Genius | Song Lyrics & Knowledge

And I'm back for more, New York's ambassador
Prime Minister, back to finish my business up JAY-Z – What More Can I Say

What is this?

The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.

To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.

Jay has always seen himself as someone who brings the gritty realities of NYC’s street life, in particular his native Marcy projects, to a wide audience. As he rapped in 1999’s “Come and Get Me,”

I made it so you could say Marcy and it was all good
I didn’t cross over, I brought the suburbs to the hood

His fame increased year by year and so did the importance of his lyrics, from just a kid from the ghetto he turned into one of New York City’s ambassador and now he can be considered as important as a Prime Minister.

The Black Album, which contains this song, was supposed to mark Jay’s retirement from rap and it’d have marked the end of his career.

This video is processing – it'll appear automatically when it's done.

report abuse

A CEO's mind, that marketin' plan was me JAY-Z – What More Can I Say

Genius Annotation 1 Contributor ?

What is this?

To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.

A shot at Dame Dash, CEO of Roc-a-Fella records; Jay is accusing Dame of doing a poor job promoting his music, forcing Jay to mastermind his own marketing

Alas, Jay and Dame used to be such good friends! But now they are still mad at each other (although Dame says he’d welcome Jay-Z back to Roc-a-Fella)

This video is processing – it'll appear automatically when it's done.

report abuse

Ikhane

Marked this as a stretch ?

2 years

It’s not a shot at Dame: he and jay were still cool at the time The Black Album was released, in fact Jay gives Dame props on “My 1st Song”, the album’s final song, crediting him for keeping account of all their expenditures when they were coming up.

Upvote +1 Downvote

161

6 years

Hidden here is how Hov goes – Body/Soul/Mind.

Upvote +2 Downvote

7 years

Jay is not talking about Dame at all,
He’s talking about what he’s been talking about the whole song…Himself!
“…look what I embodied”
A street hustler
A CEO (boss)
With a vision/creativity “marketing plan
Was me”

Upvote +4 Downvote

Al_Weezy

10 years

http://youtu.be/4Yrm9qu1Wnc When Jay was recording The Black Album, his relationship with Dame grew sour to the point where Jay-Z and Def Jam cut Dame out of essential element of the album development process including the marketing plan for what was supposed to be Jay’s last album. See the clip above

Upvote +7 Downvote

Show all improvement suggestions

The soul of a hustler, I really ran the street JAY-Z – What More Can I Say

Genius Annotation 1 Contributor ?

What is this?

To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.

Continuing Jay’s long-standing “I really lived what I talk about in my rhymes” theme. In an outtake from this period that would surface on his post-retirement “American Gangster” album, he complicates this trope – see here and here

This video is processing – it'll appear automatically when it's done.

report abuse

and your ass ain't lily-White
That mean that shit you write must be illy
Either that or your flow is silly, it's both JAY-Z – What More Can I Say

Genius Annotation 1 Contributor ?

What is this?

To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.

Jay Z has the kind of money that big white entrepreneurs have, in the rap game you can achieve that kind of success only if your rhymes are top notch and/or your flow is fantastic. Guess what? Hova has both!

Lily-White was also the movement by the republican party in the 1800s for anti-civil rights, this could be one of the first times in which Jay added historical background to a line.

This video is processing – it'll appear automatically when it's done.

report abuse

Silver Gray

5 years

All this years I thought he rhymed “ while Eminem shit you write must be illy” wow…. Made sense to me.

Upvote +0 Downvote

Max

5 years

I believe it could it be Hova referencing Steve Lillywhite, a very famous music producer, saying that he doesn’t have a high-profile music producer to make his music better, so the music he writes has to be good.

Upvote +1 Downvote

Show all improvement suggestions

The Martha Stewart that's far from Jewish JAY-Z – What More Can I Say

Genius Annotation 1 Contributor ?

What is this?

To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.

Martha Stewart (née Martha Helen Kostyra) is far from Jewish herself – her Polish family raised her Catholic. Hov is simply saying that he is far from “Jewish” – by which he means “naturally gifted with money” – as opposed to everyone’s favorite female-CEO-turned-Wall-Street-thug

Jay-Z has a habit of using “Jewish” to mean “good or conservative with money” (cf. “This Can’t Be Life”, where he raps: “flow tight like I was born Jewish”)

This was written before Ms. Stewart’s arrest and imprisonment

This video is processing – it'll appear automatically when it's done.

report abuse

Marked this as missing something ?

4 years

Play on white cooker, cooker of white, saying he’s cook drugs while Martha Stewart is a Caucasian chef

Upvote +1 Downvote

3,286

10 years

Another layer of meaning is that Martha Stewart got started in business cooking up in the kitchen just like Hov (except his recipes wouldn’t have been appropriate for conservative Jewish girls).

Upvote +15 Downvote

Show all improvement suggestions

And I ain't animated like, say, a Busta Rhymes JAY-Z – What More Can I Say

Genius Annotation 1 Contributor ?

What is this?

To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.

Busta Rhymes, an energetic performer live and on video, was upset at this line but it’s probably meant as a compliment.

Busta apparently responded. From Vibe:

On the 2003 mixtape track ‘You’re A Memory,’ Busta picked a beef with Jay-Z, who had merely called Busta ‘animated’ on ‘What More Can I Say.’ The problem was, the average dude in the hood ‘might not have a clear understanding of what the word animated means,’ DJ Kay Slay explains. Busta Rhymes is animated, but he was like, ‘Yo man, Jay went subliminal at me, what should I do?’ Busta lashed back at Jay: ‘If you ain’t know, I keep it in the stash of the wagon,’ he rapped, ‘the wrath of the dragon is felt when I’m cocking the cannon.’

Busta also literally did animation, in that he voiced Reptar in The Rugrats Movie, as this clip shows

This video is processing – it'll appear automatically when it's done.

[Busta Rhymes](/artists/Busta-rhymes), an energetic performer live and on video, was upset at this line but it's probably meant as a compliment.

Busta apparently responded. From [*Vibe*](https://books.google.com/books?id=jyYEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA96&lpg=PA96&dq=%22on+the+2003+mixtape+track+you%27re+a+memory%22&source=bl&ots=Lv5U10WkUD&sig=LYii40acXAsoTtJA3kStA_nir3Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi6np_Ky_jJAhWIaz4KHaUFA6sQ6AEIHTAA#v=onepage&q=%22on%20the%202003%20mixtape%20track%20you%27re%20a%20memory%22&f=false):

> On the 2003 mixtape track 'You’re A Memory,' Busta picked a beef with Jay-Z, who had merely called Busta 'animated' on 'What More Can I Say.' The problem was, the average dude in the hood 'might not have a clear understanding of what the word animated means,' DJ Kay Slay explains. Busta Rhymes *is* animated, but he was like, ‘Yo man, Jay went subliminal at me, what should I do?’ Busta lashed back at Jay: 'If you ain’t know, I keep it in the stash of the wagon,' he rapped, 'the wrath of the dragon is felt when I’m cocking the cannon.'

Busta also literally did animation, in that he voiced Reptar in *The Rugrats Movie*, as [this clip shows](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCz2Ob5_-bg)

report abuse

223

4 years

“And I ain’t animated like (say) a ‘ buster’s ’ rhymes”

A “Buster”, as mentioned in TLC’s No Scrubs, is a loud, obnoxious guy who talks about a big game but doesn’t have the means to back it up…

Upvote -2 Downvote

anonomys

6 years

This line is a direct shot at Russell Simmons. In Simmons 2001 book (Life and Def) he states that Jay isn’t as animated as say a Busta. If you listen carefully you can hear Jay even impersonating Simmons voice on the word ‘say’… by adding a slight lisp to the word.

Upvote +1 Downvote

269

7 years

The fish eye lens became a staple of Busta Rhymes videos and some of his contemporaries such as Ma$e. Expensive video shoots became a staple of Busta Rhymes, whose ‘What’s it Gonna Be’ video with Janet Jackson had a reported multi-million dollar budget, but wasn’t the exception when it came to high costs. Jay-Z can be found to mock the expensive video shoots on his own (then) most expensive shoot, Big Pimpin’s behind the scenes MTV special. Jay facetiously refers to the shoot as a million dollar shoot and banters about it with Dame Dash. Jay later in the footage goes on to express his disbelief that any music video could truly cost a million dollars. However, the line itself was never meant as a diss. Jay himself had been through fish lense mega budget video shoots (“Sunshine”) and briefly flirted with booth the Shiny Suit look, feel and sound, by allowing Puff Daddy to heavy handidly get involved in In My Lifetime Volume One. The line about non-animation expresses both braggadocio at the fact that he seemed to do better, personally, without, what some might consider the gimmicky aspects of contemporary rap videos; an embrace of his own more low-key and introspective content (“Hard Knock Life, "Anything” and the then growing admiration for his more personal moments on “Reasonable Doubt” and “The Blueprint”’s standouts “Momma Loves Me”) as contributory to his succes AND a little sculpt in the direction of Jay Z as the steriod, gimmick free, “Tree Grows in Brooklyn” persona, an American success preparing for life in the boardroom.

The fish eye lens became a staple of Busta Rhymes videos and some of his contemporaries such as Ma$e. Expensive video shoots became a staple of Busta Rhymes, whose 'What's it Gonna Be' video with Janet Jackson had a reported multi-million dollar budget, but wasn't the exception when it came to high costs. Jay-Z can be found to mock the expensive video shoots on his own (then) most expensive shoot, Big Pimpin's behind the scenes MTV special. Jay facetiously refers to the shoot as a million dollar shoot and banters about it with Dame Dash. Jay later in the footage goes on to express his disbelief that any music video could truly cost a million dollars. However, the line itself was never meant as a diss. Jay himself had been through fish lense mega budget video shoots ("Sunshine") and briefly flirted with booth the Shiny Suit look, feel and sound, by allowing Puff Daddy to heavy handidly get involved in In My Lifetime Volume One. The line about non-animation expresses both braggadocio at the fact that he seemed to do better, personally, without, what some might consider the gimmicky aspects of contemporary rap videos; an embrace of his own more low-key and introspective content ("Hard Knock Life, "Anything" and the then growing admiration for his more personal moments on "Reasonable Doubt" and "The Blueprint"'s standouts "Momma Loves Me") as contributory to his succes AND a little sculpt in the direction of Jay Z as the steriod, gimmick free, "Tree Grows in Brooklyn" persona, an American success preparing for life in the boardroom.

Upvote +1 Downvote

8 years

He pretty clearly says, “Like, say, a Busta Rhymes,” which might read kind of weird but is idiomatic.

Upvote +9 Downvote

Show all improvement suggestions

W-I, double-L, I-E
Nobody truer than H-O-V JAY-Z – What More Can I Say

Genius Annotation 1 Contributor ?

What is this?

To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.

“Big Willie” is an old slang term for someone with a lot of money and style. Jay was very fond of the appellation during his early career, using it multiple times on his first single and album.

Hov, a pun on Jehovah, is another of Jay-Z’s rap handles, a brag that he is the God MC. Just like he said in the previous lines, no other rapper can back up his lyrics with facts as much as Hova can.

This video is processing – it'll appear automatically when it's done.

report abuse

Deezy

Marked this as missing something ?

5 years

The last “ie” in Willie also means “that is” or “in other words” which is followed with the line “Nobody truer than Hov”

Upvote +13 Downvote

Show all improvement suggestions

S. Dots on my feet make my cipher complete JAY-Z – What More Can I Say

Genius Annotation 1 Contributor ?

What is this?

To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.

To coincide with the release of this album, Jay partnered with Reebok to release the “S. Carter Collection” of footwear

Also, a reference to a line in Nas' “The World is Yours” – which goes, “Suede Timbs on my feet make my cipher complete”

This video is processing – it'll appear automatically when it's done.

report abuse

And no, I ain't get shot up a whole bunch of times JAY-Z – What More Can I Say

Genius Annotation 1 Contributor ?

What is this?

To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.

Jay is cementing his place in the rap game by saying that he didn’t have to get shot and killed to achieve legend status like goat rappers, Biggie and Pac unfortunately had to endure.

Other interpretations
A not-entirely-subliminal dis to 50 Cent, who often talked about getting shot nine times

Noah Callahan-Bever of Vibe was with 50 when he heard this line, and details 50’s reaction:

50’s eyes reveal something between confusion and anger. “Did you hear what he just said!?” he questions, to no one in particular. It’s quickly explained that, while certainly a reference to 50, it’s not necessarily a dis, and that Jay actually bigged him up on the radio before debuting the song. 50 sinks into his seat thinking, brooding, his fingers folded together. Surprisingly, he soon returns to his more amiable demeanor, whatever concerns he had appearing to roll off his back

This video is processing – it'll appear automatically when it's done.

Jay is cementing his place in the rap game by saying that he didn't have to get shot and killed to achieve legend status like goat rappers, Biggie and Pac unfortunately had to endure.
_______
***Other interpretations***
A not-entirely-subliminal dis to 50 Cent, who often talked about getting shot nine times

Noah Callahan-Bever of [*Vibe*](https://books.google.com/books?id=uCYEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA86&lpg=PA86&dq=%22Everything+that%27s+in+%22Ghetto+Qu%27ran%22+is+in+Cop+Shot%22&source=bl&ots=xJog2r6_3B&sig=s10HkmMTcHBAEbrZjb2bJteqXRA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjx_bvLwPjJAhVCYiYKHaHaA2gQ6AEIHTAA#v=onepage&q=%2250%27s%20eyes%20reveal%20something%20between%22&f=false) was with 50 when he heard this line, and details 50's reaction:

> 50's eyes reveal something between confusion and anger. "Did you hear what he just said!?" he questions, to no one in particular. It's quickly explained that, while certainly a reference to 50, it's not necessarily a dis, and that Jay actually bigged him up on the radio before debuting the song. 50 sinks into his seat thinking, brooding, his fingers folded together. Surprisingly, he soon returns to his more amiable demeanor, whatever concerns he had appearing to roll off his back

report abuse