Soon you gonna see you can't replace him
With cheap imitations for this generation

from Jay-Z – Encore Lyrics on Rap Genius

At the time of this song, Jay was threatening retirement. This is him reminding the rap world that finding rappers to take his place would be very difficult

The West Indian lilt Jay gives to the words “this generation” is a reference to the 1982 Musical Youth song “Pass the Dutchie”. Jay may also know it from its being sampled by Public Enemy in their 1990 song “Revolutionary Generation”

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