50:36] Speaker 2: Tell me the story. Beyonce already told me. I just
[50:39] Speaker 2: really want to hear your side. You got to take
[50:42] Speaker 2: drop first. She had a whole visual album on HBO.
[50:46] Speaker 2: She did. You better say something. You got to say something.
[50:49] Speaker 2: You better apologize to her and us.
[50:52] Speaker 1: Say something. I'm giving up on you, God damn it.
[50:54] Speaker 2: Say something.
[50:55] Speaker 1: I'm giving up on you.
[50:57] Speaker 4: I'm going to go non-single December 4th. I don't even
[51:04] Speaker 4: know that song. That's opening up the Black album. It's
[51:07] Speaker 4: the one with his mom on the track.
[51:08] Speaker 3: Oh, the one you were talking about earlier.
[51:10] Speaker 1: Okay.
[51:10] Speaker 3: I love December 4th.
[51:12] Speaker 2: Okay. Okay. I'm only going songs that I remember. Y'all,
[51:21] Speaker 2: just please, shut the hell up. Not too much on me.
[51:26] Speaker 2: I really love this song. If I was going to
[51:29] Speaker 2: pick 10 songs, I want to hear this one.
[51:32] Speaker 1: Izzo.
[51:33] Speaker 2: I love A to the Izzo, B to the Izzo.
[51:37] Speaker 2: My sister used to put down in VA.
[51:41] Speaker 1: Love it.
[51:44] Speaker 3: Love it.
[51:45] Speaker 2: For me, Kevin. It's just for me.
[51:47] Speaker 1: Hey, man. You know what I'm saying? Stand firm.
[51:49] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[51:50] Speaker 4: I'm going to go. I'm going to end it. My
[51:53] Speaker 4: final pick. You got so many songs. I'm going to
[52:00] Speaker 4: go Dear Summer.
[52:02] Speaker 3: Okay, you'd go in. That is a song.
[52:05] Speaker 1: Yeah. I'm going to go Dear Summer. I like that one.
[52:07] Speaker 3: Oh, shit.
[52:08] Speaker 1: My bad.
[52:08] Speaker 3: Dear Summer.
[52:09] Speaker 1: Dear Summer.
[52:12] Speaker 3: Okay. Dang.
[52:15] Speaker 2: Wow.
[52:15] Speaker 1: All right. What do I have left for that? It
[52:19] Speaker 1: really means something to me.
[52:23] Speaker 3: I'm feeling it.
[52:25] Speaker 1: I like that song. I'm going to go.
[52:29] Speaker 2: You know what I like? I'm going to go, What
[52:33] Speaker 2: More Can I Say? What more can I say?
[52:37] Speaker 3: I like that song. What more can I say?
[52:41] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[52:42] Speaker 4: Let me tell y'all something right here, right now. I
[52:45] Speaker 4: know y'all got y'all opinions on Jay-Z, and we got
[52:48] Speaker 4: this revisionist thing going, and I know 50 Cent was like,
[52:50] Speaker 4: he never dominated, but let me tell you something right here,
[52:53] Speaker 4: right the fuck now. Jay-Z has a catalog of excellent work,
[53:02] Speaker 4: and consistency you cannot take your feelings out of everything
[53:07] Speaker 4: take your bias out take your feelings out and just
[53:10] Speaker 4: look at the body of work the longevity he was
[53:14] Speaker 4: always relevant this is a career that any artist wish
[53:22] Speaker 4: they had I don't I don't want to hear nothing
[53:25] Speaker 4: about if you had a diamond album and you only
[53:28] Speaker 4: had one diamond album and the rest of the albums
[53:30] Speaker 4: was just Hey. Clubs and spades and hearts. You got
[53:36] Speaker 4: one diamond in there. But Jay-Z has 14 number one albums.
[53:42] Speaker 4: If you want to get technical, he got like 10
[53:45] Speaker 4: solo number one albums.
[53:47] Speaker 3: Songwriters Hall of Fame. Songwriters.
[53:50] Speaker 1: Come on, man. What are we talking about? You're respected
[53:53] Speaker 1: as a lyricist.
[53:55] Speaker 3: Storyteller.
[53:56] Speaker 2: Storytelling.
[53:58] Speaker 1: The videos, the concepts, you conceptual with your album.
[54:01] Speaker 3: And the longevity, which you don't always get for rappers.
[54:04] Speaker 4: 90% of you rappers don't have longevity.
[54:08] Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.
[54:09] Speaker 4: Cass came out five years ago, debuting now with 20,000
[54:14] Speaker 4: units first week sold. Jay-Z has been putting out number
[54:21] Speaker 4: one albums since 1998.
[54:24] Speaker 1: Dang. His last album.
[54:26] Speaker 4: In 2017 debuted at number one.
[54:30] Speaker 1: Shut the hell up.
[54:31] Speaker 3: Was that 444?
[54:31] Speaker 2: 444.
[54:31] Speaker 3: That was his last album?
[54:33] Speaker 2: That's his last album.
[54:34] Speaker 4: Almost 10 years ago? Number one on the Billboard charts.
[54:39] Speaker 4: Damn near, what was that, 20 years? Damn near 20
[54:41] Speaker 4: years later, still number one.
[54:44] Speaker 2: Wow.
[54:44] Speaker 1: Come on. What are we talking about?
[54:47] Speaker 2: And also, next week, for future deep dives, Kirk Franklin-
[54:54] Speaker 2: Fred Hammond, John P.
[54:56] Speaker 4: Key.
[54:56] Speaker 2: I want Tony to come over to what I was
[54:58] Speaker 2: listening to on the Deep Cuts. I, too, grew up
[55:01] Speaker 2: on that. Yolanda Adams. After we do Don McClurkin live
[55:04] Speaker 2: in London. I know that.
[55:05] Speaker 1: Now we cooking. We should do a deep dive on
[55:08] Speaker 1: just that album.
[55:10] Speaker 2: That's a great album, though. That's my favorite Donnie album.
[55:13] Speaker 2: I think that's his best album.
[55:14] Speaker 1: That's the best gospel album of all time.
[55:18] Speaker 2: I know people get pissed with me because I ain't
[55:20] Speaker 2: heavy hip-hop, but I know way more about hip-hop than
[55:24] Speaker 2: Tony does about gospel.
[55:25] Speaker 3: I know that.
[55:26] Speaker 1: I can't even argue with that. I got to argue that.
[55:28] Speaker 3: Now, you know way more hip-hop, and there's a lot
[55:32] Speaker 3: of good hip-hop.
[55:33] Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.
[55:34] Speaker 2: I'm Service McGee, but I know enough to hold a conversation. Now,
[55:37] Speaker 2: if you went 20 Jay-Z songs, I'd be like.
[55:40] Speaker 4: In the gospel conversation, I'm dying in the opening credits.
[55:45] Speaker 2: You Chris Brown and stop the yard.
[55:48] Speaker 1: Chris Brown and stop the yard.
[55:49] Speaker 2: I'm going to get this on here. We're going to
[55:51] Speaker 2: deep dive Kirk Franklin's greatest hit. Kirk Franklin got a
[55:54] Speaker 2: new album coming out that's a fire. They let me
[55:57] Speaker 2: listen to it early. You got the early, you got
[55:59] Speaker 2: the drop. I was at the live taping for part
[56:04] Speaker 2: of it. It's a double album. I don't know if
[56:08] Speaker 2: they classify it as a double album, but it's half
[56:11] Speaker 2: straight gospel, half something else.
[56:14] Speaker 1: Fire. Okay. You're just saying that because you.
[56:18] Speaker 2: Know I'm that? No, no, no. You know what I... No,
[56:20] Speaker 2: not even. You know me, my trick is I only
[56:25] Speaker 2: talk about stuff I like. And publicly for black people,
[56:28] Speaker 2: I try very rare for me to disparage black people trying.
[56:33] Speaker 2: So I usually try to find something good about something
[56:35] Speaker 2: that I like. But if I don't find anything good
[56:37] Speaker 2: about it, I just won't talk about it. You can't
[56:40] Speaker 2: even pay me Because I don't want my word to
[56:43] Speaker 2: be used against me.
[56:44] Speaker 1: Exactly. Yeah.
[56:45] Speaker 3: So I just won't. If you think.
[56:48] Speaker 2: Something popping and I ain't said nothing about it, that's
[56:51] Speaker 2: what I told you. Because if I can't even find
[56:53] Speaker 2: nothing good to say, everybody talk about it and I'm
[56:55] Speaker 2: just like.
[56:58] Speaker 3: Anyway. What's up with tonight?
[57:00] Speaker 1: What's up with tonight?
[57:02] Speaker 2: That tells you, Eric, because you on the way, comedy special,
[57:07] Speaker 2: whatever it is. I can find something good about a
[57:10] Speaker 2: lot of stuff.
[57:11] Speaker 1: I'd be like, man, the camera work is fantastic.
[57:14] Speaker 3: Also, I want to say this, too. And I don't
[57:18] Speaker 3: know why.
[57:19] Speaker 2: I think a lot of the black community is being
[57:22] Speaker 2: unnecessarily harsh on Mojo Brooks. I don't know what this
[57:26] Speaker 2: man has done. He's doing his stand-up.
[57:30] Speaker 1: He's doing.
[57:31] Speaker 2: Mojo did not create the need for crowd work. The
[57:35] Speaker 2: internet has determined that the best way to get people
[57:38] Speaker 2: to see you... Not the best way. One of the easy,
[57:42] Speaker 2: repeatable ways to get people to see you is doing
[57:45] Speaker 2: crowd work. He has found something that works. His special
[57:48] Speaker 2: proves that he has material. He has some great jokes
[57:51] Speaker 2: in there. His grandma dementia bit was my favorite joke
[57:54] Speaker 2: in there. As a stand-up comedian, all you can ever
[57:58] Speaker 2: hope to do is build an audience of people who
[58:00] Speaker 2: like your style. And I'm not even talking about, I'm
[58:03] Speaker 2: not even using the excuse of, oh, he's selling all
[58:05] Speaker 2: these tickets. You can sell a lot of tickets and
[58:07] Speaker 2: be bad. I'm not even arguing that. I'm saying as
[58:09] Speaker 2: a stand-up comedian, he's doing what we want to do.
[58:13] Speaker 3: Of course.
[58:14] Speaker 2: You know, he's got material. He's got a way to
[58:17] Speaker 2: get you to come see him. His audience rocks with him.
[58:20] Speaker 2: If you watch his special, his audience is dying in
[58:24] Speaker 2: them seats.
[58:25] Speaker 1: Okay.
[58:25] Speaker 2: I've watched a lot of stand-up. a lot of stand-up specials.
[58:31] Speaker 2: They don't even be cutting to the audience. The laughs
[58:34] Speaker 2: be from behind the audience's head. There ain't no proof
[58:37] Speaker 2: these people are actually laughing. A lot of them big
[58:40] Speaker 2: white comedians, they wouldn't dare turn that camera around. These
[58:44] Speaker 2: people at Mojo Stings are like, woo! Deaf comedy jam level,
[58:49] Speaker 2: people are enjoying it. And I think, I don't know
[58:52] Speaker 2: what it is about, I mean, I know it's part
[58:54] Speaker 2: of American culture, We tend to do this. And the
[58:58] Speaker 2: black community is not the only people. We tend to
[59:00] Speaker 2: do this as Americans. Maybe just as people. We love
[59:03] Speaker 2: you on the way up. Yeah.
[59:05] Speaker 3: And then you get somewhere. You're so big.
[59:07] Speaker 2: We're like, man, he only, and it's just like, bro,
[59:11] Speaker 2: here we go. I, I, I, I like Mosho. Yeah.
[59:15] Speaker 3: I'm proud of what he's done.
[59:16] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[59:17] Speaker 2: He didn't, he didn't cheat his way to the top.
[59:20] Speaker 2: You ain't seen Mojo stealing all these jokes.
[59:23] Speaker 1: Right.
[59:24] Speaker 2: It's just, bro, he didn't create the internet. We all
[59:27] Speaker 2: was figuring out how we get to sell these tickets.
[59:29] Speaker 1: Every comedian wants to put butts in them goddamn seats.
[59:33] Speaker 4: You comedians need to shut the hell up. Kev is
[59:36] Speaker 4: going to be nice with it. I want all of
[59:38] Speaker 4: you motherfuckers to shut the hell up. mojo brooks is
[59:42] Speaker 4: selling tickets the crowd work is obviously resonating with that
[59:46] Speaker 4: audience they like it they're having a good time that's
[59:48] Speaker 4: the sole purpose of this comedy game all that other
[59:52] Speaker 4: horse shit nah you get to be painful up there
[59:55] Speaker 4: you got to be dark you got to defend audiences
[59:58] Speaker 4: shut the hell up there's a lot of you that's
[1:00:00] Speaker 4: doing this you comedy purists your shows be empty You
[1:00:05] Speaker 4: funny as hell, but they paper in the room. Shut
[1:00:08] Speaker 4: the hell up, man. And crowd work is a skill
[1:00:11] Speaker 4: set as well.
[1:00:12] Speaker 2: Man!
[1:00:13] Speaker 1: A lot of you comedians can't even do crowd work.
[1:00:16] Speaker 1: You try to do crowd work, that shit is awkward.
[1:00:18] Speaker 4: You go right back into the material because you awkward
[1:00:20] Speaker 4: as hell with the crowd work. So just because they
[1:00:23] Speaker 4: got another skill set that they're using that they can
[1:00:25] Speaker 4: use even more of because they don't have to burn material,
[1:00:28] Speaker 4: let them do that. Let people get it how they can.
[1:00:32] Speaker 4: We no longer at the mercy of a casting director
[1:00:35] Speaker 4: or a comedy show producer. We getting it from our phones.
[1:00:39] Speaker 4: We getting it from the audience taping. Be happy for
[1:00:42] Speaker 4: niggas that don't have to depend on Hollywood no more.
[1:00:44] Speaker 2: You know how much we as comedians are.
[1:00:50] Speaker 3: That are in control of our own destiny.
[1:00:52] Speaker 1: Oh my God.
[1:00:53] Speaker 2: Can you imagine if our whole life, 20 years ago,
[1:00:56] Speaker 2: you got the, you at the mercy of a Booker.
[1:00:59] Speaker 1: Oh my God.
[1:01:00] Speaker 2: Of the, I can't even think of the passing director
[1:01:02] Speaker 2: or the, or the college. You got to get the
[1:01:04] Speaker 2: college circle. You got to be passed on that. You
[1:01:06] Speaker 2: got to get into DACA or whatever. The thing is, uh, NACA, NACA, Bruh,
[1:01:11] Speaker 2: I can call, hey, improv, funny bone, Virginia Beach.
[1:01:17] Speaker 3: Y'all got an opening March 2028. It's Kevin on stage.
[1:01:20] Speaker 3: Kevin on stage? We got the 26th and 27th. Bet
[1:01:23] Speaker 3: I'll take them.
[1:01:24] Speaker 5: Yes.
[1:01:25] Speaker 1: Bruh, that's... Me and.
[1:01:27] Speaker 2: Tony, don't let anything else we do Cloud your vision.
[1:01:33] Speaker 3: All this other stuff could die.
[1:01:35] Speaker 4: Oh, yeah.
[1:01:36] Speaker 3: Podcasting, acting, internet videos.
[1:01:40] Speaker 2: If all I could ever do is go from town
[1:01:43] Speaker 2: to town or stay in my town, coming to the stage,
[1:01:46] Speaker 2: kept on stage, and because of my jokes, I could
[1:01:49] Speaker 2: feed my family. The rest is whipped cream and maraschino cherries.
[1:01:54] Speaker 1: Absolutely.
[1:01:54] Speaker 2: I won.
[1:01:55] Speaker 1: Absolutely.
[1:01:55] Speaker 2: The fact that I can sell tickets in the United
[1:01:58] Speaker 2: States enough to pay my bills You can't tell me nothing.
[1:02:04] Speaker 2: I won.
[1:02:05] Speaker 1: That's the game.
[1:02:06] Speaker 4: You can just send me right on to the afterlife
[1:02:09] Speaker 4: after that. Because that's all it's about, man. People are
[1:02:14] Speaker 4: selling tickets. People are coming to see him. People are
[1:02:16] Speaker 4: having a good time. The goal in comedy is laughter.
[1:02:21] Speaker 1: Are they laughing? Yes.
[1:02:22] Speaker 2: I'm sick of these tech talks and good points and all.
[1:02:25] Speaker 4: And these comedians, you hating ass, bitter ass comedians that
[1:02:30] Speaker 4: can't figure out how to sell tickets.
[1:02:32] Speaker 1: You funny as hell, but you're just not selling tickets.
[1:02:35] Speaker 2: It's your energy.
[1:02:36] Speaker 1: It's your attitude. And you don't want to do the
[1:02:38] Speaker 1: work online.
[1:02:39] Speaker 2: Because let me tell you what else, right? I watched
[1:02:42] Speaker 2: this documentary called, I believe it was 30 Feet from Stardom.
[1:02:46] Speaker 2: I won't argue with you that many a background singer
[1:02:49] Speaker 2: is a better singer vocalist than the artist they're behind.
[1:02:53] Speaker 3: Sure.
[1:02:54] Speaker 2: But that artist is a better artist.
[1:02:57] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[1:02:57] Speaker 2: And most background singers would rather be in front with
[1:03:02] Speaker 2: somebody behind them. Yeah. And I think a lot of
[1:03:04] Speaker 2: times what we see in comedians, we are... the background
[1:03:09] Speaker 2: singer and they mad at the artist. And that artist
[1:03:12] Speaker 2: has figured out the personality. It's like Cardi B's Tiny Desk.
[1:03:17] Speaker 2: When you watch her Tiny.
[1:03:17] Speaker 3: Desk, have you seen it?
[1:03:18] Speaker 1: No.
[1:03:19] Speaker 2: Tony, check it out. Cardi B, she won't even tell
[1:03:23] Speaker 2: you she's the best rapper. She will tell you that
[1:03:25] Speaker 2: she doesn't write all her raps. But what she is,
[1:03:28] Speaker 2: is entertaining. I watched her Tiny Desk. I was telling Angel.
[1:03:33] Speaker 2: I would go see her. I'm not going to argue
[1:03:37] Speaker 2: she's the greatest lyricist or MC, but I would give
[1:03:40] Speaker 2: her that 80 bucks that I didn't have when Jay-Z
[1:03:42] Speaker 2: and Kanye came. I would go to her concert. I
[1:03:45] Speaker 2: know I'd have a good time. And I think there's
[1:03:48] Speaker 2: credit that needs to go to people who are figuring
[1:03:50] Speaker 2: out how to do it in the way. All you
[1:03:53] Speaker 2: can ever do is figure out how to do it
[1:03:55] Speaker 2: in your generation. If me and you came up in 1990...
[1:03:59] Speaker 2: We would have had to figure out how to get
[1:04:00] Speaker 2: them cast as directors. We would have had to figure out-
[1:04:02] Speaker 2: In Gatekeeper City, man. Def Comedy Jam or Comic View.
[1:04:06] Speaker 2: And that's a different skill set.
[1:04:08] Speaker 4: It was always, you always needed a Gatekeeper platform just
[1:04:13] Speaker 4: to get to the next. I got to be on
[1:04:15] Speaker 4: the Johnny Carson. Johnny Carson was everything for comedians.
[1:04:18] Speaker 5: Yes.
[1:04:18] Speaker 4: Then you got to be on Def Jam. Then you
[1:04:20] Speaker 4: got to be on Comic View. Now, you don't have
[1:04:22] Speaker 4: to do none of that. You can record your shows,
[1:04:26] Speaker 4: your clips, and people will come see you. And these
[1:04:30] Speaker 4: people out here hate that. Why are you hating on this?
[1:04:33] Speaker 4: They fucking up the comedy game. If a person is
[1:04:35] Speaker 4: not funny when people go see them live, guess what?
[1:04:39] Speaker 4: The people not going to come back.
[1:04:40] Speaker 3: Jerry Seinfeld says that all the time.
[1:04:42] Speaker 2: He said, I don't care about bad comedians because comedy
[1:04:45] Speaker 2: is a self-cleaning oven or engine.
[1:04:48] Speaker 3: That's it. It will spit you out.
[1:04:50] Speaker 2: There's no amount of celebrity that will keep people sitting
[1:04:54] Speaker 2: down if you are bombing.
[1:04:56] Speaker 3: They won't go back. You can get them once.
[1:04:58] Speaker 4: You get them once, but they be like, man, he
[1:05:00] Speaker 4: wasn't funny, man.
[1:05:01] Speaker 1: I ain't going back.
[1:05:02] Speaker 3: And there it is.
[1:05:02] Speaker 2: And it's all for wear. And you might actually get
[1:05:05] Speaker 2: funnier later. And they're like, ah, man, I seen him
[1:05:08] Speaker 2: and he was, nope. You're going to have to prove
[1:05:10] Speaker 2: it in a different way eight years ago.
[1:05:13] Speaker 3: So yeah, man.
[1:05:14] Speaker 1: Shut the hell up is what we're saying.
[1:05:17] Speaker 2: I appreciate y'all, Patreon. Me and Tony was in here
[1:05:20] Speaker 2: chopping it up today. This is almost three hours of talking,
[1:05:24] Speaker 2: and I'd do it again. God bless y'all. Next week,
[1:05:29] Speaker 2: we're talking Janet Jackson deep dive. We're talking Vision Quest.
[1:05:34] Speaker 2: We're talking The Drop episode seven.
[1:05:37] Speaker 1: We got to give The Drop his propers, man.
[1:05:39] Speaker 2: We do.
[1:05:40] Speaker 1: We slid it to the side like panties today.
[1:05:43] Speaker 2: We slid it to the side like panties. Also, one
[1:05:45] Speaker 2: more thing on The Drop before we go. That dude
[1:05:48] Speaker 2: who took DG's watch. He started talking about hopes and dreams.
[1:05:53] Speaker 1: I said, I don't care. Hopes and dreams.
[1:05:57] Speaker 2: When you're an actor and they give you the script
[1:05:59] Speaker 2: and you say, my dream is, I'll be like, man,
[1:06:01] Speaker 2: why y'all killing me, man?
[1:06:03] Speaker 4: Don't tell nobody y'all hopes and dreams in real life
[1:06:06] Speaker 4: because you're going to die in the next scene, y'all.
[1:06:08] Speaker 4: Don't tell nobody your hopes and dreams. You know what
[1:06:13] Speaker 4: my dream is, Kev? I want to go back to Chicago.
[1:06:20] Speaker 4: Then when we leave here, man, this podcast is fun.
[1:06:23] Speaker 2: Somebody in the backseat of your truck. Why are you
[1:06:28] Speaker 2: killing Tony Becker?
[1:06:29] Speaker 3: He said it was his dream to go back to Chicago.
[1:06:31] Speaker 1: He had a dream.
[1:06:32] Speaker 2: He's not even in the gang or he's not in
[1:06:34] Speaker 2: the mob. You know you can't say hopes and dreams, man.
[1:06:38] Speaker 1: Dreams, dog.
[1:06:38] Speaker 2: Dude in the drop is like, I'm going to go
[1:06:40] Speaker 2: to Oakland, but first I got to kill these two niggas.
[1:06:42] Speaker 2: What they do, don't worry about it. The fact that
[1:06:45] Speaker 2: you mentioned that, these two people are going to live
[1:06:48] Speaker 2: prosperous lives.
[1:06:49] Speaker 3: You got plans?
[1:06:50] Speaker 2: Dreams?
[1:06:51] Speaker 3: I said, dang.
[1:06:52] Speaker 1: Copy that.
[1:06:53] Speaker 2: They shot that, man. I said, why you tell them? Man,
[1:06:55] Speaker 2: what's your dreams? I don't dream. I don't sleep. I'm
[1:06:59] Speaker 2: Jalen Hurts with a blood clot.
[1:07:01] Speaker 1: You really got to be like, I ain't got no hopes.
[1:07:03] Speaker 1: I got nothing. I got nothing. You're going to stay
[1:07:07] Speaker 1: alive for the whole franchise.
[1:07:08] Speaker 3: You should put that in a movie. What's your dream?
[1:07:11] Speaker 2: Nope. I only have nightmares. No, I don't want to
[1:07:15] Speaker 2: go nowhere. I can't fly. I can't drive. I can't
[1:07:19] Speaker 2: ride a train. I can't read. They'd be like, please,
[1:07:23] Speaker 2: put me out of my misery. He'd be alive for
[1:07:26] Speaker 2: five movies. Like, damn it. What's your dream, man?
[1:07:31] Speaker 3: Nothing.
[1:07:33] Speaker 1: Nothing?
[1:07:34] Speaker 2: Nope.
[1:07:35] Speaker 1: Not at all.
[1:07:36] Speaker 3: My favorite Meek Mill song is called And Nightmares.
[1:07:43] Speaker 1: Nightmares and Nightmares. Daymares and nightmares. That's the song I'm
[1:07:47] Speaker 1: waiting on.
[1:07:48] Speaker 2: Daymares.
[1:07:49] Speaker 1: I be having daymares and nightmares. I got no dreams.
[1:07:53] Speaker 2: No dreams, man. Every time I do have one.
[1:07:55] Speaker 1: Don't you want to see your kids grow up?
[1:07:56] Speaker 3: I don't want to see nothing.
[1:07:58] Speaker 1: Hell no.
[1:07:58] Speaker 2: I don't even have kids. Do I have kids?
[1:08:00] Speaker 1: I don't know.
[1:08:01] Speaker 3: If they grow up, they grow up.
[1:08:02] Speaker 1: I wouldn't know them. I don't want to know them.
[1:08:06] Speaker 3: If they grow up, they grow up. If they die,
[1:08:07] Speaker 3: they die.
[1:08:08] Speaker 1: Roll credits.
[1:08:09] Speaker 2: Kill your kids.
[1:08:10] Speaker 5: I'm going to kill my kids anyway, just so y'all
[1:08:12] Speaker 5: can't dream of them. It's your kid's dream to meet you. Well,
[1:08:17] Speaker 5: he's going to be dead in the next scene. What
[1:08:21] Speaker 5: the hell's going on?
[1:08:25] Speaker 2: All right, y'all.
[1:08:27] Speaker 3: We'll see y'all next week. God bless you.
[1:08:29] Speaker 2: God keep you.
[1:08:30] Speaker 3: We'll see you at the conference.

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