Dissect - MX1E4 - "The Story of OJ" by JAY-Z

Episode Date: April 25, 2023

Our "Lyrical Masters" mixtape continues with a line-by-line analysis of JAY-Z's 2017 track "The Story of OJ" from 4:44. For clues on what artist and song we're dissecting next week, follow @dissectpodcast on Instagram. Host: Cole Cuchna Writer: Femi Olutade Audio Editing: Kevin Pooler Theme Music: Birocratic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When composing his 2017 album 444, Jay-Z created a playlist, a playlist with a purpose. On it were songs from the 60s and 70s by legends like Donna Hathaway, Stevie Wonder, and Sister Nancy. But more than a genre or era, what unified this collection of songs was the fact that they all contained themes that interested Jay, themes he specifically wanted to build on for his own album. Jay gave this playlist to virtuoso producer No ID, who incorporated many of the songs into his sample-based compositions, creating historically rich, thematically potent musical backdrops for Jay's contemporary musings. This song, Nina Simone's four women from 1966, was the first track No ID sampled from Jay's playlist. It's an incredibly powerful portrait of four African-American women that writer Tulani Davis described as, quote,

an instantly accessible analysis of the damning legacy of slavery. Four Women became the musical foundation of 444's standout track The Story of OJ. The question is, what exactly was it about Simone's four women that appealed to Jay? And how could it possibly relate to one of the most notorious figures in modern history, OJ Simpson? From Spotify, this is Dissect, long-form musical analysis broken into short digestible episodes. For the four song in our Lyrical Master's mixtape, we're dissecting Jay-Z's 2017 track, The Story of OJ.

This episode was written by Femi Olutade, and I'm your host, Cole Kushner. All right, let's dig a little deeper into the story of OJ's musical foundation, Nina Simone's four women. As we noted, Simone sings from the perspective of four different African-American women with four different skin complexions. The first of these women begins by saying, My skin is black, and goes on to describe how white Europeans saw her Afro-textured hair and strong stature as an indication that she should bear the heavy burden of slavery. My back is strong Strong enough to take the pain

It again The second woman Simone portrays Begins by saying My skin is yellow My hair is long And goes on to describe How she's caught between two worlds Because of her biracial identity

My skin is yellow That is long It will be long Historically African Americans Whose skin had lighter undertones Were referred to as quote unquote High Yellow Negroes The word high denotes

a higher social status due to having a significant percentage of white European ancestry. In the earliest generations after enslaved Africans were brought to America, most quote-unquote high-yellow Negroes were the children of enslaved African mothers who had been raped by the white men enslaving them. Simone alludes to this tortured history during this second portrait, as she describes how her long hair and tenuous social status are a result of her rich white father forcing himself upon her mother. My father was rich and white.

He forced my mother late one night. The progression of personas in four women thus reveals generational trauma that slavery has inflicted upon black women. And the focus on skin color and hair texture illustrates how oppression by white Americans has distorted how black women are seen by others and by themselves. While Simone explores this dynamic from verse to verse, no ID distills its thematic ever. by strategically sampling her voice from different moments of the song. As No ID describes it, it only took him a few minutes to chop the samples for the basis of this instrumental, as he honed in on the contrasting skin tones of black and yellow. And as soon as Jay heard it, he almost instantaneously came up with the song's hook.

And I'm like, yo, and right here it's say my skin is black, my skin is yellow. You know how we, and then before I know it, he got the lines to the chorus. Like, I can't even get the... Yeah. Because that's how good he's. Yes, yeah. Light nigger, dark nigger, foe nigger, real nigger, rich n'paw n'nika, house nigger, feel nigger.

Still n'nika. Still n'naker. JZ wraps a list of adjectives paired with the N-word, which, like Simone's four women, immediately draws our attention to the racial history associated with the word. The N-word itself can be traced back to 1619 when Africans who had been enslaved by Portuguese armed forces sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to Jamestown, Virginia. The English traders there referred to these Africans by a word spelled N-E-G-A-R, derived from the Portuguese and Spanish word Negro, which itself referred to the color black and was commonly used as a non-offensive term for African Americans until the 1960s. Yet despite the similarities to less offensive words,

the N-words association with enslaved Africans led many white Americans to use it when they wanted to assert that black Africans were an inferior race. By the early 1800s, it was common for white parents to chastise their children by saying they were as ignorant as N-words, and threatened them by saying they would be carried off to sit with the N-words if they didn't behave. Eventually, these derogatory uses of the word were incorporated into children's rhymes like Einy-Miny-Miny-Money-Moe, which originally circulated with the lyrics, E'-Mini-Miny-Money-Moe, catch an N-W if he hollers, let him go, any-mini-Mony-Moe. By the late 1800s, with the invention of the phonograph, songs that

used the N-word and ridiculed African Americans with racist caricatures circulated across the country. For example, the original song Ice Cream Trucks played while driving through American neighborhoods was Harry C. Brown's N-words Love a Waterman. In addition to being distributed on phonograph records, songs that mocked African Americans were routinely featured in live theatrical performances known as minstrel shows. The actors in these performances were typically white people and blackface, caricatures of African Americans with very dark skin and excessively large lips. By the 1930s and 40s, widely distributed cartoons took direct,

from these blackface minstrel shows. For example, the 1941 cartoon Scrub Me Mama with a boogie beat featured slow-moving black-faced-style characters lounging on bales of cotton in a place called Lazy Town. These characters then spring to their feet when an attractive light-skinned woman comes to town and prompts them to sing, dance, and eat watermelon. Jay-Z took direct inspiration from these cartoons

for the story of OJ music video, which features 1940s-style black-faced characters performing the song, including one scene in which Jay's character eats a watermark. In conversation with Rap Radar, Jay explained why he felt resurrecting these historical images was important. Even the cartoon that we made for OJ, like I wanted to be just an honest portrayal of everything that I was saying. Like the story of OJ is about us moving forward. And for us to move forward, we had to take a look back. And we took a look back and say, okay, this is where we came from.

And like, this is real images. These were shot by Warner Brothers and all these, not to single them out. These were shot by major studios. Like, these cartoons were on TV. This imagery was bred, yeah. This imagery of how we were presented was this. And I wanted to draw a thread between that's really happening now. It's still happening.

It's just not as overt. When you look at TV, you don't see a fair, equal representation of people of color. In many ways, Jay's reappropriation of historically racist forms of communication to critique modern-day America, illustrates how black artists began to reappropriate the N-word in the latter half of the 20th century. This trend was initially popularized in the 1970s by a growing subgenre of films known as Black exploitation, films made for black audience that starred black actors as the heroes of the story. For example, the 1972 film, The Legend of Enword Charlie, told the story of an enslaved African who killed his master and fled into the Wild West in

search of freedom. That same year, the film Superfly told the story of a rich drug dealer who dodges crooked white police officers on his way to acquiring 30 kilos of cocaine for the last time before he retires. Superfly's soundtrack featured Curtis Mayfield's 1972 track Pusherman, which highlights the main character's self-identification as a drug dealer and as that N-word in alley. For the generation of young black boys growing up in the 70s, films like Superfly and the legend of N-word Charlie conveyed the idea that the N-word could be associated with black men strong enough to fight back against white power structures. This new generation was also coming of age when hip-hop music spread from house parties in New York City

to nightclubs in Los Angeles. By 1988, when rappers began to push the limits of what was permissible to say on a record, hip-hop group NWA, or N-words with attitude, shocked the world with their debut album Straight Out of Compton. Along with their explicit descriptions of violence, NWA's prominent use of the N-word created substantial controversy and criticism for mainstream media and the more conservative members of the black community. This controversy only inspired NWA to make the N-word the central focus of their follow-up 1991 album, N-Words for Life, where they directly address their critics. Here Dr. Dre reasons that even when black people tried to make positive contributions to society,

many white police officers and citizens will still call them N-Words anyway, so they might as well use the term to their benefit and make money from it. When N. Words for Life became the first rap album to reach number one on the Billboard 200 chart, many aspiring hip-hop artists in the early 90s took note and adopted NWA's frequent use of the N-word and their music. And so even before analyzing any other lyrics in the story of OJ, we have to recognize its intricate, musical, and thematic fabric that centers the duality of the N-word in America. On one hand, Jay's use of Nina Simone's four women acknowledges the painful origins of the word going back to the history of slavery, highlighting a historic way for white Americans to take power

away from black people. On the other hand, Jay's repeated use of the N-word in a hip-hop song inherently symbolizes a decades-long tradition of black artists reclaiming the word as a means to fight back against racist systems of power, highlighting a modern way for black people to take power back from white America. Fittingly, the list of adjectives that Jay attaches to the N-word are grouped into pairs that highlight this duality of positive and negative. Light nigger, dark nigger, foe nigger, real nigga, rich nigga, pole nigger, house

nigger, feel-nicker. Still, nigger. In direct conversation with Simone's four women, the first duality Jay highlights is light and dark skin. While there's a great degree of variation between the skin tones of various ethnic groups on the African continent, historically in America, light skin typically indicates that a person has a significant percentage of ancestry from some other racial group, most often from white Europeans. As we already noted, the earliest generations of light skin enslaved Africans often received better treatment because they were the children of enslaved black mothers who were raped by white men.

While this pattern of abuse no longer accounts for the majority of white ancestry in the African American community, A disparity still exists between the treatment of those with lighter skin versus those with darker skin. Since the early 90s, several studies have shown that light-skinned African Americans, on average, attain higher levels of education, income, and promotions, are more likely to be represented in popular media, and are more likely to find a romantic partner or spouse. This contemporary inequality seems to be a direct extension of the disparity during slavery. Jay's second duality draws the distinction between a real and a fake or faux N-word. A real N-word is a term that rappers have frequently used to describe themselves or other black men whom they respect.

A number of rappers have recorded songs whose titles prominently feature this term, including The notorious BIG, Nause, Common, Lil Wayne, GZ, Meek Mill, Nipsey Hustle, and 21 Savage, and Kodak Black. Jay himself has a track titled Real N-Words from his 1997 album in My Lifetime, Volume 1. Hanging with the honeies is the song I sing Real n-givis do real things While a real N-word is generally associated with being respectable There's a wide degree of variance in what makes someone respectable Depending on who's using the term

As we just heard Jay's 1997 definition How to Do With Hustling, Getting Women, Shooting Guns, and Drinking Alcohol Like the popular use of the N-word and hip-hop more generally, this take on a real N-word can be traced back to NWA. Their 1991 album N-Words for Life included the songs Real N-Words and Real N-Words Don't Die. In contrast, on the track N-Words for Life, Dr. Dre describes a fake N-word as someone who sucks up to rich white men to get money.

The distinction between real N-Words who get money through their own strength and fake N-Words who rely on white men to get money leads to JZ's next duality between rich and poor. Once again, these terms show up in NWA's N-W-W-W-W-Five. You're a nigger to your die. If you're a poor nigger, you're a rich nigger, you're a rich nigger. But you never stop being a nigger if you get to be educated. You're an educated, you're an educated, d'g.

We again hear NWA's belief that black people can become rich or poor, but regardless of how much money they make, they'll always be seen and treated as N-Words. This inescapability leads directly to Jay's final duality between house and field N-words. Moments ago, we heard Dr. Dre equate fake and house N-words, both referring to those who suck up to rich white men in order to get money. These contemporary insults are rooted in the historic use of the term house inward,

which referred to enslaved Africans who worked in the house of the white man enslaving them. Here they would typically perform domestic labor such as cooking, cleaning, serving as a butler, were taking care of the rich white man's children. Also, because their proximity to the white family members, enslaved women that worked in houses were often the ones raped by white men, which led to them giving birth to light-skinned children. These children would often be sold, gifted to, or inherited by relatives of the white man to serve as house slaves. Thus, over the course of several generations, being a house inward,

was synonymous with being a light inward. In contrast, field endwards referred to the enslaved workers outside the house, most often on plantation fields where they are forced to pick cotton and perform other forms of manual labor. In addition to being in the sun all day, they are more likely to be dark skin because racist white Europeans associated dark skin with physical strength and other subhuman traits that were normally ascribed to domesticated animals. The visible difference in skin tone thus reinforced a social hierarchy between higher-class, light-skinned house slaves and lower-class dark-skinned field slaves. In a 1965 speech given during the height of the civil rights movement, Malcolm X described the power dynamics between the enslaved house and field workers.

You have to read the history of slavery to understand this. There were two kinds of Negroes. There was that old house negroes and the field Negro. And the House Negro always looked out for his master. When the field Negroes got too much out of line, he held them back in check. The house negro could afford to do that because he lived better than the field negro. He ate better, he dressed better, and he lived in a better house. He lived right up next to his master in the attic or the basement. He ate the same food his master ate and wore his same clothes. And he loved his master more than his master loved himself.

That's why he didn't want his master to hurt. But then you had some field negroes who lived in hut, had nothing to lose. They wore the worst kind of clothes. they ate the worst food, and they caught hell. They felt the sting of the lash. They hated their mask. This was the difference between the two. And today you still have house negroes and field negroes.

I'm a field negro. As Malcolm X details here, some enslaved houseworkers turned their backs on field workers in order to maintain their privilege. In post-slavery America, the term house-end word is now used to describe a black person who disins themselves from the black community in order to gain preferential treatment from white people. As Jay closes out the chorus, he succinctly undercuts this mentality with just two words.

Looking holistically at the four dichotomies Jay juxtaposes in this chorus, we see that the overall concept displays various ways black people have attempted to transcend the historic discrimination tied to their skin color. But with just two words, Jay dismantles all four dichotomies by saying, still N-word.

Regardless of whether a black person is light or dark, fake or real, rich or poor, house or field, or any type of N-word in the positive sense, a significant percentage of white Americans will still see and treat them as N-words in the negative sense. However, as Jay is quick to point out, not everyone has been willing to accept this conclusion. Immediately after repeating the phrase, Still Endward, Jay recites a quote attributed to former football star OJ Simpson. He then pauses, pregnantly, to allow this statement to sing in, only to say, okay, a clever rhyme with O.J. Jay's smirking sarcasm here is obvious, implying that OJ's statement is so outrageous that there's no point in trying to argue with anyone

who thinks this way. Ironically, Jay moves on to a verse that addresses the black community without actually telling us the story of O.J. Instead, he leaves it to us listeners to ask who O.J. Simpson is, what led to his claim that he was not black, and what happened to him as a result of this conviction. That's right after the break. Welcome back to Dissect. Before the break, we had reached the end of the story of OJ's first chorus, which centers the history and duality of the N-word. We then heard the first line of verse 1, in which J references an infamous quote attributed

to O.J. Simpson. It's the only reference J. will make to O.J. directly, yet its early placement in the song, as well as the song's title, suggests that we ought to be familiar with the life story of O.J. Simpson in order to fully understand the story of O.J. was born O'Renthal James Simpson in 1947 and was raised by a single mother. in low-income housing projects in San Francisco. OJ's father left the family to live with his gay partner and become a well-known drag queen. As a teenager, OJ joined a street gang, was arrested three times and was incarcerated for a week

at a juvenile detention facility. These early troubles motivated OJ to excel as a running back at his high school and junior college football teams in San Francisco. After junior college, OJ was recruited to play at the University of Southern California in the heart of Los Angeles. USC had the reputation of being an exclusive private school populated by rich white students who would go on to careers in business, law, marketing, and Hollywood film. For many of these white students, OJ and his wife were the first black people they'd ever

talked to in person. While this could have been an uncomfortable and isolating experience for a black man in the late 60s, OJ thrived in this environment as he became one of the most successful and recognizable athletes in all of college sports. First down and more, there's Simpson. That's cut. O.J. Simpson. That's all she wrote. 64 yards. I don't recall seeing anybody that can turn it on like this boy, Chris. In 1967, OJ scored the winning touchdown in the biggest game of the decade on the way to leading USC to a national championship. The next year, OJ had what was arguably the most dominant season of any player in the history of college football, leading him to win the Heisman Trophy in 1968. This phenomenal success on the football field led OJ to be not only accepted,

but practically worshipped by the rich white students at USC. At the same time, black people around the country were having a very different experience with white America. In a hundred places, Detroit is a fire. 100 square blocks are now under siege. And as you walk through the area, people shot from their homes. Watch out for the snipers. In the summer of 1967, black communities were growing increasingly frustrated with the degree of prejudice they continued to face after more than 10 years of nonviolent civil rights protests.

These frustrations erupted into large-scale race riots in cities across the United States. These nationwide riots reignited in April of 1968 when a white man assassinated Martin Luther King Jr., pushing many black students and universities across the country to organize demonstrations to advocate for the black communities near their schools. Several leaders in the black community reached out to OJ and asked him to use his platform to help. Most notably, sociologists and activist Harry Edwards tried to recruit OJ to join other black athletes who were protesting the 1968 Olympics. However, according to Edwards, this request was met with a surprising response.

When I asked him, I said we were trying to get black athletes to understand they have a role in the current civil rights movement. His response was, I'm not black. I'm O.J. OJ. would go on to become one of the most prolific running backs in the history of the NFL. And when his playing career was over, OJ's mass appeal to both black and white audiences helped him establish a successful media career as a successful media career as an actor, producer, sports commentator, and commercial spokesman. Meanwhile, in his personal life,

OJ had divorced the black woman he married in 1967 after meeting an 18-year-old white woman, Nicole Brown. The two eventually married in 1985 and had two children together. On at least 10 separate occasions during the relationship, Nicole called the police claiming OJ was beating her or threatening to kill her. OJ was arrested just once in 1989, when, according to police reports for the night of the incident, Nicole was beaten so badly she ended up in. the hospital. OJ. pleaded no contest to spousal battery charges and served no jail time. The two would eventually divorce in 1992, yet remained in each other's lives and at times left the door open to getting back together. While she ultimately declined to press charges, on one occasion in

1993, Nicole called 911 twice and one night when OJ angrily broke down her door and threatened her as she talked to a dispatcher. And then on June 12, 1994, Nicole was found dead outside the door of her home. Her body had been stabbed multiple times and her neck had been slashed. Nearby, a friend of Nicole's Ron Goldman had also been stabbed to death. The police found one leather glove that was covered in blood outside of Nicole's townhouse. Once the police realized that the murdered woman was OJ's ex-wife, they sent officers to his house, where they allegedly found a leather glove that matched the glove at the scene of the crime. The officers also found Nicole's blood on a white Ford Bronco parked in front of OJ's house.

Five days later, when OJ was formally charged with murder, OJ tried to flee from the police in the White Ford Bronco. In contrast to the experience of many black Americans, the L.A. police showed an incredible amount of restraint when pursuing him. Instead of stopping his car by force, 20 police cars drove behind OJ in a slow speed chase that ended when OJ arrived at his house and surrendered. This chase was famously broadcast live to an audience that included one out of every three Americans. Interests would only increase from here, as the trial was televised. with 57% of Americans watching the final verdict, making it the most watched event in the history of American television. The reason OJ's murder case captured the nation's attention was largely due to it revealing the longstanding divisions between white and black Americans. When the majority

of white Americans looked at the evidence, they were convinced that OJ had murdered his wife. However, after experiencing decades of discrimination from white police officers, the majority of black Americans were suspicious of any evidence that the police presented. OJ's lawyers were well, aware of this racial dynamic. As a central part of their defense, they claimed that the white police officer who found the glove at OJ's house was racist, and alleged that he planted the glove. For many black Americans, these allegations became more convincing when OJ's lawyers presented a tape of this police officer making disparaging comments about black people and frequently using the N-word.

By the end of all the court proceedings, 72% of black Americans thought OJ was innocent, while 77% of white Americans thought he was guilty. Statistically speaking, OJ likely would have been convicted had the jury been majority white. However, nine of the 12 jurors were black, and the verdict ultimately went in OJ's favor. The man who once attempted to escape his racial identity was in this instance seemingly saved by it. We, the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant Orenthall James Simpson not guilty of the crime of murder in violation of penal code section 187 A, a felony upon Nicole Brown Simpson, a human being as charged in count one of the information. While OJ. managed to escape a murder conviction, his troubles were far from over.

A year after OJ was acquitted of criminal charges, the parents of Ron Goldman filed a civil lawsuit. In contrast to the criminal jury, eight out of the 12 jurors were white, and they ultimately ruled that OJ was responsible for the two deaths, ordering him to pay over $33 million to compensate the victim's families. While OJ had previously made millions as an actor and product spokesman, these sources of revenue dried up. He soon defaulted on his mortgage payments, which led to a foreclosure on his multi-million dollar mansion. After this loss, the most valuable things OJ possessed were personal memorabilia that he packed into various storage units. However, over time, many of these items were lost, stolen,

or acquired by memorabilia dealers. In 2007, OJ was in Las Vegas for a friend's wedding when he heard that one such dealer was in town trying to sell some of OJ's personal items. In an attempt to recover them, OJ and five other wedding guests held the dealer at gunpoint in his hotel room and stole all of the memorabilia in the room. Three days later, OJ and his five accomplices were arrested. The accomplices took plea bargains that allowed them to avoid jail time in exchange for testifying against OJ. On October 3, 2008, exactly 13 years to the day after OJ was acquitted of murdering his ex-wife, OJ was found guilty of kidnapping and armed robbery and was sentenced the 33 years of prison time with a chance of parole after nine years. years. Verdict. We did a jury in the above entitled case, find that a defendant in Ornthal James Simpson

as follows. Count one, conspiracy to commit a crime. Guilty. Count two, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, guilty. Count three, conspiracy to commit robbery. Guilty. Count four, burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon. Guilty. OJ.'s arm robbery case also brought about renewed interest in telling OJ's life's story as an exploration of race relations in America, which ultimately led to the near eight-hour-long ESPN documentary OJ made in America. A year after its release in 2016, the documentary won an Academy Award and became the inspiration for Jay Z's The Story of OJ. Having taken the time to understand his life story, we can now see why this reference to

OJ naturally follows the chorus, as in many ways OJ serves as a representative figure who has experienced the full range of the black experience in America. Within the context of the song's central concept, O.J. was a dark N-word who learned to present himself as if he was a light N-Word. O.J. was a fake N-word who got paid by sucking up to rich white men until his criminal activity made him act like a real N-word. As a result of losing the civil trial, O.J. went from being a rich N-word back to being a poor N-Ward. After being convicted of armed robbery, O.J. was a house-endward who lost his privilege status and ended up in a prison yard with other field N-Words. By this point, White America had reminded O.J. that despite his so-called fortune

and fame, he was still just an Edward. I'm not rich, I'm OJ, for us to get in that space and then disconnect from the culture. That's how it starts. This is what happens. And then you know what happened? You're on your own. And you see how that turned out. Okay.

That's why that that's a line. Yeah, yeah, the pregnant pause. It's like, okay. Shortly after 444's release, Jay was asked by the New York Times as Dean Beké what he would say to OJ if they were ever to have a conversation. Jay responded with a surprisingly compassionate. attitude. Do you, would you, if you could talk to O.J. Simpson, what would you say to him if you could talk to him? I don't know. I was probably say, man, I'm sorry that so much happened to you,

man. You know, people act out in this way based on their life experiences. And, you know, I'm sure he's been through a lot of trauma in his life. And I think that'll start the conversation. We might wonder if Jay's empathetic perspective here is due to him seeing many similarities between himself and OJ. Like OJ, Jay was raised by a single mother in low-income housing projects after his dad left the family. Like OJ, Jay learned at an early age to avoid talking about the queer identity of one of his parents. Like OJ, poverty and a lack of positive role models led Jay to engage in criminal activity as a teenager. Like OJ, Jay found success as an entertainer and business owner who was able to cross over into mainstream white consumers. Like OJ,

Jay's success often concealed emotional baggage he still carried from traumatic life experiences. And like OJ, Jay's unresolved emotions led him to distance himself from his black wife and seek out of affairs. Had Jay Z continued down this path, his life could have spiraled out of control just like OJ. Instead, Jay attributes his avoidance of a downward spiral by remaining connected to the black community, helping him realize that his destructive behavior was not unique to him, but was a result of the history of trauma that he shared with many of his peers. This realization is ultimately what enabled him to begin the process of healing for the benefit of himself, his family, and the black community as a whole. Realized that we're going to get further together.

Don't check out. You can't just, you know, turn your back on the place you come from. You come from the community. Your job is to uplift it now. Or we know how it turns out. Right. That's what I'm saying. Like, you know, when Tiger was afforded the privilege of, you know, he's playing golf.

You know, you were protected. The minute that you're not providing for the thing, it's like now your license is on TV and it's like you're black. As Jay notes here, one of the central lessons from the story of OJ is that black people will go further if they stick together. Whether in personal or business relationships, individual gratification cannot come at the expense of working together for the common good, which is the exact message Jay conveys in the song's first verse. Okay, house nigger, don't fuck with me. I'm a feel nigger. with Sean Cutlery Go play the quarters

Where the butlers be I'm gonna play the corners With a hustler's be I told him Please don't die over the neighborhood That your mama rent in Take your drug money in by the neighborhood That's how you rinse it

Uh J begins the first verse With an intricate quatrain Beginning with the lines House N-Word don't fuck with me I'm a field end word Go Shine Cutlery Here J addresses the modern day

House Nward who, much like O.J., has achieved some level of individual success in the households of white America while turning their backs on the black community. Jay tells this prototypical house N-word, don't fuck with me, distancing himself from those who are intentionally interfering or setting a bad example for other members of his community to follow. Instead of causing trouble, Jay tells them to go shine cutlery or silverware, a typical task that a house slave would do as a butler for a rich white family. But given the previous line about OJ and his association with the idea of a house N-word, it appears Jay is also using cutlery to slyly allude to the knife used to murder Nicole Brown.

Jay also tells this house inward to go play the quarters where the butlers be. While most enslaved Africans would have slept in rugged log cabins known as slave quarters, house slaves slept inside the house in an addict or a basement known as the butler's quarters. Jay uses the slang meaning of the word play to imply that the house inward intends to use his privileged position to benefit himself financially. Here we also recognize the homonym of go play the quarters also sounding like gold-plated quarters. This seems to allude to the idea of a gilded cage, a place or situation that's superficially attractive,

but nevertheless constricting. In this case, it refers to the fact that while the house slave's quarters might be nicer, a house slave is still a slave, still considered a piece of property, still, as Jay says in the chorus, an N-word. In contrast, Jay identifies himself as a field N-word who plays the corners where the hustlers be. He seems to be speaking from his perspective

as a young adult trying to find success as a drug dealer. He plays with both corners and quarters to refer to the street corners and the quarter ounces of cocaine he sold there. But once again, it seems Jay is also subtly maintaining the OJ theme, strategically using football terminology to construct these lines. In this reading, the field refers to a football field, quarters refers to the four quarters of a football game or a quarterback, corners refers to the defensive position cornerback, and Butler refers to Malcolm Butler, a star cornerback in the NFL at the time the song was written. And here we can't help but wonder if this reference to Malcolm Butler was purposely chosen as a secondary illusion to Malcolm X and his famous speech we heard earlier in this episode.

And today you still have house negroes and field negroes. I'm a field negro. Malcolm X makes clear his identification declaring, I'm a field negro, an almost identical statement to Jays, I'm a field N-word. Just as Malcolm X explained the house-field dichotomy from slavery to illustrate dynamics within the black community during the civil rights movement, so too does Jay use it to illustrate dynamics in contemporary society, talking specifically to hustlers like his former self growing up in low-income housing projects. Whenever Jay explains how he began hustling as a youth, he tends to include the threats of violence he routinely faced as an innocent kid trying to come home on the New York City subway. In his autobiographical book, Decoded, he wrote, quote, you could get

killed just for riding in the wrong train at the wrong time. I started to think that since I was risking my life anyway, I might as well get paid for it, unquote. This reflection highlights the vicious cycle of poverty, violence, and death that led Jay and his peers into hustling. While he clearly empathizes with the young black man who still see hustling as the only option, Jay also goes on to offer advice on how they could help their communities escape this vicious cycle. He wraps, I told him, please don't die over the neighborhood that your mama renting. Take your drug money and buy the neighborhood. That's how you rinse it. Speaking directly to a prototypical hustler from the projects, Jay pleads for them not to die in a dispute over his neighborhood,

likely referring to a territorial battle about who can sell drugs on a specific corner. It's important to note that throughout history, humans have fought to the death to gain or maintain property and territory. However, by emphasizing that the neighborhood is one that the hustler's mom is renting, Jay is pointing out that the neighborhood is not actually theirs, since they have no ownership stake and are living in a rented apartment that's not even in their name. Instead of getting killed or killing another member of the community, Jay tells the hustler to use the money he's earned selling drugs to buy one of the neighborhood apartment buildings, where he could start earning legal income with a lower risk of violence or imprisonment. He could also ensure that his mom and other

members of the black community always have a place to live. If enough hustlers took this advice, they could buy out the entire neighborhood and keep all rental income in the community instead of paying a rich white man. By saying that's how you rinse it, Jay's acknowledging that using drug money to buy apartment buildings is a quintessential form of money laundering or turning dirty money into clean money. Many money laundering schemes were pioneered by crime organizations like the Italian mafia in the early 1900s. The U.S. and most other countries created financial regulations and laws to imprison anyone caught laundering money. Despite these risks, Jay seems convinced that hustlers need to find ways to turn dirty money into clean money so they can build real wealth

for themselves and their community. Otherwise, they'll just end up spending all their drug money on regrettable purchases. I bought every V-12 engine. Wish I could take it back to the beginning. I could have bought a place in Dumbo before it was Dumbo for like $2 million. That same building today is worth $25 million. Guess how I'm feeling. Dumbo. Jay Expresses regret about how he used his money early in life, rapping, I bought every V-12 engine,

wish I could take it back to the beginning. A V-12 engine is commonly used in high-end luxury vehicles made by the likes of Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, and Lamborghini. New versions of these cars often cost around $300,000, which is more than the median cost of a house in most U.S. states. However, unlike a house, most cars depreciate. In many cases, a car may lose more than 50% of its value in just five years. At some point in his career, Jay realized that losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in car depreciation

made little financial sense. Instead of buying a $300,000 car, he could lease one and use the leftover money to buy assets that are likely to increase in value, like company stock, government bonds, artwork, land, and houses, assets that could create more opportunities for his future self, his family, and his community. Jay's regret about his past financial decisions leads directly to a spoken interlude, where he highlights a specific missed opportunity. He says, I could have bought a place in Dumbo before it was Dumbo for like 2 million. That same building today is worth 25 million. Of course, Jay's referencing the Brooklyn neighborhood Dumbo,

which is 15 minutes away from the Marcy Projects where he grew up. This area of Brooklyn was previously a manufacturing district known as Gairsville, named after entrepreneur Robert Gare, who owned several factories and warehouses in the early 1900s. By the 1970s, when these manufacturing companies had been pushed out of the city, Gairsville became a residential neighborhood populated mostly by low-income artists who began referring to the neighborhood with the acronym Dumbo, short for down under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. While this waterfront location with easy access to retail and financial centers in Manhattan

would have been a highly desirable and expensive place to live, the lack of modern apartments, office buildings, coffee shops, and other retail made Dumbo unattractive to wealthier residents of New York. But despite these limitations, Jewish property developer David Walentez saw the untapped potential in Dumbo and used his strong credit history and financial connections to borrow $12 million and buy the entire neighborhood. In 1998, Walentes began selling newly renovated condos after convincing New York City to rezone a large section of Dumbo for new apartments and retail stores. 1998 was also the year that Jay Z released his Grammy-winning album Volume 2 Hard Knock Life, the first of his albums to reach number one on the Billboard charts. With a net worth of over $10 million

in 1998, Jay legitimately could have purchased a building in Dumbo for $2 million. However, at the time, Jay was still buying cars, as he bragged about on the track, Can I Live? While Jay missed his chance to buy a $2 million building in Dumbo, several rich, white property developers bought buildings where wealthier residents, retail stores, and tech startups would soon move in. By 2014, Dumbo was the most expensive neighborhood in Brooklyn, and the $2 million building that Jay didn't buy was now worth $25 million. And while Black residents, represented around 30% of Brooklyn's population in 2014. They represented only 5% of Dumbo's population. In response to this missed opportunity for himself and the black community, Jay says,

Guess how I'm feeling, Dumbo. On the surface, the wordplay here centers on the dumb in Dumbo. But another layer is revealed when we realize Jay is also referencing Disney's 1941 animated film of the same name. In that film, Dumbo is an elephant with large ears born into a traveling circus, leading him to become a side show attraction and a clown who's forced to jump from a high platform into pie-filling. This humiliating clown act continues until a group of black crows help Dumbo learn how to fly by flapping his ears. Dumbo becomes instantly famous after his ability to fly surprises the circus audience. Dumbo then signs a movie contract and moves to Hollywood as the rest of the elephants remain in the circus. Jay identifying with Dumbo thus works on a number of levels.

There are clear parallels between Dumbo's experience and the experience of generation, of Black Americans, both born into captivity, whipped, humiliated, and forced to make money for their captors. Black Americans were also depicted as dumb animals with exaggerated facial features, and in several cases actually became sideshow attractions and circuses. Like Dumbo, OJ, and Jay, some black people did find success as entertainers with opportunities to work in Hollywood. However, profiting from this success typically required black artists to sign contracts that favored the rich white men who owned the entertainment companies. And like Dumbo and Ogin, some of these successful black entertainers

embrace the adoration of white audiences and subsequently turn their backs on their community who are still forced to work in various forms of captivity. At the same time, the Dumbo film also contains the same kind of problematic racist caricatures Jay cites in the story of OJ music video. Specifically, the black crows are similar to minstrel shows racist portrayals of black stereotypes.

There's also a song in the film called The Song of Rostabouts, where faceless black workers toil away while singing lyrics like, grab that rope, you hairy ape, and when we get our pay, we throw all our money away. Because we don't go pay to get our pay away, when we do we throw our pay away, when we get our baby we throw. It's clear Jay-Z took inspiration from Dumbo for the story of OJ music video, which opens by introducing a blackface-style character named Jaybo. After Jay says, guess how I'm feeling, Dumbo, Jaybo is depicted as an elephant with large ears

flying over a cotton plantation where slaves are working in a field. The video's final shot, shows the Jaybo elephant throwing away money that reigns down on a group of black-faced children in Brooklyn. These images seem to illustrate Jay's realization that even if he attracts larger audiences than a flying elephant, bad financial choices will leave him in the black community at the mercy of people who still see him as an N-word. Light nigger, dark nigger, foe nigger, real nigger, rich nigger, cold nigger, house-nigger, fill-nigger. Still, nigger, still-nigger. You want to know what's more important than throwing away money in the street. After a strip club, credit.

You ever wonder why Jewish people own all the property in America? That's how they did it. After a repetition of the chorus, Jay continues to give financial advice saying, You want to know what's more important than throwing away money at a strip club? Credit. Jay's critiquing the hip-hop trope of making it rain by highlighting the importance of getting money through credit, where one's creditworthiness is determined by the borrower's financial history. Those found worthy of receiving credit are able to invest in their future.

by purchasing a house or starting a business venture, like the developer who bought the entire neighborhood of Dumbo. The importance of credit further underscores why hustlers should find a way to turn their dirty money into clean money. While stacks of drug money can be used at a strip club, no one is going to report drug money on their tax filing or be able to use an apartment in their mama's name when applying for credit. Without access to credit and other financial tools, Jay implies that the black community will not be able to do anything but watch as other communities worked together to buy the neighborhood. As a counter-example, Jay finishes his spoken interlude by saying, You ever wonder why Jewish people own all the property in America. This is how they did it.

Jay here highlights Jewish people as an example of a historically disadvantaged community who worked together to achieve success for the community as a whole. The story of the Jewish community's resilience goes back 3,000 years when a group of loosely connected Middle Eastern tribes formed a unified kingdom in the land of Judah. Over the centuries, this ethno-religious group managed to retain their identity even as they were conquered, killed, enslaved, and scattered across the world by the Assyrian, Babylonian, Greek, and Roman empires. For centuries after these conquests, more than half of Jews in the world lived in Europe and America, where they routinely faced oppressive laws that made them into second-class citizens. The oppression came to a head when

Nazi Germany killed and enslaved millions of Jews in labor camps during the Holocaust of World War II. After the war, the Jewish people in America worked to uplift their community by banning together. Most relevant to the themes in the story of OJ, several Jewish individuals became pioneers in America's finance industry by founding some of the world's largest investment banks, including Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs. Rather than being satisfied with individual success, these financial leaders provided credit for Jewish entrepreneurs and various industries, including property development. As Jay alluded to earlier, the entire neighborhood of Dumbo was bought by a Jewish property developer who borrowed money from Jewish investors. While Jay's intentions

seemed to be that the Jewish community is an example of a marginalized group working together to uplift the community as a whole. Several Jewish leaders expressed concern that Jay's exaggerated claim about Jewish people owning all the property in America could feed longstanding resentment and stereotypes against the Jewish community. The same stereotypes used to justify the horrific treatment of Jewish people throughout history. During an interview with Rap Radar, Jay used the opportunity to clarify his intention. The context of the song clearly outlines what I'm trying to say in the point that I'm trying to make is actually you know you guys did it right

right you know and and the reason I believe my beliefs only is why Jewish people got it so right as a community is when they left the people that got out you know after the war right were here by themselves so they were forced to band together

someone tried to kill off their entire race can you have met like then like kill off the entire race so they had no choice but they band together and they worked together and they work together And that working together helped them to get a power system, a power base within their own community. I lived in Marcy. I seen when a Jewish community was built on Lee Avenue.

It was two blocks. It was two blocks. It's a beautiful community from directly across the street from Marcy projects all the way to the bridge. Right. So I seen what was built by a small community of people working together. Right. That's what I'm trying to tell our people. Like, I've seen that half.

Everyone in Marcy and Brooklyn can attest to this, this is a real thing. That's how they did it. Financial freedom, my only hope. Fuck living rich and dying broke. I bought some art work for $1 million. Two years later, that shit worth $2 million. Few years later, that shit worth, can't wait to get this shit to my children.

Y'all think it's boozy. I'm like, it's fine, but I'm trying to give you a million dollars worth a game for now. Building off his statements about credit and sticking together, Jay rap's financial freedom are only hope, fuck living rich and dying broke. Having already established how the legacy of slavery continues to place restraints on the black community, Jay declares that financial freedom is the only type of freedom that will radically transform the black community's circumstances in America. The term financial freedom is used to describe the state in which money no longer prevents a person from enjoying a fulfilling life and pursuing opportunities that might lead to happiness.

Notably, this idea is the concluding thought of the entire album, as heard on 444's final track, Legacy. What's a world? Take those monies and spread across families. My sister, Hattie and Lernerner Nephews, cousins, and TT, every the rest of the beef or whatever she wants to do, she might start an institute, she might put poor kids in school. On Legacy, No ID samples Donna Hathaway's 1973 track Someday will all be free. over which Jay raps about his plans for spreading his money across his family members after he dies. Later in the song, Jay specifically mentions his ownership of title, Ace of Spades Champagne, and Doucée Cognac, which he plans to pass on so that people that look like him can do whatever they want. This focus on leaving black people with the legacy of financial freedom

illustrates how Jay has modeled his mentality after the Jewish leaders in the finance industry he cited earlier in the song. Jay also speaks out against financial mismanagement, saying fuck living rich and dying broke. Here he seems to be referring to the concept of being hood rich, which was best expressed on the big-timers track Still Fly from their 2002 album, Hood Rich. Here are the big timers brag about wearing expensive clothes and driving new cars despite not having enough money to pay their rent and having to register any cars or apartments in their mama's name. As Jay points out, anyone who lives with this hood-rich mentality is going to end up dying broke

and unable to pass on wealth to the next generation. Jay then offers an alternative rapping, I bought some artwork for $1 million, two years later, that shit worth $2 million, few years later, that shit worth $8 million, I can't wait to give this shit to my children. Jay's enthusiasm for buying artwork has been well documented in the latter half of his rap career.

Most notably on his 2013 track, Picasso Baby, Jay raps about the art pieces that his baby daughter, Blue Ivy, now owns. While Picasso Baby takes it for granted that listeners should see the value in owning artwork. In the story of OJ, Jay makes clear that his art collection is a strategic investment. Unlike cars, jewelry, and clothes, which typically lose value over time, artwork often increases in value and can be sold for multiples of the initial purchase price, hence Jay's ability to buy a piece for $1 million that's valued at 8 million years later. For this reason, Jay owns a substantial amount of art,

which Forbes estimated to be worth around $70 million in 2019. Despite the potential for art to produce generational wealth, Jay's artwork collection has been criticized as a sign of pretentious preference for white European culture. Jay continues by addressing these critics directly, rapping, y'all think it's bougie, I'm like it's fine, but I'm trying to give you a million dollars worth a game for $9.99. The word bougie comes from the French word bourgeoisie, which was historically used to refer to the ruling upper class who own property in businesses and a capitalist society. Now the word bougie is used as a pejorative description of a product, place, or pursuit that's associated with the upper class. It also describes a person

from a lower class who uses such things to associate themselves with the upper class. By saying, I'm like, it's fine, Jay is comfortable with those who might consider him bougie for collecting art, as it seems he feels they're speaking from a place of stubborn ignorance. To combat this, Jay tells his critics that he's offering them a million dollars worth a game for 99. Giving game is a phrase used to describe an experienced hustler, teaching a newcomer how to adapt to their environment, avoid common mistakes, and make money. Meanwhile, $999 is the standard price for most albums, including 444. Thus, Jay is saying that if the black community listens and puts into practice the life lessons on 444, they can avoid the mistakes Jay made earlier in his own life, setting them on a path

to financial freedom. I turn a 2 to a 4, 4, 2 a 8, I turn my life into a nice first week release date. Y'all is still taking advances, huh? Me and my niggis taking real chances, uh, you know, y'all 100 gram holding money to your ear. There's a disconnect. We don't call that money over here. Jay continues the second verse wrapping. I turn that 2 to a 4, 4 to an 8.

I turn my life into a nice first week release date. Similar to the earlier lines about artwork, here Jay boasts about his ability to multiply the value of his assets by a factor of 2, leading to a 100% return on investment. Assuming that he's starting with a $1 million investment and doubles the value every year, it would take him just 10 years to reach $1 billion.

At the same time, if any member of the community starts with just $1, they could get to $1 billion in just 30 years. This is a real thing. That was my face, yeah. 30 years? That's no time. At an album, that's 21 years off. Wow.

You know what I'm saying? That's no time. As Jay alludes to here, 30 years is a really short time for a community to become prosperous in comparison to the 400 years of oppression. Jay himself managed to reach a billion dollars 23 years after releasing his first album. Thus by saying, I turn my life into a nice first week release date. He reminds us that his success began from taking stories from his life as a hustler selling drugs and turning them into music that could be released for legal profit.

At the same time, Jay cautions other rappers that they won't become billionaires if they continue to make common financial mistakes. He raps, y'all out here still taking advances, huh? Me and my end words taking real chances. Advances here refers to advance payments from record labels, which is a lump sum of money given to an artist in advance of their album release. As most rappers and artists in general typically don't have a lot of money, this lump sum is extremely attractive, so much so that they often fail to fully understand that any advance must be paid back to the record label in full

before they start earning their small percentage of revenue generated by their music. Advances then are essentially a form of credit where the rights to the artist's music is held as collateral. Record labels can also block an artist from releasing music if the music doesn't fit the label's strategic direction. Such blocks have prevented artists as famous as Lauren Hill from release. releasing new music. At that point, an artist could try to part ways with the label, but often they have to pay back the advance immediately. Also, if the artist mismanaged their advance by failing to pay taxes or spent the advance on cars, clothes, and jewelry, they could lose their artistic freedom along with the control of their master recordings. Jay-Z elaborates

on this point in 4-44's eighth track, Moonlight. Y'all niggas still signing deals, still, after all they don't stole, for real, after what they done, the outlaw and hill, and y'all n'all A big is supposed to be trill. Guess we're tough when you behind on your taxes and you pawned all your chains and they run off with your masses and took it to bed with the hills. A big reason why record labels have so much power over the artist's work is because they are taking on the financial risk of paying out earnings in advance.

As a businessman, Jay recognizes that with greater risk comes greater reward. Thus we get the line, me and my end words taken real chances, implying how he and his business partners have taken strategic risks to earn more money and retain control and ownership. Most notably, back in 2008, Jay decided not to sign a deal under a traditional label. Instead, he founded Rock Nation, which was structured as a joint venture with Live Nation, one of the world's largest live entertainment companies. This corporate structure allowed Jay to retain 50% ownership control while also giving him

the backing to expand beyond music into film, television, and sports management. He also signed a $150 million touring deal with Live Nation that did include advances for three albums. However, in May of 2017, almost 10 years after the original deal and just a month before releasing 444, Live Nation agreed to pay Jay $200 million to sign a new deal that did not include any advances. As a result of taking real chances with new corporate structures and industries, Jay was able to push his net worth past $1 billion. He then compares his mentality with other contemporary rappers, concluding his final verse saying, Y'all on the gram holding money to your ear, there's a disconnect, we don't call that money over here.

year. Jay's referring to a trend in which rappers post Instagram photos of themselves holding large stacks of money to their ear as if talking on the phone, a flex of their so-called wealth. This trend was initially popularized in 2011 when Floyd, Money Mayweather, and 50 Cent posted a video of themselves talking about getting money while holding stacks of cash to their ears. Fiddy, where you at? I'm telling. I'm in a hair in the shoot. Oh. What's your doing? Got mails on top of mills? Got mails on top of mail?

It's funny, I was still thinking about how I can get some money. Many other rappers eventually imitated 50 cents' use of the so-called money phone. By saying there's a disconnect, Jay seems to assert that showing off stacks of money isn't communicating the rapper's intended message, like a phone call that's been disconnected by a weak signal. Rather than a flex of wealth, Jay sees the money phone as a lack of understanding of what real money is. Jay's criticism was met with pushback from a number of rappers, including 50 Cent,

who defended the use of the money phone and dismissed Jay. prompting a response from Jay himself. I had to listen again, like, how is this being misinterpreted? I just said it ain't money to us. It ain't. That's just an honest statement. You know what I'm saying? That's...

Or building brands and pushing it forward. And that can't be the end of. That can't be our goal to get money and then show it on the Internet. I've been saying this change is cooler cop, but more important is lawyer fees. That's my first album. I've always been trying to give people gaming. Like, yeah, man, learn from my experiences. I'm not even saying I'm better than anyone.

All I'm saying is like, yo, I touch that. I've always went through things and said, yo, my man, and that's all I want to do for the young. I want them to be better than me. I want them to go further. I want them to, I want to look back and be like, man, they took that baton and like, look what they did with it. And I know that that ain't the answer.

That's right there. That right there is going to lead to tax problems. And, you know, you're not going to be around forever. Jay makes clear that he's not trying to belittle rappers, but rather calling on them to learn from his past mistakes, which having reached the end of the story of OJ, we now understand as the underlying premise of the entire song. Specifically, he wants the next generations of rappers

to recognize the responsibility they have to push the black community forward. If a rapper's end goal is to get paid by a rich white man and flaunt his individual success while refusing to take on the responsibility of uplifting the community, that rapper is turning his back on the community just like OJ did. And as Jay-Z points out, flaunting large stacks of money can easily get a rapper in trouble with tax authorities. Authorities who will be quick to put a black rapper in handcuffs and chains to remind him that

despite his so-called fortune, fame, and adoration from white audiences, he's still just an N-Word. Light, nigger, dark, nigger, foe, nigger, real nigger, rich, plow, nigger, house, feel, nigger. The goal is not to be successful and famous. That's not the goal. is if you have a specific God-given ability is to live your life out through that. One, and two, we have a responsibility

to push the conversation forward until we're all equal. So we're all equal on this place because until everyone's free, no one's free and that's just the fact. Today's episode was written by Femi Olu-Tade. A huge thank you to Femi for all of his hard work in making this episode possible.

If you wanted to hear more of Femmy and I's work together, check out Season 5 of Dissect on Kendrick Lamar's Dam. Additional analysis for today's episode by me, Cole Kushna, audio editing by Kevin Pooler, theme music by bureaucratic. All right, thanks everyone. Talk to you next week.