For my aesthetic
analysis I decided to analyze the symbolic meaning of Jay-Z’s rap song “Takeover”
from the album The Blueprint
(2001). The song’s meaning speaks out
about the big feud with Nas and also with the member of Hip Hop group Mobb
Deep, Prodigy. After reviewing the
lyrics and re-listening to the song (I haven’t touched that album since high
school), I noticed that Jay-Z uses symbolic meanings through the relationship
of gender and sexuality (pointed towards Nas and Prodigy). He uses examples through his lyrics such as
pointing out the hyper-masculinity of both Nas and Prodigy, includes homophopia
lyrics point directly at Nas specifically, and also tries to show patriarchy
towards both Nas and Prodigy. I also researched that there are also “mini beefs”
in this song that include B.G. from Cash money records.
After looking
over the first verse of “Takeover”, Jay-Z uses his hyper-masculinity towards
the member Prodigy. An example of this is from the line “Hey lil soldier, you
ain’t ready for war”. This line is
directed towards Prodigy due to the fact that he has a short stature and to me
it sounds like he is demeaning his man hold (talking about you ain’t ready for
what I have coming to you). Jay-Z also
uses hyper-masculinity to call out B.G.
In Verse one, he recites “your peeps ain’t strong enough, fucker
Roc-A-Fella is the army-better yet-the navy”.
Cash Money considered themselves as an army and Jay-Z explains that his
record branch is much bigger and strong than they are. Jay-Z uses his strongest from of
hyper-masculinity towards Prodigy in the second verse with the line “Trust me
on this one, I’ll detach you. Mind from spirit, body from soul…”. What I got out of this was the body is made
up of three aspects; mind, body, and spirit.
Jay-Z implies this to show Prodigy that is he wants to test him, he’ll
tear him apart through physical altercation or spiritual (lyrically)
altercation. In Verse 3, Jay-Z calls out Nas explaing that “It’s only so long
fake thugs an pretend”. I feel like this
is a shot towards Nas claiming he “street cred” and Jay-Z questioning it.
Through Hip Hop,
Nas and Jay-Z have one of the biggest feuds of all time. Jay-Z lyrically destroys Nas in “Takeover”;
especially through homophobic lyrics and patriarchy. For example the whole third verse is directed
towards Nas. One example Jay-Z recites “You’s
a fag model for Karl Kani, Esco Ads. Went from Nasty Nas to Esco’s trash.” This shows homophobic lyrics because Jay-Z
uses the word “fag” and implies it towards Nas being a homosexual (which he is
not). He then imples it with Nas
modeling Karl Kani and Willie Esco’s hip hop line. I feel Jay-Z gets Nas with all three of the
examples (hyper-masculinity, homophobia, and patriarchy) with his last bars
from the third verse. It states “Because you-know-who did you-know-what with
you-know who but let’s keep that between me and you (for now). I did some research about this line because
it always had me wondering what it meant. I found out through rapgenius.com
that Jay-Z had an affair with Nas’ ex-girlfriend (the mother of his first
child). Jay-Z uses graphic lines from his song “Supa Ugly”:
“I
came in your Bentley backseat, Skeeted in your Jeep.
Left condoms on your baby seat... Yes, you
was kissing my
dick when you was kissing that bitch.”
I feel that this
“diss” is really uncalled for. It
attacks Nas through hyper-masculinity because Jay-Z brings Nas’ child into the
picture. It also explains that he had
sexual relationships in his own cars with the mother of his child. I don’t think it can get anymore degrading in
terms of manhood than that. Through patriarchy,
Jay-Z ties it into how he has control over Nas because he did all those things
in his possessions (his cars and his property). And he lastly uses homophobic lyrics through
the last line “you was kissing my dick when you was kissing that bitch”. Jay-Z uses the metaphor that because I did
this with you girl, it’s like you’re doing too.
I feel it was easy to break this rap
song down because I am a fan of both Jay-Z and Nas. I also feel that “diss songs” are great
examples of the symbolic meanings of gender and sexuality in hip hop. Even though I don’t believe in what Jay-Z is
saying in this song (using homophobic language especially), It’s easier to
understand that this is how some artist interpret these symbolic meanings into
their hip hop culture.
-R.C.
Video Link: http://vimeo.com/12125680
Lyrics Link: http://www.metrolyrics.com/takeover-lyrics-jayz.html
No comments:
Post a Comment