Dear Jay-Z, Congrats on the birth of your daughter, Blue Ivy. The joy I felt when my son Jalen was born was indescribable. The birth of a child is a blessing from God. Welcome to fatherhood. I’m writing you this letter because I think your lyrics from H to the Izzo (H.O.V.A.) is truer today than it was back in 2001. “Can’t leave rap alone/The game needs me” is a simple but powerful line. I think the rap game needs you in 2012, but I also believe that you need the rap game. In fact, I think the true impact of your legacy is intrinsically tied to the state of the rap game.

Last night I was visiting one of my favorite websites, BlackElectorate.com when I saw an article that grabbed my attention. Apparently, Michael Eric Dyson, author, television political/social pundit and college professor is teaching a sociology course at Georgetown University about the social and cultural significance of Jay-Z’s music and career. Of course, when I heard about this I literally fell out of my chair. It’s quite remarkable to see just how far Hip-Hop music and culture has come. For much of its history, Hip-Hop has gotten very little respect but now it’s being studied in the halls of higher education.

Anyone who reads this blog or have read my book knows that I write extensively about how Jay-Z’s lyrics serve as a blueprint for greatness for the Hip-Hop generation. The thing is, Jay rhymes as an ex-street hustler and his lyrics reflect the principles of “the game” or “the life”. MCs like Jay-Z, Raekwon, Ghostface and Biggie hipped my generation to what was going on in the streets and the connection this had to Hip-Hop culture and the world. Either you lived it, respected it or rejected it. Nowadays, the new school of Hip-Hoppers most likely didn’t live it and don’t care one way or the other to respect or reject it. They “have the tattoos but not the true scars”. Follow me?

Lil Wanye sold close to a million copies of his Tha Carter IV album in the first week of its release. Congrats to Weezy. It’s a great accomplishment for the young MC. Clearly, Wayne is the hottest MC in the rap game right now. But some people have jumped to conclusions about his status in Hip-Hop and true standing in the pantheon of great MCs. Some have basically anointed Lil Wayne as King of Hip-Hop. Case in point: I’ve heard some fans and critics claim that “Jay-Z’s reign is over”. Well, allow me to put Lil Wayne’s success, Jay’s legacy and their recent conflict with each other in perspective.

Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Murder to Excellence reveals the great spectrum of the black experience in America. There’s the tragic epidemic of violence and homicide that goes back generations but there’s also the greatness of achievement in Black America that goes back since (and before) we were brought to this land as slaves. In part 1 of this series, I wrote about the media’s role in sensationalizing black-on-black homicide in America and how I believe that the local media is in the most powerful position to give greater prospective to what’s happening in America’s urban communities. Well, now I want to talk about how Black excellence in America is a story that needs to be told with greater depth in the media in order to inspire us all.

My favorite song off Watch The Throne is Murder to Excellence. It’s truly a powerful song. I would say that it’s the most profound rap song that I’ve heard within the last 10 years. The subject of the song, black-on-black homicide, has been tackled extensively in Hip-Hop music, but Jay-Z and Kanye shines a much brighter light on the issue because of their high profiles and the depth of the song’s lyrical content. Another thing that makes the song unique is that Jay and Kanye “report” the grim state of Black America in the first half of the song and then celebrate the great achievement and excellence in Black America in the second half. I’m going to do the same in this 2-part blog post.

On August 9, 2011 Jay-Z added a chapter to the “Book of Hov” upon the release of the album, Watch The Throne. This chapter in Jay’s music catalog has a very worthy co-author, Kanye West. Though I’m a big Jay-Z and Kanye fan I didn’t purchase the album on the 9th. I let several days pass before I purchased the physical CD (yes, I still listen to CDs). It’s now August 14, early Sunday morning, and I still haven’t heard even half of the album yet. I’m stuck on the third track, N*ggas in Paris. I was aware of the buzz surrounding this song before I heard it. Fans love the song for the same reasons others hate it- Jay and ‘Ye bring a lot of swag and style to the track, quite frankly, boasting about the lifestyles they live. Both the haters and lovers of this song are mostly likely listening but not truly hearing its message.

When I was a kid in grade school and junior high, I thought the coolest man walking and talking on the planet was Big Daddy Kane. True, Doug E. Fresh was my very first favorite MC when I started listening to Hip-Hop in the mid 80’s, basically off the strength of his performance on his signature record, “Keep Rising to the Top”. But by the time Kane came out with his debut album in the summer of ’88….he was undoubtedly in my eyes the best MC alive. Fast forward to the mid 90’s, I’m just out of high school, Kane’s career is in decline, and my favorite MCs at that point (and to this very day) are Jay-Z, Biggie and Nas. My love for Jay & Big in particular, and respectively, comes directly from my near idolization of Big Daddy Kane when I was a kid. Lyrically; no one could touch him. Style; no one could touch him. He was smooth, tough and smart all at the same time and that’s what I aspired to be, and still do. Kane was younger than my parents but had enough years on me that I looked up to him without feeling like he was ‘old’ and out-of-touch. His influence on me is undeniable.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few days, I’m sure you witnessed or at least heard about LeBron James’s collapse in the NBA finals. He, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh and the rest of the Miami Heat failed to live up to the hype losing to the Dallas Mavericks in NBA finals. Dirk Nowitzki and the rest of the Dallas Mavericks had a great series. Congrats to Dallas. The post coverage of the finals over the last several days has largely been about the poor physical performance and mental state of LeBron James. Fans, critics, haters and casual observers all have something to say about “the King” and most of what I’ve heard and read has been negative. I can honestly say that I was rooting for the Miami Heat in their series against Dallas, but in particular, LeBron James, because I feel like all of the hate he’s received since “the decision” to leave Cleveland for South Beach has been serious overkill. With that said, clearly, James didn’t play well in NBA finals and there’s really no excuse for it.

Jay-Z recently did what he rarely does: speak out in reference to all of the Illuminati chatter going on in the streets and on the web. In an interview he did with Sky Magazine (Delta Air) he responds to the haters who accuse him of being apart of a secret society: “I may sound a little arrogant but I just think people can’t handle when somebody is successful. Something has gotta be wrong; you gotta be down with some higher power. And I guess when someone else is successful it makes you feel like maybe you’re a failure. So it can’t be you, it has to be some other force.” Here’s my take on Jay’s “controversial” statement that has the web and the streets talking yet again: