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Number Two: never let 'em know your next move
Don't you know bad boys move in silence and violence? The Notorious B.I.G. – Ten Crack Commandments

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This is a likely allusion to “Stop the Violence” by Boogie Down Productions:

Real bad boys move in silence

Criminals (i.e. “bad boys”) don’t announce everything they do or plan to do. Everyone will find out after it’s happened. When it’s too late to stop it. Biggie is likening his label’s reputation to “real bad boys.”

Biggie was originally signed to Uptown records but after Puff Daddy (an assistant at the time) left Uptown to start his own label, Bad Boy Entertainment, Biggie moved with him.

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18,365

5 years

Maybe a reference to Shyheim’s song « Real Bad Boys »

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carlos

7 years

Move in silence also means that he doesn’t announce where he’s going and he is also trying to be as quiet as he can and not bring a lot of attention onto him cause you never know who’s watching.

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Messy def

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7 years

Well it’s kinda obvious, about the violence thing… They either do things without anybody knowing (in silence), or if they want something badly but can’t get it the easy way than they decide to hit it and snatch it violently, but they never do things that they do for living normaly in a daylight (meaning openely and unconcerned), but it is either one extreme (full concerned, half paranoid and SILENT), or in a way of a second extreme – i.e. guns blazing – loud, deadly, and full risky, if it can’t be done via first way… Just a thought

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No I.D. on the track let the story begin...
Begin...
Begin JAY-Z – D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)

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The beat is courtesy of Kanye’s mentor No I.D. It’s a interpolated line from Kanye’s track, “Big Brother”

No I.D. explains the creation of the song more in-depth here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgMglv3eYcg

No I.D. also told New York Times that Jay-Z wrote “D.O.A.” in a little under a day following a jokey conversation between the producers and Jay about “Crank Dat” by Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em

The line is a double entendre, as Jay-Z, rather unusually, doesn’t say his own name anywhere in the song.

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Only rapper to rewrite history without a pen JAY-Z – D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)

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A lot of rappers brag about not writing their lyrics (with a pen) before rapping in the studio. Like Lil Wayne in “A Milli”

Jay-Z, actually spits his shit off the top of the head. Some other rappers do the same. It has been highly publicized that he does not traditionally write down rhymes before he might step into the booth

Sidenote: Producer No I.D. said in an interview that upon hearing the beat in a studio session with Jay-Z, Kanye West came up with this hook which would explain the next lines similarity to “Big Brother.”

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1 year

he doesnt spit off the dome, he memorizes his lyrics. big difference

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You niggas' jeans too tight
Your colors too bright, JAY-Z – D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)

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The remark refers more generally to what Jay-Z perceives as a trend toward “softness” in rap, as in addition to using auto-tune, he’s accusing rappers of rocking the tight pants and brightly colored T-shirts and trying to appeal to this demographic that has become ubiquitous in yuppie neighborhoods including Harlem and much of Brooklyn.

Possibly also a reference to “blipster” fashion (Kanye, our blipster-in-chief, was of course a key collaborator on this track)

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I might send this to the mixtape Weezy JAY-Z – D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)

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Not the Weezy (Lil Wayne) of the softer crossover hits (“Lollipop”, for example), but the true thug Weezy of his direct-to-the-street mixtapes

Later, Weezy playfully sampled this line on his version of D.O.A., off his No Ceilings mixtape

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This might offend my political connects (Uh) JAY-Z – D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)

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Talking about the politics of the rap game and may be a reference to Kanye West, Jay-Z’s friend/producer/collaborator, whom Jay does not call out in this song, despite his being one of the more egregious Auto-Tune abusers

After the song was released, Jay decided to go out of his way to say he’s not talking about people like Kanye, who understand melodies, but he’s only taking on the bad rappers doing auto-tune (reminds me of Bush’s speech about how we are not at war with all Muslims, but only certain Muslim extremists). Jay-Z helped President Obama get elected tremendously. He is saying this might offend his political connection because it’s not ‘politically correct.’

Also, Jay-Z has friends in government politics (not just rap-drama politics), and while it’s hard to see why this song would offend any politicians, he can back up saying that he has “political connects”.

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Talking about the politics of the rap game and may be a  reference to Kanye West, Jay-Z's friend/producer/collaborator, whom Jay does not call out in this song, despite his being one of the more egregious Auto-Tune abusers

After the song was released, [Jay decided to go out of his way to say](http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1613390/20090606/jay_z.jhtml) he's not talking about people like Kanye, who understand melodies, but he's only taking on the *bad* rappers doing auto-tune (reminds me of Bush's speech about how we are not at war with all Muslims, but only *certain* Muslim extremists). Jay-Z helped President Obama get elected tremendously. He is saying this might offend his political connection because it's not 'politically correct.'

Also, Jay-Z has friends in government politics (not just rap-drama politics), and while it's hard to see why this song would offend any politicians, he can back up saying that he has ["political connects"](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/18/AR2008041803282.html).

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Tadpole

Marked this as a stretch ?

6 years

Relating politics to Kanye and other rappers is a bit of a stretch. It just seems like he wrote this line to warn the listener the song would be too hardcore for politicians to say “I listen to Jay-Z”.

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Get back to rap, you T-Paining too much
(uhh, uhh!) JAY-Z – D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)

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“T-Paining” = singing like T-Pain, a rapper/singer who is synonymous with auto-tune

“Not T-Paining” just seems like common sense, cf. T-Paine

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32,402

4 years

T-Pain reacted to this bar in 2019 with an interview with Genius' Very Own (GVO), @RobMarkman

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4,944

9 years

This line specifically speaks to how people steal T-Pain’s style. Jay Z is saying you shouldn’t copy what made someone original.

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Get somebody from BMF to talk on this JAY-Z – D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)

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BMF = Black Mafia Family, the Detroit-based drug trafficking organization that promoted Young Jeezy, among other hip-hop artists

16 members of the Atlanta wing of BMF were indicted in 2007, which has led some observers of that investigation to associate BMF with snitching. This leads to a double meaning of “talk on this” as rapping on the song as well as talking to investigators

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