A reference to Young, Gifted and Black, an album by Aretha Franklin, a song by Nina Simone, and the autobiography by Lorraine Hansberry.

No ID is a famous producer renowned for his work with Common, which led to his being called “the godfather of Chicago Hip Hop.”

Jay, himself, is young (early 30’s at the time), black (who would’ve thought?), and arrogant (as his dialogue with the police officer attests) with no I.D., in this case, a driver’s license. Son of a gun.

DJ Green Lantern was with Jay when he did this freestyle.

Grambling State University is in Jay’s home-state, Louisiana. That a manuscript is needed and not a plaque suggests that the document will be copied, and might even become a household item, which would imply that Jay will become more popular, and he certainly has.

Who knows? It might become as famous as this:

It doesn’t get much better than Jay E.

He’s destroyed the wack MC’s.

He collaborated with the best. He’s already done a track with Jay-Z.

This last few bars are in reference to Biggie’s “What’s Beef?”.

Here, Jay is challenging governmental authority (as represented by police officers). They want something from him, he wants something from them. It draws a rough, and brittle, equivalence between them, thus blurring the lines between slave (average citizen) and master (police officer).

Jay often quotes “Revelation”. After spitting the truth to the cop, he sends him (or her) to God to get the facts themselves. How nice.

Here, he bears a striking similarity to Jules Winnfield, the infamous character from Pulp Fiction, who was known for quoting the book of “Ezekiel” right before shooting somebody dead.

Act 1: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge) is the project that first got Jay major attention. It has no drums and is formed a looped instrumental from the soundtrack of the film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

This line also ties in with the drum major baton he wields in the video. Its backstory is explained here.

Former Vice-President Al Gore is well known for his campaign to educate the general populace about global warming.

Jay-Z is the sole performer on the song, “Dear Summer,” which is a single from Memphis Bleek’s fourth album, 534.

As the Earth’s average temperature rises, Al Gore’s documentary argues, summers will be more intense, and the seasons will become more distinct, perhaps even leading to the non-existence of the transitional season, Autumn.

Eventually, it might not any more of this right here.

If you think Jay’s phenomenal now, just wait til Act II drops, whenever that will be.