Not that I'm down on the man, but I had started to lose a bit of faith in Jay-Z lately. You saw (what turned out to be) the trailer for his and Pharrell's "Blue Magic," but yesterday they released the official Hype Williams-directed video. The first half is all lights and cars. The second half is ... the morning after? and rainbow-colored skull paintings?
It definitely sounds half-of-Neptunes-ish seeing as how Pharrell went at the production alone. But Jay sounds downright reflective on this song. That inspiration he talked about seems pretty clear when he says, "Blame Reagan for makin' me into a monster / Blame Oliver North and Iran Contra / I ran contraband that they sponsored."
From Jay's upcoming American Gangster, "Blue Magic":
