Jay-Z Explanatory

Jay-Z, one of the most brilliant and heralded rappers of our time, often raps in riddles and interwoven phrases that are difficult to decipher unless you have the appropriate background knowledge. This post will help you understand the meaning and metaphors inherent in some of his lyrics, namely the first few lines from Public Service Announcement off the Black (or Grey) album.

Here are the lyrics:

[1] Allow me to re-introduce myself, my name is HOV
[2] H to the O-V. I used to move snowflakes by the O.Z.,
[3] I guess even back then you could call me
[4] C-E-O of the R-O-C, HOV

Now read it again, this time make sure HOV rhymes with "grove"., and you spell-out the letters with dashes or dots in between them. That's right, go ahead and do it.

First, you can see on the first line that Jay-Z refers to himself as HOV. He's not talking about being a high-occupancy vehicle, but rather HOV being the latter part of Jay-Hova, his self-given nickname. Jay-Hova is a play off of "Jehovah" which is a "modern mispronunciation of the Hebrew name" of God. So by combining his rap name and an ancient name for The Mighty One, he is, essentially, calling himself the God of the rap game and its culture.

In the second line, Jigga alludes to his past life as a drug dealer by making reference to selling "snowflakes" by the ounce — snowflakes being a seldom heard euphemism for cocaine powder.

The final selected lyric is the most interesting and metaphoric. He says that you can think of him as the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of the R-O-C. Now R-O-C can have multiple meanings — roc, or "rock", is slang for crack rock; Jayhova used to sell crack before he founded Roc-a-fella records. By being the self-employed drug dealer that he was, you could consider him the CEO of his business, namely, selling the rock.

Speaking of Roc-a-fella records, that brings us right to the alternate meaning that Jay-Z was trying to code in his lyrics. Roc-a-fella records (Jay-Z's recording label) is what he put together with his rapper friends in the mid-90s, so he is the CEO of that company as well.

I hope this gives you a little more insight into rap lyrics. Next time you hear them on the radio, don't just dismiss it as mindless jabber — it truly is a form of art.

Comments

[honus]

Right... a form of art that inspires people to sell drugs (snowflakes), be part of a culture that is not accessible in most places (i.e. suburban/rural America), is otherwise destructive (encourages crime and denounces academics), and encourages incorrect grammar and pronunciation (as is evidenced by poor communication skills in high school and college students). This isn't the case for you, but for many others, it's a way of life. I find that sad.

Fo shizzle mike rizzle. Wut the dizzle with the ezinglish lazizille?

[Mike]

Yes.

[Honus]

hahaaa. well said.

[matthew]

an insightful exposition, but i'm with honus on this one.

[Mike]

C'mon guys, have some more faith in me. I know that rap music can't teach you about real life the way white boys from the 'burbs experience it, but for some, it is a way of life. Think of rap lyrics as a sort of documentary for a person and a lifestyle you never knew existed.

Remember, for some people, these songs are non-fiction.

[Paul Michael Smith]

Sorry Mike but I have to disagree with you on Rap being an Art Form. I dont doubt that it is a "skill" but that is where it stops as far as I am concerned.

I HATE rap because I have seen first hand how it influences, impressionable young kids and gives them completly the wrong idea about life.

I work at a "City Learning Centre" in North Manchester, England. North Manchester is infamous for being very rough, just ask anybody from the UK if they have heard of "Moss Side" or "Long-Sight" and they will tell you about drugs, guns and murder being a major problem.

I work with kids that are between the age of 11 - 16 most of whom listen to this Rap rubbish and see it as cool to be a "Gansta" things they do are stuff like walking around the streets fighting for no reason, smoking weed and stealing cars and getting involved in petty gangs.

Speaking to them they all say things like "It is a way of life" or "Snoop does it and he is my inspiration". What annoys me about that is the fact that most of these kids come from good families and nicer areas of North Manchester but because they listen to that trash they then venture into the bad areas with similar friends and get into trouble because they see it as cool.

Rap in my opinion has done nothing but make some true scumbags rich for speading their filth to imature and impressionable kids across the world. Rap doesn't sound good and is not something I personally consider music at all. Sorry but I feel very strongly about *most* of that rubbish.

[Josh Bryant]

And this is different from any other form of music? I hold that it is art. Art isn't something you fit in a box or have to agree with, it is art. Many of these scumbags have had really boring and stupid lives, and yet they find a way to make it lyrical and appeal to kds.

I agree that it is a bad influence on some, but I still believe it is art.

[Mike]

I will go out on a limb and say that children and adolescents who take what rappers say literally and imitate what they hear, aren't really that intelligent.

If you do not know what is right from wrong (abilities taught by good parenting) then rap music — or any other kind of suggestive medium — will become all that much more attractive to you. If you cannot figure out that shooting people is not something you're supposed to do, no matter how many times you hear Tupac talking about it, then you're probably going to pick up a gun and use it whether or not you listened to rap music.

Is it a catalyst? Yes, but only for the impressionable and the unintelligent.

[Paul Michael Smith]

I hold my hands up and take note of Josh's point.

I also note what your saying Mike but I am affaid that is the sad situation we live in, that many children are too impressionable and do take things that rappers say too seriously but that being said it still annoys me because the rappers and the record companies know this and still release the stuff.

I acknowledge that I did a lot of rappers a discredit because I know that not all rap songs are about the controversial subjects but I cant help but feel that they know how impressionable these kids are and still produce such material but not only that but exploit the imaturity of children by hyping them up to such a frenzy that they do go ahead and punch the fan or a rival rapper or take a toke on a spliff because the rapper says how cool it is.

I know people have said the same thing about violent movies but I think the difference is that movies are not trying to speak to or influence the children so directly like the rappers and their song's are.

[Mike]

That's a good point about the "violent movies" analogy Paul, definitely a valid one. I guess what I'm trying to say is "yeah, rap isn't all that wholesome", but also, "neither is our society in this day and age".

People swear and say vulgar things in public, violence is prevalent everywhere, nudity and gratuitous sex can be found in advertising in any magazine on the planet, and sometimes we need to just stand back and realize what exactly is going on. We can blame rap for some things, but then others are simply a product of our culture's (the US I mean, I can't speak for everyone) laid-back approach to morality.

[Grant]

Interesting read. I won't get into the potential influences of Rap music, but will admit that's pretty clever stuff. It definitely beats some of the mindless drivel other "rappers" come up with.

[Honus]

I gotta add that I don't hardcore rap the same way I don't like hardcore rock or hardcore any kind of music for that matter. I find it all distinctly unpallatable.

Mike even though sex, violence and vulgarity are "everywhere" in society, that's just making excuses for its prevelence. It's a sick and twisted loop. Someone pushes the boundaries (like Bono when he said "that's f*cking brilliant" on live TV) and the next person takes it the next step further, and eventually society coalesces, generally catalyzed by the young people who take to it. Just look at Debbie Gibson vs. Britney Spears vs. Christina Aguilera vs. Janet Jackson vs. new Britney Spears. I hold to the standard that just because it's common does not mean it's proper, or beneficial. Is rap completely responsible for a lack of morality in this country? No. Is it a part of that loop? Yes.

[Paul Michael Smith]

Yeh I think I agree with you Mike and the slant Honus has put on it about it being part of the loop.

[JC]

While some rap music is quite clever, most of it isn't very inspired. It's not really terribly different (in those two respects, at least) from most modern poetry, except that they dress it up in gold chains and throw enough bass to make the windows shake. I don't really consider it any kind of music, though there are those few things that mix music with rap. But poetry, sure, why not, even if alot of it is on par with the most trite teen angsty/sappy-love nonsense that gets published in crap journals and posted online. There are gems in there here and there. I was quite impressed with "Be careful with that mic" by Clutch... I'd link to the lyrics but I can't find anything in the first couple of pages of google that has them without a crapload of popups and attempts to install plugins.

And "art?" I suppose. More artistic than most "modern art" out there, certainly. But I'd like to carry a couple of real "gangstas" from Highland Park around with me and have them beat some sense into every idiotic teenage wannabe they come across in my part of the world. Or maybe just deport them to the 'hood for a few months and let them live in the worst part of Detroit and see just how glorious that lifestyle is compared to their nice suburban subdivisions. It would be terribly entertaining. That's a reality show I'd actually watch, and I don't even watch television. :-)

[JC]

ok, I'll at least paste in this particular bit. heh.

How come you rhyme monosyllabically?/Is atrophy shrinking your entire vocabulary?/Your style's like garbage cans/meant to be taken out on a weekly basis./Ever since your first record you've been in a state of suspended animation./You look like snuffaluffagus and australopithecus.//Me cray, you abacus.

I love that last bit. But that's just the computer geek in me. heh.

[Honus]

Holy crap. Those guys sound smart. Previously the smartest hiphop/rap group in my mind was Jurassic 5.

"I'm carbonated, the Fanti-confederated
Highly commemorated, and the most celebrated
For connecting it (Word!) Like verb subject to the
predicate
Plus I got the etiquette
To keep it moving, and showing cats how it's done
Cause it's the verbal combat, position number one"

It's not as clear as schoolhouse rocks, but rapping abour grammar. Probably cooler too. Sweet.

[Mike]

Jurassic 5 came up to RIT last year, but I didn't go see them. Maybe I should have — I'm all for intellectual lyrics.

[seth thomas rasmussen]

Honus, you better check yo self befo' you wreck yo self... FOO. No, but honestly, to even casually imply that rap on the whole inspires behavior like "selling snowflakes" is just ludicrous, and not even worth the ever so minimal, all but throw-away point you attempted to make.

Also, I like this tune (P.S.A.), but there are so many individuals and groups far more worth the time and exposure than Jay-Z.

P.S. Dig your blog, duuude. Design is tight.

[Chris]

You can not accuse rap music or hip hop of making these problems. Its the kids that listen to it that are the problem. I have listened to hip hop for a long time and i dont have a gun or sell crack. If you are going to blame hip hop, do not blame the more talented rappers like Nas and Jay-z, or the more poetic of rappers like Gangstarr or a Trible Called Quest. Blame it on scally rappers like Fifty Cent and Ja Rule. These are the scum that the kids look up to. If you want to help these kids buy them Stillmatic-Nas, Any Tribe Called Quest Album and a bible!

[Chris Again..]

Please Listen to NAS- You're Da Man from the Stillmatic cd. It shows that at least Nas remembers his past.
"now wait a sec', give me time to explain, women and fast cars
And diamond rings can poison a rap star
It's suicidal, how I smoke in so much la'
I saw a dead bird flyin through a broken sky"

"Sex with death, indulge in these women
Vision my own skeleton swimmin in eternal fire
Broads play with pentagrams in they vagina
Like the Exorcist, then they gave birth to my seeds
I beg for God's help, why they love hurtin me?
I'm your disciple, a thug certainly"

[Jay-C]

Maybe some of the blame should rest on the parents for not taking care of their children. I listened to metal and hip hop growing up, and I never killed anyone. Don't even have a speeding or parking ticket, because I was RAISED properly.

If you allow your kid to be influenced by the words to a song, then you need to hang up your parenting spurs and get your tubes tied/pipes snipped.

I enjoy hip hop. I like clever lyrics that make me puzzle out what they're trying to say...like the whole HOVA ordeal. He may not be rapping about something positive, but I bet fewer people have been harmed by Jay-Z encoding lyrics about selling drugs than there have been people harmed by organized religion.

[naz]

Rap does not influence kids to do drugs and kill and so forth. It is the lyricist who pens and recites these rhymes. There are some rappers who try to influence kids in a good way.

These rappers ply their trade on past experiences. Most people cannot relate to this as they do not go through the hardship. Yes they maybe bad experiences but they are real.

Rap is a form of art, due to the rhyme scheme and the beats. You cant say its not art just because you dont like it. If porn can be classed as art so can rap. Free your minds

[Eebs]

Rap cannot be clearly classified as art or not. There are those who use rap as a cautionary tale such a Talib Kweli and those who use it to just make money (such as the Ruff Ryders); regardless of the effects. Many rappers have lived whatthey rap about and serve as an example, as someone who was able to rise above their previous unfortunate situation. Apparently J-Z was not content selling drugs, he aspired for more and became the CEO of his own company.

Mr. Smith, I do not question that you work with troubled youths, but the reality of someone growing up in a predominantly and historically caucasian and non-racially divided country such as England is not as bad as that of one growing up in parts of the United States. There are not as many incidents involving police officers acting out against minorities, white supremecist groups acting out against minorities and minorities acting out against themselves as in the United States. Northern Manchester may suffer, but you cannot deny the problems in South Central LA, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Compton, Chino or formerly confederate states. You say that the children you help join petty gangs and steal cars, children here join major bicoastal gangs. Gangs in the US are like franchises. They do not simply go out to steal cars and smoke weed; they peddle drugs, have wars over territory to sell these drugs and take lives when they find it necessary. They do not know anything else, they do not know better. I do not discredit you for your work, i find it valiant.
Grouping all rap as art is like grouping the works of Monet or Michealangelo with adolescent finger paintings. There is a grey area. Let us remember that rap is meant as a form of entertainment before anything.

[tc]

Overall, it is admissible that rap influences society in the wrong direction. However, we cannot deny its artistic identity. How is it not art?! With sublimal messages encoded in well-formed often humoristical rhymes, the level of creativity definitely tops a lot of things of our modern society. So what is the main reason for all the negative criticism on rap? The values. Drugs, women, guns and "beefs". Such things are the idiocies being produced by 21st century rappers(Nas, Jay-Z and some others not included). However, rap was originally a medium for people to express themselves(another reason why it is art). In such songs such as "My Block" by Tupac, he tells the tale of his life in a poor community. We need less garbage about being shot, and more about good values, optimism and conciousness of the world, all packed into a nice delivery phrase.

What most children(and idiots) who copy their favorite rappers don't realize, is that their idols did everything they could to escape from such their past life-style. They are simply re-telling their past experiences in trying to open our eyes unto our surroundings.

*NOTE: All those "club" rappers such as Lil Jon, 50 Cent, and Ja Rule do not fit into the category of those re-telling stories of their past selves

[brian]

Wow, most of the anti-rap statements here seems to be fueled by a profound racism, although most people won't be that honest with themselves. Together with xenophobia, this could be a deep splitter for a white-dominated society.
Maybe "y'all" should be thinking about this:
Every single thing you are saying about rap, your grandparents said about Rock and Roll (Elvis!!) and the Beatles. To your PARENTS. If one takes thIS 'preserve the eshtablishment' attitude to the extreme, what do we get? Yep, that's right: People blaming Marilyn Manson for the Columbine tragedy!!! Now, I mean, GET REAL!!!
It maybe that Rap has a rebelling influence on young (poor) Black kids in the Western Society, but so has the current exclusion/racism by the whites. And yeah, yeah, everybody must responsible for theirself regarding not becoming a criminal and all that. But sometimes, you should stop and think about judging Rap music and such.

Besides not being RIGHT, it's also not logical to BLAME rap for the things you people seem to wanna blame Rap for. It is impossible that music has such an influence on people. Otherwise, all them wiggers would be in jail too. And them prisons are PRIDDY suspiciously empty of them, 'yo' ...
And no matter what you say, it IS art. So is heavy metal. Even though i hate THAT with a vengeance.