The One Song Roc-A-Fella Loves to Hate
The video is cringe-worthy. The bright colors, the corny choreography, the fishbowl lens close ups. Watching it as a Jay-Z fan is almost painful. The song and video are beyond cliche, and they almost cost the greatest rapper of all time his illustrious career.
On Wednesday, July 26th podcasters and comedy sketch artists, Eric and Jeff Rosenthal, together known as ItsTheReal, brought together a dozen principal Roc-A-Fella executives and artists for a live broadcast and celebration of one of hip-hop’s premier dynasties. The podcast was recorded in front of a sold out audience at New York City’s Highline Ballroom.
There were a lot of takeaways from the event, like how underrated Damon Dash’s management skills are and how much of a gear head Just Blaze really is. But, one thing that really stood out was how much they all hate this song.
In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 was released on November 4, 1997. The follow-up to Reasonable Doubt had high expectations. It’s peers, Illmatic and Ready to Die had both done well commercially. But, Reasonable Doubt was critically-acclaimed, yet didn’t sell well. With Def Jam as their new distribution partner, Roc-A-Fella had high hopes for Vol. 1. However, in the hands of newly-minted A&R, Kyambo “Hip Hop” Joshua and heavily influenced by the success of Bad Boy Records “shiny” singles, the album was packed full of synth sounds and pop tunes that distracted from Jay-Z’s voice and rap skills.
In his interview with Rap Radar, Joshua explains that “a lot of things I learned and then rushed into it on the second album. ‘Oh man, we need singles. We need bigger records. That album represents a conscious effort to take it to another level.”
To his credit, Vol. 1 isn’t just pop singles, the Bad Boy influence is evident on “Always be my Sunshine,” and “I Know what Girls Like,” but the album was anchored by the aggressive “Streets is Watching,” produced by Ski which perfectly fit and showcased Jay’s rap skills. Followed on the album by “Friend or Foe,” and preceded the classic “Imaginary Players.” Vol. 1 had hits, and Roc-A-Fella knew it, but how could they get it to the fans because they damn sure weren’t buying it.
At the ItsTheReal event, former Roc-A-Fella exec and current RocNation President, Chaka Pilgrim understated that “Sunshine wasn’t that great,” to the laughter of the audience. “We decided to go back to the streets to do what was authentic,” she explains, “Damon came to me and was like, ‘Let’s keep making these visuals. Everybody was really supportive of it. i think that was what propelled the vision forward and the music forward.” Those visuals became Streets is Watching, a cult-classic collection of music videos that showcased Jay-Z’s rap skills and street sensibility and credibility of Roc-A-Fella.
“Thank God for Streets is Watching,” says RocNation’s Lenny S., “We were kinda digging out of a hole after “Sunshine,” and the video didn’t help. Streets is Watching is the first time we just did our own thing.”
It was fun and interesting to listen to a dozen Roc-A-Fella execs and artists celebrate one of hip-hop greatest dynasties. As hip-hop music and culture continues to age and mature, the preservation and celebration of it is becoming more and more frequent. Events like ItsTheReal A Waste of Time: Celebrating Roc-A-Fella Records and other panels and podcasts that reflect on the culture will allow older fans, artists, and executives to reflect on what the culture has meant to them. Jeff Rosenthal said it best at the end of the event, “The collection of people that we have up here are so instrumental in not just changing music, but changing the world.”
