Instead of digging into Jay’s lyrics this evening, allow me a few minutes to share why I’m writing “The Book of Hov”. It’ll give you a chance to learn more about me. But also, once I go into detail of how I approach a Jay-Z rhyme, maybe it’ll help you get more out of Jay’s lyrics and the lyrics of other MCs, and get more out of art in general. I’m in my early thirties and I’ve been listening to Hip-Hop since I was a kid in the mid 80’s. I loved everybody from Run-DMC to N.W.A. but when I was a kid my favorite MC was Big Daddy Kane. Kane was known for his lyricism and to me he’s one of the top 10 greatest MCs of all time (it’s a claim that I think is hard to dispute if you listen to his classic record, “Raw”).

From the moment Jay-Z came into the rap game there have been comparisons between him and Kane. Both represent Brooklyn and both have strong lyrical prowess. The major difference is that Kane didn’t rhyme in-depth about the criminal game. As a kid, I loved Kane’s swagger. I loved his style right down to his dance routines with Scoob & Scrap… Man, when I was 10, 11 years old, I thought Kane was the coolest cat on earth!

I think my love for Kane’s swagger and music back in the day was a major factor for my embrace of Jay’s swagger, music and hustle some 8 years later. I was a year out of high school, age 19, when Jay debut, “Reasonable Doubt” came out.

“Keen senses/Ever since I was a kid on the benches…”
Intro
Dynasty Roc La Familia
Jay-Z

Even when I was kid, 10,11,12 years old, I keenly listened to Hip-Hop. I have love, respect and appreciation for all the elements of Hip-Hop, but MC’ing is my favorite. The beat is a very important element of a record, but the MC has to know how to rhyme and the more skill he or she has- the better.

(By the way, although Kane was my favorite MC back in the late 80’s, I also loved Rakim [listen to him and Eric B’s “Follow the Leader”] and I actually think he was the greater MC of the two).

When it comes to a MC, I look for flow, voice, lyrical skill and style (by the way the best voices in the game: Biggie, Raekwon and Scarface).

Out of those four elements, lyrical skill stands out for me. Those who rhyme with a high level of skill and intellect catch my attention. Every great MC is great because his or her lyrics have the “rewind factor”. The MC delivers rhymes that make you want to hear them again and again… and again.

But here’s the thing: I don’t just listen for swagger and wit, I listen for insight. I enjoy lyrics that get the mind thinking and cause to me to seek out greater insight on my own.

Don’t assume that I’m just talking about in-your-face political/social lyrics. While I enjoy MCs like Chuck D and KRS-ONE (the “Teacher” is in my top 5 and Chuck is in my top 20), insight and deep perspective is not only found in songs like “Fight the Power” or “My Philosophy” (the latter is in my opinion one of the top 10 Hip-Hop songs ever made).

It takes a great artistic mind to come up with deeply insightful lyrics and it takes a great business & marketing mind to create music featuring deeply insightful lyrics that have mass appeal beyond its core audience.

This gifted mindset (one half artistic and one half business) is Jay-Z’s genius.

If you’ve heard me talk about the “untrained ear” in my previous writings, the “untrained ear” hears the lyrics but doesn’t listen. The untrained ear seeks only “low brow” entertainment, not enlightenment, therefore it won’t recognize insightfulness if it hears it. The untrained ear only hears what it wants to hear; profanity, sexism, violence, materialism… IGNORANCE.

Jay-Z and Beans actually rhymes about this on “Ignorant Shit” (from “The American Gangster” album)

The “trained ear” appreciates entertainment but it seeks enlightenment and refinement in accordance with entertainment. The trained ear seeks entertainment that inspires. Once the trained ear hears lyrics with swagger, style AND insight the lyrics stimulate the inquisitive mind that is always in search of greater knowledge.

Changes first take place in the mind and then things (actions) happen but the birth or idea of change is created or formed from our five senses; particularly our sense of sight and hearing.

What we see and hear goes hand-and-hand when it comes to music, so I guess you can see that having a “trained eye” is just as important as having a “trained ear”.

Even as a kid, I had a trained ear (well, it was in-training) so by the time I was 19 years old and Jay’s “Reasonable Doubt” came out, I was skilled at listening to lyrics and not just hearing them. There’s a difference. A BIG difference.

Regardless of who the MC is, when I listen to lyrics, I’m actively listening for insight and inspiration. If I don’t hear it, I allow my ears to shift purely to entertainment mode or I turned the music off if it’s purely wack!

I DON’T hear ANYTHING insightful or inspirational most of the time regardless of whom I am listening to. In fact, I can name several songs from Jay’s catalog that while very entertaining (think: “I Just Wanna Love You”) lack insight or inspiration (unless you’re inspired to sleep with “girls who dance with girls”…even though the first part of the chorus is a little insightful), but when we listen to his music with trained ears (and process what we hear with inquisitive minds) then there’s NO DOUBT in my mind that he’s the most insightful MC that the rap game has ever heard.

I’ve heard Jay say that he took 26 years to complete his debut album “Reasonable Doubt” (the album came out when he was 26 years old). Well, it took me 14 years (the length of his music career) to write “The Book of Hov” which is still a work in progress.

I have love for several great MCs but I think I connect with Jay’s lyrics because I have a similar mindset (one half artistic, one half economic). Unfortunately, I don’t have a similar bank account! Lol! But as a writer, I’m trying to develop and cultivate a business/marketing mindset and take actions that will take my writings to the next level.

I believe that the greatest business minds are artistic. See Jay-Z’s career as an example. Hell, Jay even hustled in the drug game artistically. He rhymes about the criminal underworld artistically and with a high level of intellect in the same way that Martin Scorsese does with cinema.

It’s a gift that has to be cultivated over time. This is what I hope to accomplish with my writings and what better place to start then with the lyrics of Jay-Z since it’s his lyrics that serve as a source of inspiration in regards to my writing and business/marketing career.

It’s been a long struggle for me to find my way and I’m still in search of the truth, my truth. I’m a writer studying and hustling in the Internet marketing game and that fits my mindset.

I think your actions have to be aligned with your mindset, how you think.

With “The Book of Hov”, I’m not trying to get readers to think like Jay or accept and adopt my interpretation of his lyrics (“Decoded”, his book to be released in November, will hopefully give us some greater insight coming from Jay himself). I’m simply trying to motivate listeners of Hip-Hop (and music in general) to develop a trained ear and listen to lyrics with a greater intent on finding insight and inspiration.

I’m sure you can gleam from my writings that I’m going to try to make a very persuasive argument of the great insight and inspiration in Jay’s lyrics. But if you read my writings and listen to Jay’s music and still don’t hear the insightfulness and inspiration, then use your new or refined “trained ears” to hear insight and inspiration in the music of your favorite MCs.

I’m a writer and Internet entrepreneur who is a fan of Jay-Z (and other great MCs). “The Book of Hov” is about discovering insight and becoming inspired by Jay’s lyrics. The writings in this blog focus on Jay’s lyrics but YOU can use the concept of how music heard by a trained ear can stimulate the mind and give inspiration in whatever it is you listen to.

that Don’t reject inspiration. I think too many of us from my generation reject anything or anyone that could serve as inspiration. Inspiration is important, and to be quite candid, NECESSARY to overcome struggle. I’ve never rejected inspiration. I find it in books, movies, music, from talking to everyday people and from what I observe and experience in every day life.

My greatest source of inspiration is in conversation.

And this is the foundation that “The Book of Hov” is built upon.

Now, let me explain what I mean by finding inspiration in conversation.

When I listen to Jay (or other MCs) it’s like I’m having a conversation with him. True, it’s a one-way conversation, but I look at it as if his lyrics are the point in the conversation when he’s talking and I’m listening.

People enjoy talking about themselves, don’t they? Think of the conversations you have had with a friend, a relative, a colleague, a neighbor, etc. When your friend is talking to you, he’s telling you about himself; his thoughts, ideas, plans, actions.

While he goes on and on and on about himself you need to put your mind to work.

Do you take mental notes while you’re listening to someone talking to you?

What are mental notes?

Mental notes: Special attention with intent to remember

Taking mental notes (what up, Lebron!) means you give deliberate thought to what is being said and often times it causes you to think about your own set of circumstances. Someone else words about their thoughts and actions can have an impact on how you think and what you do in your own life.

I take mental notes in my conversations with people. They may be talking about themselves but my trained ear is listening for something in their conversation that I can use for myself. Don’t get me wrong, I allow them to “have the floor” and get what they have to say off their chest, but there’s a selfish motive: I want to find insights in what they say that can give me inspiration to overcome flaws in my mindset and a lack of judgment in my actions.

Because I treat Jay’s lyrics like a conversation, I listen with my trained ear and I take mental notes seeking insight and inspiration for myself.

In the midst of praising his lyrical prowess I’m “selfishly” empowering myself.

I do this when I listen to Jay or any other great MC like Nas.

By the way, critics and haters say that all Jay does is rap about himself. And…, the point is? Why would he rap about YOU or ME. Every artists injects his vision in his art. Art is personal. Marvin Gaye (who is my favorite artist of all time) was deeply (sometimes painfully so) personal in his music.

The nature of rap music is to rhyme about yourself. Think back to its roots. Jay rhymes about HIS life just like you talk to others, going on and on, about YOUR life. I can learn as much about MYSELF and life in general from listening to you talk about YOU.

I can learn what to say (and how to say it), what not to say, what to do and what not to do (and why), and how to think and how not to think just from having a conversation with YOU.

The same dynamic is happening when you listen to music whether you realize it or not.

Jay will never rhyme about ME or YOU. Yet his “conversation” with us in the form of lyrics primarily about himself can give us insight to “selfishly” use in our own lives.

Music is conversation but most of us treat it as a “mind-numbing spectacle” that we hear instead of see.

Listening to music with an untrained ear and treating it as a “mind-numbing spectacle” decreases or completely eliminates the discovery of insight.

Of course there are other factors that you can’t control or help that hinder music’s purpose to enlighten as well as entertain such as marketing/promotion by record companies, provocative imagery in music videos, payola and radio, the corporate interests of MTV/BET, money-hungry promoters, the lack of vision by the artists themselves and of course let’s not forget YOUR hormones…

But at least awareness can give you the determination to get your mind, ears and eyes right.

I haven’t written much about the illuminati rumors and allegations surrounding Jay. Much of the rumors and allegations come from so-called “analysis” of Jay’s lyrics. This controversy is an example of untrained ears by critics and haters.

Conspiracy theories are typically formed from ignorance and a laziness intellectually to seek greater insight and truth.

Though it’s simply a coincidence in terms of timing, “The Book of Hov” could be seen as a direct response to the illuminati rumors and allegations. I find it incredulous that people would investment so much time and energy forming and supporting conspiracy theories in regard to Jay’s lyrics instead of getting insight from those lyrics to “selfishly” use for growth and advancement in their own lives.

In some of Jay’s most insightful lyrics he’s having a “conversation” with another MC, with Jay in the role as the wiser and more experienced artist, hustler or business man. The mentor/protégé dynamic in some of Jay’s songs and collaborations are clear examples of profound insight and powerful inspiration in his lyrics.

When we listen to these features and collaborations, we’re “ease dropping” on his “conversations” with his protégés or up-and-coming artists that he vouches for and who respect him.

I don’t know how these kids get down today, but when I was 10, 11, 12, right through my teenage years, I loved rap collaborations. I absolutely could not get enough of them. It was fascinating for me to sit back and “ease drop” on these “conversations” between MCs that were incredibly artistic and creative.

Sure, there was a competitive nature in the collaborations. Hip-Hop’s a competitive sport. But even as a young, lil’ shortie (I’m still short! Lol!), I recognized that the purpose of the collaboration is to raise the level of artistry and creativity. This process is relevant to us because we can have success in school, the community, our career, in business, etc. when we we’re creative and artistic.

(Next week, I’m going to write about the art of the collaboration and its power to inspire. My case study will be what I think is the greatest rap collabo ever heard. No other collabo in Hip-Hop comes close in terms of chemistry. Of course, Jay is one half of the callabo. Can you guess who is the other MC and the song?)

A collaboration is a musical conversation. Now I realize that people do sometimes try to outtalk each other in conversation and this happens in the musical form of conversation as well. But the collaboration is not simply about “who murdered who”, “who ripped it the most” or “who said what about who”.

It’s cool to have that debate but that shouldn’t be the focus. We’re missing the greater purpose of the collaboration. “Ease drop” on the “conversation” listening with a “trained ear” in search of insight and inspiration opposed to beef and drama.

Here’s three great examples of Jay-Z’s conversations with other MCs, all of which I’ve written about in “The Book of Hov”:

“Power” (Remix) by Kanye West

“Go Crazy” (Remix) by Young Jeezy

“Light it Up” by Drake

Jay’s “conversations” with Memphis Bleek and Beanie Sigel really stand out for me in terms of insight and inspiration. Bleek is still riding with Hov. Beans disses Jay in freestyles every other day. I think it’s really cool to see Jay and Bleek’s bond still strong and really sad to see Jay and Beans’s bond broken.

But this contrast in the current state of Jay’s relationships with his two protégés can actually give us insight on how and why relationships grow or contract in our lives.

This week I’m going to dig into Jay’s “conversations”, his lyrics on collaborations he’s done with Memphis Bleek. I may also write about what Jay shares with us lyrically that gives us some insight on the root causes (think: how mindset impacts actions) of the fall out between himself and Beans.

When you check out my writings this week (and past writings as well as the ones I write in the future) think of Jay’s lyrics as a conversation and get your “mental notes” game on.