Here’s something that should break the internet. Recently surfaced is a Jay Z demo dated back before Reasonable Doubt‘s debut. As of now, there’s no particular year pre-’96 that this demo is tied to. Not only is this a big drop due to Jay Z’s status in pop culture, it also includes astonishing snippets of foreshadowing from the self-proclaimed “Mike Jordan of recordin’.”
For instance, Jay spits, on the previously unreleased “Under Pressure:”
“Maintain… I still want to be like mike, ain’t sh*t changed/ To all of my people locked down, it’s for you I rock now/ And never-to-worry, kid, I’ll be holding the block down/ 19-21 is hard, we beat the odds/ 24 — alive and striving for 24 more.”
And in 2011, he rapped this on Watch The Throne‘s “Primetime:”
“Mo’ money, 40-year old phenom/ My 15 minutes of fame is stretched beyond/ At 42, be better than 24/ I carry the 4-5, mastered 48 laws/ Still wearing my 23′s, they can’t f**k with the boy/ Far as them 16′s, I’m 23 of it all.”
Coincidence? I think not.
–Jamaal Fisher (@jamaalfisher)