Post-modernism and Music - Jay Z
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does your chosen artist use other people’s music in a respectful way? Are they bringing a
potentially overlooked or forgotten style to a new audience?
Vocals / Lyrics
Country / Folk
Baptizing Sceneby Reverend W.A. Donaldson (1959)Country / Folk
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Watch the Throne
Def Jam 2011
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Sounds of the South
Atlantic 1959
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Sample appears at 0:07
Sample appears at 0:04
Vocals / Lyrics
Hip-Hop / R&B
Victoryby Puff Daddy feat. The Notorious B.I.G. and Busta Rhymes (1997)Hip-Hop / R&B
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Watch the Throne
Def Jam 2011
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No Way Out
Bad Boy 1997
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Sample appears at 0:43
Sample appears at 1:31
Pastiche
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does you chose artist use other peoples music in order to mock it and its fans? Are they
attempting to damage the ‘authority’ of a style of music?
Hip hop mogul Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter has been accused of ridiculing pop star Taylor Swift in a new song.
The Hollywood rapper, 43, produced "The Great Gatsby" soundtrack in which his song, "100$ Bill," is featured. Jay-Z makes reference to an infamous incident involving his best friend Kanye West and Swift in which the "Mercy" rapper stole the microphone from the singer, 23, at the 2009 MTV Music Awards.
"That cheese made us constipated couldn't tell us s---/Took that, Taylor Swift to a hundred ------- million, -----," Jay-Z raps.
Bricolage
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does your chosen artist use music from different time periods or genres? Does this
change the ‘meaning’ of the original song?
"Girls, Girls, Girls" is the second single from rapper Jay-Z's album The Blueprint. It is a playful description of the artist's promiscuous lifestyle. The song contains a sample of "There's Nothing In This World That Can Stop Me From Loving You" by Tom Brock. The chorus features a lyrical interpolation of "High Power Rap" by Crash Crew. The song has additional vocals sung by Q-Tip,Slick Rick and Biz Markie, but they are not credited as featured guests on the back artwork, they are however credited in the album's liner notes.
Intertextual References
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does your artist reference other songs (lyrically, melodically, stylistically, visually) in their work?
The Jay-Z/Nas feud was a hip hop rivalry during the early 2000s and is one of the most high-profile feuds in hip hop history. It was characterized by comments (both on- and off-record, figuratively as well as literally) between Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter and Nasir "Nas" Jones from 2001 until resolved in 2005. The conflict received public attention owing to the critically and commercially successful nature of both artists. It is one of the most followed feuds in hip hop history, especially after the aftermath of the East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry of the 1990s
Simulacrum
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Is your artist ‘real’ or merely playing a ‘character’? For many ‘mainstream’ artists,
their image is just as important as their sound (if not more so), postmodern artists play with ideas of image in the way they re represent themselves.
In Jay-Z's days as a youngin' he was known as "Jazzy." He later changed his rap moniker to Jay-Z to salute his mentor rapper and producer, Jaz-O, and the subway lines of his hometown of Brooklyn. - He is himself but his image has changed over the years as he looks smarter nowadays and has changed his name.
Consumption
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how does your chosen artist wish their music to be consumed? Is there an artefact (object) that accompanies their music?
As part of a broader deal between Samsung and Roc Nation – estimated at $20m – a total of 1m copies ofJay-Z's new album, Magna Carta Holy Grail, were given away on Thursday at one minute past midnight (US eastern time), a full 72 hours before it officially goes on sale. The Korean mobile company has paid $5m so that the first million owners of Galaxy S III, Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note II devices to claim the album though a free app from the Google Play store get a three-day headstart on the rest of Jay-Z's fans.
Creation
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how does your artist create their music, are they a musician, a songwriter, a composer,
Songwriter/Musician
Performance
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does your artist play ‘live’? Is there a ‘show’ to accompany? Is there a ‘style’ to their
videos? What if any interaction is there with their audience? [
No strong sense of history or the future. Alienation is abolished by saying, 'Utopia is now' as in raves or music festivals.
Even a critic of postmodernism like Hans Magnus Enzensburger has observed, 'consumption as spectacle is
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in parody form
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the anticipation of a utopian situation' (1974).]
Influence
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Has your artist influenced the wider world of music (are other artists keen to collaborate, have mainstream artists appropriated their sound)?
In 2008, Jay-Z announced a 10-year, $150 million deal to release music through concert-promotion behemoth Live Nation. With one of the best-selling rappers of all time—and a former Def Jam label exec—leaving the major label system, the deal rocked the industry, signaling a new, artist-centric shift in power.
Jay-Z may not have the high-fashion panache of Kanye West, but his influence in street wear over the past decade-and-a-half is undeniable. Yes, he made "the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can," but he's also popularized several other trends, including throwbacks, striped button-ups, Chloé glasses, all-white air forces and platinum jewelry. Plus, there's his clothing line, Rocawear, which, although it's fallen on tough times of late, is undoubtedly one of the most successful urban clothing brands of all time.
Jay-Z's close relationship with President Obama has brought rap to D.C. He's hosted fund-raisers for the prez, performed at rallies and earned the ire of conservative politicos and commentators.
Other rappers and musicians have owned parts of sports teams, but it's hard to think of another that's had the impact that Jay's had. Despite his small ownership stake (now relinquished), he was basically the face of the Brooklyn Nets, and played key roles in the building of the team's new stadium, its logo design, stadium decor and more.
Jay-Z's 2011 book Decoded, which broke down the lyrics to many of his classics, put brand-new spotlight on the skill, poetry and meaning behind rapping. Although RapGenius was founded in 2009, it's more recent success was arguably fueled by Hov's pioneering book.
Jay-Z's track record as a music exec at Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam and Roc Nation is no joke. He signed Rihanna and Kanye West, two of the biggest, most influential artists of the new millennium. He also helped launch the careers of J. Cole, Beanie Sigel, Freeway, Just Blaze and other skilled rap luminaries who've left an oversize mark on the game.
Jay-Z and Beyoncé, who recently became music's first billion-dollar married couple, are inspiring millions with their successes and their support of one another.
In a world where too many fathers—even famous ones—aren't there for their children, Jay-Z and Blue Ivy are making a daddy-hood look cooler than ever.
Jay-Z is shattering walls and glass ceilings that have long held back hip hop. In 2011, he broke Elvis' record for most No. 1 albums by a solo artist. In 2004, he became CEO of Def Jam, one of music's biggest labels. In 1999, his Hard Knock Life tour showed that rap could fill arenas. Rap is now widely accepted as part of mainstream pop culture, and Jay is a big reason why.
Over his years behind the mic, Jay-Z has arguably become the most successful rapper of all time, with dozens of truly timeless rap classics to his name. Even when Roc Nation folds and the Barclays Center rusts away, Jay's music will live on, inspiring and entertaining aspiring rappers, young moguls-to-be and everyday people.
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