I know Kanye West likes Jay-Z. I know West is with his label. I know he owes Jay-Z.
But enough. He's got to stop letting him ruin his songs.
After spitting out an overview of Sierra Leone's massacres, the role diamonds have to play in them, and the conflict that creates for those who see them as an innocent status symbol, the segue to Jay-Z is the aural equivalent of smacking into a pole during your morning jog. But you quickly forget your aching head, because Jay-Z's lyrics are so unsubstantial, so meaninglessly self-aggrandizing, that you stop wondering why he fucked up the song and start wondering why Kanye let him.
How can you falter, when you're the rock of gibraltar/
Had to get out of the boat, so I could walk on water/
This ain't no tall order, this is nothing to me/
Difficult takes a day, impossible takes a week/
Jay-Z, contrary to reputation, is about the most lyrically derivative rapper we've got. The guy's allergic to profundity, terrified of substance, and addicted to autopilot lyrics extolling his manifold virtues. Which is fine, folks can buy that if they want. But after watching Jay-Z do his damndest to ruin both Kanye's "Never Again" and "Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix)", I think the debt's repaid. Bring Jay-Z out when the song's light, but West has got to stop trying to balance his own serious side by deploying Jay-Z to inject mediocrity in his most interesting songs. It's pretty sad commentary on the state of hip-hop that West even feels the need in the first place.
