[Severian]

Originally Posted by louder

What TMZ says makes no sense to me. I'm convinced that all the "you's" in the song are directed at himself.

I kinda thought so too, but some of those lyrics make me question that. It really does seem like he's speaking to Kanye at certain points...

For instance (and please do read this and respond, because I have nobody else to nerd out with over any of this shit), look at this part:

"I know people backstab you, I felt bad too"

^^ OK, that right there... If the whole thing is an inner monologue, and Jay is talking to himself, why would he say "I"?

We're talking about a pretty accomplished songwriter here. He's in the goddamn Songwriters' Hall of Fame for fuck's sake. He wouldn't make the mistake of mixing up his perspectives in the course of a single sentence. In other words, if Jay himself is "you" throughout the song, then who the fuck is "I?" The way I see it, "I" would necessarily have to be Jay, which means that "you" is, at least temporarily, NOT JAY.
Like I said, he's too strong a writer to splice his perspectives unintentionally... but if it's intentional, then that's a different story, and the phrasing is deliberate and means something specific.

To me, this suggests that Jay is definitely switching narrative perspectives, not just making a beginner's mistake.

Do you see where I'm coming from here? What do you think?


ALSO...

"But you ain't a Saint, this ain't KumbaYe"

^^ "Saint" is a bit on-the-nose as a Kanye reference at least, what with, y'know, that massive album in which Kanye compared himself to the Paul the Apostle, aka Saint Paul, and the song and massive fucking tour that were called "Saint Pablo," not to mention the fact that Kanye just had a kid and named that poor fucker Saint. So, again, is he talking to Kanye?

There's also the "KumbaYe" bit. Kind of an obvious 'Ye reference. I feel like the word "KumbaYe" (as opposed to "kumbaya") has turned up elsewhere, perhaps on Watch the Throne somewhere? But I can't think because the part from "Kill Jay Z" is just embedded in my brain.

(NOTE: The official lyrics are obviously not out yet. BET says the "Saint" lyric is actually "you ain't the same..." but Genius (which I've come to trust quite a bit) says it's "Saint," so for now that's what I'm going with.

Fuckin' holler at me about all this shit dog!