"Competition is none!" -Rakim

Competition has been long been part of Hip-Hop culture. The music of that culture is no different. From Rakim's No Competition, to I'm Still #1 by KRS-One, cats that felt like they were that deal, said so on the mic. Hell, even Nelly attempted to have his say on whose the best. That's why I was happy after hearing the Big Sean song, Control that featured Jay Electronica and Kendrick Lamar.

Camay - Jay Electronica

Jay Electronica
Girlfriend
What The F*Ck Is A Jay Electronica?














"Every good man got a good woman behind him
And every superhero got a good woman beside him..."

"Love heals all past wounds you assist me
You with me
The butterflies came to get me
Cupid cocked back the four pound, squeezed one of the shot hit me
North of the kidney, and now I'm head over..."

This whole song gets a post. Love the superhero line.




"Girlfriend, I don't know what you did to me
But it sure feel like something good for me
Stay on my mind all day and all night
I'm seriously contemplatin on makin you wife
Yup, I'm twenty-seven girl I need to settle down now
I don't need to be up in the club chasin the brown round
You don't need to to be up the streets chasin these clowns down
Let's say we catch a matinee today, downtown
So I can tell you bout this dream I had lately
The one on the house on the hill and the baby
The picket white fence, in a field full of daisies
The amg kit on the silv-er Mercedes
Would it hurt you to try me, huh mami
Every good man got a good woman behind him
And every superhero got a good woman beside him
Girl stop playin... I wanna hold your hand

Look chocolate,
Lately I been feelin awkward
Finally found someone to talk with
Walk through the park with
I'm on some Joan of Ark shit
I need a rider with me
Sometimes I sit and wonder why you even bother with me
Look Shawn
Looked in your eyes and seen dawn
Dewdrops on the leaves in the lawn
I breathe calmly
Read qu ran see
Silver sixty
Love heals all past wounds you assist me
You with me
The butterflies came to get me
Cupid cocked back the four pound, squeezed one of the shot hit me
North of the kidney, and now I'm head over...
Wait heres..."

Vomitspit - Jay Electronica

Jay Electronica - Exhibit A (Transformations)
 

"Nice whip nice chain, a closet of skulls
The stench is like slave blood in Providence Hall"






Jay Electronica on rich, wealth and American History.

Vomitspit - Jay Electronica

"Man Ebola'd the land then he Small-poxed the witnesses..." Jay Electronica from My World (Nas Salute)

Jay Elec's interpretation on the destruction that humans/colonist wreaked on various parts of the world. He uses the example of the Native Americans being handed blankets infested with small pox to support his point.

In another case for the need for lyrics written in the liner notes, there is some question as to what Jay says after "Man". I have read "embroidered", "broidered", etc. While I don't hear a definitive "L" sound in the word he says, I certainly an "r" sound either. I just made the connection since he was already talking about one disease, that he had to mean the Ebola virus-just turning the word into an adjective with the "ed" or "d" at the end.

Listen for yourself. The line comes at about the 2:24 mark

7 MCs - Jay Electronica

"Yeaaaah, get nervous now

I'm a fucking animal with the verbs and nouns

I'm a fucking cannibal in a herd of clowns

You nikkas look like heaps of steaks and burger mounds"

Vomitspit - Jay Electronica

"If a thousand words is equivalent to a picture
Then welcome to the cinema
A shot of wheat grass and an enema
...Who wanna style war with the emperor" 

Jay on how vivid his lyrics are and a brief description on what its like to go after him. 

Vomitspit - Jay Electronica

"I'm in New York now like Akeem and Semi was

Tryna get the lobby door open off a semi buzz"- Jay Electronica

Average Joe blow, mastering my mojo...

...cinder block karate chop practice in the dojo" Jay Electronica

Four lyrically adept MCs' doing what they do on the back drop of a decent rock inspired beat. Hard to say who's verse went the hardest but my list goes like this:

Mos Def 4

Jay Electronica 3

Joell Ortiz 2

Jean Grae 1

It is always hard to bat in the lead off position but she certainly set it off...

Jean Grae:

Back up in the booth and my V is for vendetta,

Fuck the last line, to tell you the truth i got ten better

I bend letters over till they look like Ns, and then offend so many men with them they look like femmes I'm a feminine rebel,forever cleverer than yo' shit 

never be level with niggas, shit my flow can float bitch 

figure out the dosage to administer vaccines 

Sickness I envoke and quote considered the black Jean

It's Blakroc, it's Blacksmith, it's miss Grae and i'm back bitch 

Hulk smash a rassa mothafucka most passionate,

fashion plate, magistrate, fascinating lady grab your vaseline and masturbate 

Emasculate your manhood, possibly damn good dismantle all your posse turn them pussy with tan hood dont push me, i don't land good, 

liable to fly up off the handle like a panwood and swoosh, hit Mrs Woods.

Jay Electronica: 

Salt rivers, flowing out my eyeballs 

Pierced side broke legs bearing my cross 

The old heads told me life wasn't a game But mine steady feeling like pinball, dodgeball 

Chasing freedom, establish a kingdom, and build a stone castle out of thin wall, dry wall 

Ima keep going til God call or the sky fall be blast me on the grassy knoll and try to blame Oswald
Average Joe blow, mastering my mojo cinder block karate chop practice in the dojo (Uhh)

If it's so so, I prolly be a no show shooting to willy bobo while on Nostrand with the poor folks (Uhh) Black dragon rap Flames out the nostrils from Crown Fried to Roscoes Im spreading the gospel

I overcame like the Saints done the Falcons like Hoover did to Malcolm...

Joell Ortiz: 

Ya'll know what the fuck i do bubble gum busters so easy to fuckin chew lyrics i blow bubbles to Unorigi-nal, it's easy to make another you findin my telly keys the only way you get a W 

Niggas ain't grizzy, ya all soft and huggable i came up in the gutter, you came up like all the Huxtables You dont want me to black belt to death you, karate chop ya pops, Liu Kang kick ya nephew HAIIIAAAWAH, to hell is where i send em ya'll just learnt the art I been tighter than your denims

I'll Ryu or Ken em i'm classic with the pen give me five minutes i'll show you i'm deadly with the venom 

poison with the dart see your boys be in the court my boy be in the park yeah annoyin all the narcs
we two different types see you spit what you write what i spit is the truth and truth comes to the light bang bang

Mos Def

Sorry..cant find...

"Guru told me to slow up the flow...

...cuz science and metaphors will slow up the dough" Jay Electronica

Recently I have been listening to a lot of GZA and trying to see how minimalist approach to using words can help me become more economical with my language as well.

After hearing this "freestyle" by Lupe it made me think even deeper about the concept of minimalist spitting. No doubt this southern style of flow is currently in vouge so perhaps this could be the key to re-injecting the genre with a few songs that are not dumbed down, but skillfully intelectual. Lord knows we could use a little more balance.

The key word is balance cuz, while I favor Lupe's version of this song, Rick Ross's goes real hard too. Just saying we need space in the game for people to shout out Demetrious Flenory as well as Malcolm X. But the bottom line is that we need more MC's Building Minds Faster than the others are "Blowing" Money Fast.

Also, did I mention that Lupe is a fucking monster!?!?!

"Who gon' bring the game back?...

Who gon' Spit that Ramo on the train track?
that gold rope, that five fingered ring rap?" Jay Electronica

Not quite sure what to write about Jay, or this song, other than I love the beginning. The first several bars are almost like a prologue to a chapter. He is sort of thinking out loud about his approach to the rhyme, or rhyming in general. Before getting into the body of his rhyme he leads with:

"...Ringo hit me up on the jack
And said man spit that spat
And leave that chicken scratch for frick and frack
Guru told me slow up the flow
Cause science and metaphors will slow up the dough so
Here we go.."

After the "here we go"he just blacks out on the track.
Jay is a beast. Hope major label fuckery and his, ahem, love life greatly improve his product (wishful thinking).

"If rap was like blacks in the sixties, I'm a white cop in riot gear ready to hose down
Memo to all I'm settin you hoes down"





"These days a lot of niggas is wack
All I hear is who gonna bring new york back
The south is this the south is that
Slinging crack in the white tee in the trap
Sippin patron and yak
Ringo hit me up on the jack
And said man spit that spat
And leave that chicken scratch for frick and frack
Guru told me slow up the flow
Cause science and metaphors will slow up the dough so
Here we go Gs up hoes down
If rap was like blacks in the sixties, I'm a white cop in riot gear ready to hose down
Memo to all I'm settin you hoes down
I'll spray a sick round on any sick clown who wanna get down
From nueve york to chic-town
Comprende, wack rappers bow when they in the presence of the sensei
The flow is, muy caliente
Jaydolf Spitler, rap Hitler
One man militia
Burnin niggas live with the scripture
The sound waves shake the dead in they graves
Pro tools'll import the session from the Richter
No wonder I'm the victor
If a thousand words is equivalent to a picture
Then welcome to the cinema
Shot of wheat grass and an enema
Who wanna style war with the emperor?"