Speakeasy: My Song of the Moment
Jay-Z begins with an apology -- "What you want me to do? I'm sorry. I'm back" -- but he doesn't sound very sorry. He sounds like Jay-Z, confident and slick, the "Mike Jordan of recording" that he claims to be in verse number one. This sangfroid is exactly what made him famous in the first place. As with other powerful figures, Jay-Z's calm is even more conspicuous given the frenetic activity surrounding him, which in this case is a glorious stream of horns and drums created by producer Just Blaze, who samples nineteen-seventies recordings by the Lafayette Afro Rock Band and Johnny Pate that were originally (and legendarily) sampled by Public Enemy and Wreckx-n-Effect. The result is a piece of unexpectedly robust music completely at odds with the thin, bleepy sound of most current hip-hop.
-Sasha Frere-Jones, Pop Notes: Top Down, The New Yorker, 10/30/06
Last.fm says I've listened to the song 9 times in the last week. It's more like 25 spins. It is on repeat constantly in the car.
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The NFL has totally latched onto this song, btw.