Today marks a historic occasion for several reasons. For one, Jay-Z, arguably the greatest rapper to ever touch a mic, has entered the big Five-Oh club. Second, to honor the milestone, Hov has finally put his entire musical catalog on Spotify, a move that has fans scrambling to revisit some of his earlier classics. To commemorate Jay-Z's iconic catalog, I decided to pay homage to a personal favorite, a Blueprint 2 highlight that features one of his most underrated verses to date. Not to mention, whose day won't benefit from hearing young Hova and Dr. Dre trading bars over a dark and distinguished James-Bond-esque banger?
"The Watcher 2" picked up where its predecessor left off, bringing Jay and former Aftermath signees Rakim and Truth Hurts into the fold. While each collaborator shines (Rakim absolutely goes off), it's Hov who takes the crown with his badass delivery. "Disrespectin' the game, no home training or manners, I was doin' this shit when you was shittin' your Pampers," he spits, the disrespect palpable. "I was movin' them grams fore you knew what a hand-to-hand was, duckin' the vans, radars, and scanners." Though surprising to see a sequel from 2001 pop up on a Jay-Z album, it ultimately proved to be a match made in heaven, a tried and true hip-hop classic tune. Happy birthday Jay-Z!
Quotable Lyrics
I had it laid out 'fore you knew what a plan was
Three hundred mil' later, now you understand us
Y'all ain't see us comin' through Vegas
You ever seen so much cham' bust in one night
Grand fucked up one fight, I was on the Peter Pan bus
You was puttin' Peter Pan up in your room
Y'all fuckin' with whom?
Allow me to retort
You cowards is just now learnin' the shit that we taught
