"We Made It" ft. Jay Z-Jay Electronica

"Apologies go out to all my fans cause they waited so patiently," enigmatic New Orleans rapper Jay Electronica delivers early in his verse from a remix of Soulja Boy's booming "We Made It". Considering the beautifully elegiac "Better In Tune with the Infinite" he released last week and now this, he no longer has anything to apologize for.

And while everyone is already focusing on label-boss Jay Z's shots thrown at Drake, Jay Elec's take on the pure giddiness that is "We Made It" is an unqualified success. Contorting his voice into the much discussed "Migos flow" Electronica gets sociological early and often. He plots a line of black heroes from "Solomon to Sambo to Django" while discussing the suffering that dogged all of them. "Obamacare won't heal all that anguish" he starkly reminds everyone, the roots of the pain go much deeper than that. What keeps Electronica upright in spite of that overwhelming pain is an unflinching motivation, carrying him from "from the cotton fields, straight to spaceship."

That said, it's impossible not to discuss "We Made It" without dissecting what's motivating Jay Z on the song. Apparently Drizzy's comments "Hov can’t drop bars these days without at least four art references," light a fire under Jay to respond. "Sorry Mrs. Drizzy for so much art talk, silly me rapping 'bout s*** that I really bought," Hova raps with an audible smirk over the shifty trap beat. It's not a shot fired, so much as it is a lyrical autocorrect. Most rappers are stuck living in the land of imagination, Jay's successful enough to make his dreams a reality. He's already hopped off the slave ship and can now be seen "stuntin' on stage" with a black tux befitting John Gotti. In "We Made It"'s interlude the loathsome Kenny Powers wonders aloud "why the hell are so many people trying to tell me to slow down? Seems like motherf***ers should be shutting the hell up and enjoying the show." Stop focusing so much on album delays and disses, instead just kick back and relax. 

Still no recent date for Jay Electronica's Act II though one may be coming very soon with this recent uptick in material.