Super Bowl goals,
My wife in the crib feedin' the kids liquid gold,
We in a whole different mode,
- Jay-Z Family Feud
For Jay-Z it's the first bar that seems to prophesize the inevitable. A half-time performance at Super Bowl 52. Who would've guessed that after his wife performing at the previous Super Bowl that Jay-Z would be up next. The world's biggest stage with millions of eyes tuned in. For Hip-hop this would been a pivotal accomplishment in validating the genre's legitimacy and it's longevity. But as the lights dimmed and the music started to play, it became inevitably clear that this wasn't Hip-hop and it definitely wasn't Jay-Z. This was Justin Timberlake.
Here's the video if you missed it:
So Justin Timberlake is a performer. I get it. But he's not Jay-Z. He hasn't had the impact that Jay-Z has had. He doesn't have the cultural significance that would've catipulted Hip-hop forward. So why did Jay-Z knowing the importance of this performance unexpectedivly decline? Because of the same reason why 4:44 was created. LEGACY. Legacy is the last track on Jay-Z's album 4:44 (There are some bonus tracks but we're just talking about the standard version.) where Jay-Z talks about some of the barriers that have kept Hip-hop as well as a race of people in the background and always last. These are the same barriers that the NFL has long represented. So for Jay-Z he couldn't perform. Not after the talk about Black Excellence. Not after 4:44. Not after TIDAL. Not after Kaepernick.
We gon' start a society within a society,
That's major, just like the Negro League,
There was a time America wouldn't let us ball,
Those times are now back, just now called Afro-tech,
- Jay-Z Legacy
So Justin Timberlake did the Super Bowl. And Not Jay-Z. But for Jay-Z the Holygrail isn't the Super Bowl. He's literally been selling out arenas all over the world for over a decade. Jay-Z already has his Holygrail if you don't believe me ask justin Timberlake.
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