I have to admit, I am not a Jay-Z super fan or anything. I know all of one other song he has done. But after finding this song I may have to look more into what he is doing right now.
First, I love the subject of this song. Not just the slam on autotune but the slam on the whole aspect of the music industry that seems so fake, is all costumes and no substance which kind of goes along with autotune.
Second, this is a well constructed song. There is what I believe is a jazz electric guitar though it may not specifically be jazz (I watched the video and could never get a good look at it) and saxophone. Yes, saxophone in a rap song, can you believe it? They play off each other and with each other so sometimes I have difficulty determining if the sound I am hearing is the guitar or the sax. Though the parts I am certain are guitar have this beautiful fuzz quality (fuzz pedal?) it brings the perfect old school quality to a song that is all about going back to basics.
Last, Jay-Z’s rapping is great, its very old school. It almost reminds me of a beatnik recitation. The lyrics are great to. My favorite are these:
Holdup, this **** need a verse from Jeezy… ay!
I might send this to the mixtape Weezy
Get somebody from BMF to talk on this
Give this to a Blood, let a Crip walk on it
Get me foul to style on this
I just don’t need nobody to smile on this
You n***as singin too much,
Get back to rap you T-Pain’n too much
Ah, I’m a multi-millionaire
So how is it I’m still the hardest n***a here?
Footnote:
If you are uncertain what the autotune effect in music is check this out:
Autotune the News #6