The Monster of the Double Entendre - Jay-z
Before Jigga man's Jiggy era when he "dumbed down for his audience to double his dollars" (dont write me hate mail, the nigga said it himself)...he was a beast on the mic. Jay started making noise with the release of his single 'Dead Presidents', which garnered the attention of hip hop heads and fellow rappers like BIG. Biggy had just dropped a classic album with Ready To Die and was hands down the king of New York. After Dead presidents dropped, a few of Biggy's friends joked around and said that Jay-z may be better than him, where BIG replied "man, fuck that". There was a mutual respect as both emcee's were straight out of Brooklyn, and could both get busy on the mic. But their relationship was definitely fueled by competition as described by Jay-z and Ski on the 10 year anniversary of Reasonable Doubt edition of XXL. Little did we know that Jayz was actually taking shots at BIG on Brooklyns finest...
Time to separate the pros from the cons
The platinum from the bronze
That butter soft shit from that leather on the Fonz
A S1 diamond from a eye class don
A Cham' Dom' sipper from a Rosay nigga, huh?!
Jay-z felt that he was the nicest, but he definitely had strong competition with Nas and BIG..."whos the best emcee, biggy, jayz or nas". Jay was coming with a very intricate rhyme scheme never before seen to that level before in rap. Cue the double entendre's.
Devils - Jay-Z
We used to fight for building blocks
Now we fight for blocks with buildings that make a killing
The closest of friends when we first started
But grew apart as the money grew, and soon grew black-hearted
Thinking back when we first learned to use rubbers
He never learned so in turn I'm kidnapping his baby's mother
My hand around her collar, feeding her cheese
She said the taste of dollars was shitty so I fed her fifties
About his whereabouts I wasn't convinced
So I kept feeding her money 'til her shit started to make sense
Who could ever forsee, we used to stay up
all night at slumber parties
now I'm trying to rock this bitch to sleep
All the years we were real close
Now I see his fears through her tears,
know she's wishing we were still
close
Don't cry, it is the (beat?)
In time, I'll take away your miseries and make 'em mine, D'Evils
This rhyme right here is arguably the illest verse Jay ever spit...he talks about startin up in the drug game with one of his best friends he's known since childhood. Already the rhyme is riddled with clever symbolism with children fighting over lego pieces to street niggas fighting over street corners. But it gets more intense as he explains that the money had gotten in the way of their friendship and Jay-z was now trying to get the where abouts of his former friend through his baby's mother (he never learned how to use rubbers thus he has a baby mother).
The listener is painted a clear picture of Jay-z bribing this woman to give up the where abouts of her boyfriend...and as much as she doesn't want to, her greed for money is taking over (D'evils). At this point, Jayz takes this double meaning riddled verse to the next level with a very thought out line.
"So I kept feeding her money 'til her shit started to make sense"
On one hand the line is literal in the sense that the story shes making up doesn't add up until he starts giving her more money for her to come clean. On the other hand the line can be looked at as "So I kept feeding her money 'til her shit started to make CENTS". Up until now, im not really dropping any knowledge to the average head...but check out how Jay explained this line in XXL.
He described the human body and how it takes food through the digestive system...in the process the body takes the nutrients that it needs and excretes the rest through what we know as doo doo. So he goes on to say....the line above describes the metaphorical process of digesting a dollar bill. The body takes what it needs and excretes the few cents left over.
HOW FUCKIN DOPE IS THAT???
Keep listening on, and on the 3rd verse Jay drops a triple entendre, which until now, most listeners thought was just a double meaning.
"Throughout my junior high years it was all friendly
But now this higher learning got the Remy in me
Liquors invaded my kidneys
Got me ready to lick off, mama forgive me"
On one hand once again we have the literal sense where Jay is talkin about how he was a good guy in Junior high til the D'evils (greed for money) got in him and had him wildin out. Metaphorically, he is comparing it to being drunk off remy...the greed has got him acting as if he was intoxicated. The line was dope enough, until i went out and rented a movie called 'higher learning'. The character known as 'Remy' was pretty much a pleasant guy all his fuckin life (from Junior highschool on, until he reached university...also known as higher learning). Remy then made skin head friends who showed him a new light and had him wildin out.
There my friends, we have a triple entendre.
One more for the beginners...
"Stop screamin', you know the demon said it's best to die
And even if Jehovah witness, bet he'll never testify, D'Evils..."
I hope this one isn't news to you. But none the less, a dope line regardless...Jay-z takes that street mentality, and that by-any-means necessary attitude disrespecting religion for the second time on the track (first one being "i never prayed to God i prayed to Gotti). He is implying that nothing could get between him and money. Taking 'Jehovah witness' and turning it into someone named Jehovah witnessing Jay-z commit a crime, but being too afraid to snitch.
If i was to explain all of Jay's clever rhymes it would take me forever (there's definitely going to have to be a 2nd part to this at least). A lot of times, his double meanings have to do with the Illuminati. I can't go into those yet, because first i need to convince you that im not a conspiracy theorist walkin around with aluminum foil on my ahead. I call it how i see it, and im very observant. This is kind of my claim to internet "fame"...i blogged about illuminati in hip hip wayyy before you could get any google results on the matter, and much before the exposing video's on youtube. Most of those are on some weirdo shit, so just stay tuned for me to drop the science on the matter.
http://www.thisisscolla.com/Jayz_Double_Entendre.html
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