To most of the world, the Jay-Z song that hit the Web Wednesday night is brand new. Yet fanatical Jay buffs like, er, myself, have been waiting for "Ain’t I" for almost a full year — ever since a song by that name was mentioned in EW’s March 2007 profile of Timbaland. Back then, he was working on "Ain’t I" for Timbaland’s in-progress Shock Value. Writer Ethan Brown was in the Miami studio where Tim stayed up all night waiting for the rapper to finish recording his verses in New York; in the end, they missed the label deadline for Shock Value by mere hours. I know you can’t rush genius, but considering how awesome Tim and Jay’s many collaborations had been in the past — "Big Pimpin’"! "Jigga What, Jigga Who"! "Lobster and Scrimp," people! (NSFW lyrics) — I was slightly crushed that "Ain’t I" never made it out.
Well, "Ain’t I" is everywhere now, thanks to a DJ Clue mixtape, and it is so worth the wait. (Check it out below; some lyrics NSFW.) The beat is one of the better freaked-out Martian bounces Tim’s conjured up in recent years — it evolves through something like 3 or 4 separate mind-twisting movements — and Jay spits some extra-sharp braggadocio. (Notable themes, in addition to Hovie’s own messianic status in the rap world, include modern art: "Warhols on my hall’s wall/I got Basquiats in the lobby of my spot." Either he’s taken up residence at MoMA, or that’s one well-decorated pad.) The unofficial YouTube dude below uploaded "Ain’t I" with a pic of a throwback-jersey-wearing Jay circa 1999 — appropriate, since this track is an excellently show-offy excursion to the territory Jay and Tim were working back then.
One other thing: How come DJ Clue keeps shouting the highly intriguing phrase "Blueprint 3" in the background? Could Jay possibly be back in the studio now, recording a threequel to his Blueprint and Blueprint 2 albums? That’s what some online busybodies are whispering, of course; his publicist would only say that "Ain’t I" is "an old song" when I asked if it was part of any larger project. So who knows what’s next for the former Def Jam CEO? In the meantime, I’ll be bumping this track indefinitely.
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I’ll comment only because I LOVE sparring to your posts Simon (as if you didn’t know that!) As a Jay fan you shouldn’t be purposely fueling the “BluePrint 3″ rumor mill knowing FULL well that this song was intended for Timbaland’s “Shock Value” cd but missed the cd’s deadline. Jay then went in & did a “remix” of “Give It To Me (Laugh At ‘Em)” (available on iTunes) which was in & of itself laughable, which u fail to even mention in your post (cuz it SUCKED?). But anyways, I find it remarkable how this “new” song leaks 1 month after Jay stepped down from his post as Def Jam CEO, & the same week, mouths are flapping how the Roc-A-Fella artists are all sticking with Def Jam. Simon, you may love Jay Z but sometimes you’re completely biased! When can you recall during Jay’s ENTIRE CEO tenure when a song by his just RANDOMLY got leaked? It didn’t happen! This is smoke & mirrors tactics, but I guess people love Jay so much that they’ll believe anything they want.
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