Tasty Legal Morsel #4 - Defense attorneys. Jay-Z shines a light on the inequalities in defendant representation embedded in our justice system when he says that he’s “got big money, big lawyers to fight it” and that “like Cochran,” you’ll never see him boxed in. And this is basically the whole reason that he’s “back on the streets before you know it.” (Well, that and the fact that he’s claustrophobic, which is an admittedly tremendous bit of word play.)
Tasty Legal Morsel #5 – Frivolous civil suits. This is where it gets pretty personal as he describes a sex act performed on a woman who later sued him for hitting her over the head with a champagne bottle at a bar (“can he buy me a car?”). He never goes so far as to say it didn’t happen, instead arguing that buying a Range Rover for the victim won’t make her pain go away. Not real sympathetic. But given the fact that he calls her suit “rhetoric,” I’m guessing he finds the whole thing a waste of taxpayer money. 1 album). He explains that he doesn’t have to go to the cops to get rich, he just goes “to the block” to “pitch” (that means to deal drugs, squares). Again, I’m wondering about this – do people really turn to snitching to “get rich”? It has always struck me as a “incarceration prevention” strategy more than a business opportunity. Maybe your author is just naive. Tasty Legal Morsel #2 - Bail. Late in the first verse, Jay-Z tells us that he was arrested and put in a lineup (because people were “trying to put dents” in his “armor”). But because he’s a survivor and liver than most, he is out on bail for $50,000 and “still riding with toast.” How brazen to be out on bail and still carrying a weapon! Or is it? Is this a restricted firearm? Concealed without a permit? Within the city limits of Chicago or Washington D.C.? We don’t get any context that explains why this would be a cocky, taunting move in the face of Johnny Law. Frankly, this is a letdown. Now … is any more justification necessary than the mere fact that R. It’s time for the #8 song on the all-time list of legal rap goodness … “Guilty Until Proven Innocent” by Jay-Z and R. Tasty Legal Morsel #3 – Informants. They are legal and effective, but despised in the hip-hop community. Who hasn’t heard the valiant “Stop Snitchin” war cry? Jay decides this is a good time to remind us that he himself doesn’t snitch (this, despite the fact that he devoted an entire song – “A Week Ago,” featuring Too Short – to the topic on his Life and Times Vol. If so, then read it and weep. Kelly. All told, Jay-Z covers a lot of ground here, but most of the lyrics consist of bragging about his ability to manipulate and abuse the legal system, which runs counter to his martyr stance in the title. I wonder if he even bothered to reconcile the two …
Either way, it is song #8 and Jay-Z’s second appearance on the list. He’s like rap’s Alan Dershowitz at this point. Kelly was involved? Alan Dershowitz = Jay-Z? This song actually disappoints a little when it comes to legal commentary, as the title misleads. You think it is going to be another scathing (if inaccurate) commentary on the legal system by Jay-Z, but it is really just another brag rap with a few “law morsels” thrown in. Thankfully, the law morsels are pretty good. Oh, and has it been mentioned that R. Tasty Legal Morsel #1 – Copyright infringement. You have to listen carefully or you will miss it, but Jigga quickly informs us that the public couldn’t wait and had to have “it” (the Dynasty album) before the release date. He became “irate” about this fact. And we though Metallica was the band that brought down Napster! Kelly was involved?
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