What’s up with the entire world quoting Jay-Z all the sudden? I have been bumping Jay-Z and deciphering his lyrics since 97′ (admittedly a little late) and never has one line ever been so scrutinized. It amazes me how many people really don’t listen to lyrics and how others will hear exactly what they want to hear. Everybody wants to throw out the now famous line “Hail Mary to the city your a Virgin, and Jesus can’t save you life starts when the church ends” and claim he’s a devil worshiper and he doesn’t believe in Jesus.

My question to those people is “do you fools listen to music, or do you just skim through it?” I pose this question to one and all people, I’ve debated this verse line with producers/engineers/and even A&R’s…by the way I won every argument! First this people do wrong is Fox News the entire verse and quote said line out of context.

Jay-Z ft. Alicia Keys- Empire State Of Mind
3rd Verse

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Lights is blinding,
girls need blinders
so they can step out of bounds quick,
the side lines is blind with casualties,
who sip the lite casually, then gradually become worse,
don’t bite the apple Eve,
caught up in the in crowd,
now you’re in-style,
Anna the Wintour gets cold in Vogue with your skin out,
the city of sin is a pity on a whim.
good girls gone bad, the city’s filled with them,
Mommy took a bus trip and now she got her bust out,
everybody ride her, just like a bus route,
Hell Mary to the city your a virgin,
and Jesus can’t save your life starts when the church ends,
came here for school, graduated to the high life,
ball players, rap stars, addicted to the limelight,
MDMA got you feeling like a champion,
the city never sleeps better slip you a Ambien

For the lyrically challenged I will break down Mr. Double Entendre’s third and controversial verse line by line. Mr. Carter starts off by warning any new comers that the the lights are so blinding that they will need blinders. For those who think they can tippy toe in and out of the “game” Jay lets them know the sidelines are filled with casualties. See people often try to sip the “lite” beer casually, but it will soon become worse and leads them down a dark road.

Jay-Z then speaks of females going to New York for school and warms them about getting lost in city of sin “Don’t bite the apple Eve.” Oh and if your interested in a little Extra school-age to prove that Jigga is smarter, more connected and more diverse than all of his critics:

“caught up in the in crowd,now you’re in-style, and in the winter gets cold en vogue with your skin out” actually says “Anna the Wintour gets cold en Vogue with your skin out”. Jay is referencing Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of American Vogue for over 20 years, leader of ‘the in crowd’ and largely believed to be THE most stylish person in America…..you’re still not hearing him!

S dot Carter then spits some of the realest shit, and that is what people are tripping over Jay says “hell Mary to the city your a virgin, Jesus can’t save your life starts when the church ends. How can Jesus save her, if her life starts when church ends? She chose that life, Jay warned her about it. This poor lost soul didn’t listen. She thought she could handle it, she came for school but became addicted to the limelight. (oh and MDMA is the medical abbreviation for Methylenedioxymethamphetamine or as its more commonly know Ecstasy)

She is now a victim of “The COOL” shout out to Lupe Fiasco, he wrote an entire album bases around this concept. Side bar, I’m not even going to get into the who Free Mason, Illuminati thing, I’ll leave that discussion up to someone else.

Lupe Fiasco – The Cool

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

J. Manning
Superintendent