Diamonds Are Forever (Remix)

"How could you falter, when you're the Rock of Gibraltar.
I had to get off the boat so I could walk on water. This ain't no tall order, this is nothin to me. Difficult takes a day, impossible takes a week. I do this in my sleep. I sold kilos o' coke, so I'm guessin I could sell cd's. I'm not a businessman, I'm a business man..."

For so many reasons, this is one of the illest few lines Jay-Z has ever "written". But this is one of those passages that sounds cool, but doesn't make much sense unless you really understand Jay as an artist.

First you would need to know that he did, in fact, sell kilos of cocaine. This is where he got most of his start up money for Roc-A-Fella records. So if he could sell something so scrutinized and dangerous as cocaine, obviously he could sell cd's.

Second, you would need to know that Jay-z is much more than a smart business man. He is someone who has branded HIMSELF, not just the wares he peddles. He is synonymous with all products he aligns himself with. He is careful to never spread himself to thin, but he also has no fear of diversifying because at the root of his marketing, it is HIM that is selling this stuff.

Now, this is one of those lines that you really don't understand unless you have a deeper understanding of Jay-Z the artist.

"I had to get off the boat so I could walk on water..."

I am going to need to pull two other lines in here to make sense of this. One is from "What More Can I Say" off The Black Album and the other is from a freestyle he did on Hot 97 which I wish he would make a song out of. We'll see I guess.

1) I'm supposed to be number 1 on everybody's list. We'll see what happens when I no longer exist.

2) Hovs got flows though he's no Big and Pac, but he's close. How I'm supposed to win, they got me fightin ghosts.

And one more line to help me illustrate my point by Jadakiss

3) You'll find ya man dead in the ocean. He'll be alright though. You know dead rappers get better promotion.

Jay-Z is a person who understands that absence DOES make the heart grow fonder. I have been listening to Jay-Z almost exclusively since he came out, and I STILL catch lines I never caught before. That is really the purpose of this website.

The "boat" that he had to get off of was the rap game. To be looked at as someone that could walk on water, or God-like in a way. But another thing that needs to be cleared up is that he does not see himself as a "God". He does believe that God speaks through him, which makes him more a channel or a servant than anything, not a dio.

So Jay understood that if he stopped making music then people would be forced to go back through his catalog (if they were real fans) and listen to what they had, just the same way they did for Biggie and Tupac. Biggie is good, but he's not the best rapper ever. The more you experience something the more you fall in love with it usually. The argument about where Biggie would be if he was still alive is dead now I hope. No disrespect, but he's not making any more records, so that argument should be over now.

No more what if, lets look at what is.