Jay-Z / YMMV - TV Tropes

Alternative Character Interpretation: How he presents on of himself on "American Gangster".
Awesome Ego: Given his status as a rapper, a proclaimed street hustler, and financial mogul, BIG TIME traces of this all over his work and lyrical style.
Awesome Music: "If you're having girl problems, I feel bad for you, son..."
Covered Up:
- "99 Problems" was originally a rap by Ice-T.
- Within the rock/alternative world, Jay-Z has himself been covered up by Hugo Chakrabongse, who borrowed the same hook for a bluegrass song.
Critical Dissonance: Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life. An album that garnered mediocre reviews from critics and, to this day, has yet to be critically reappraised but is adored by fans and is his best selling album overall. It's also, to this day, his only Grammy winning album.
Crowning Music of Awesome: "Empire State of Mind", although Jay-Z receives lots of praise, it's clear that Alicia Keys stole the show in that song.
First Installment Wins: His debut Reasonable Doubt is generally considered by hardcore fans, critics and Jay-Z himself to be his best album (not to mention one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time), followed closely by The Blueprint.
Harsher in Hindsight: His song "D'Evils" is a fictional account of violent fallout with his friends over money. Though no where near as bad as what happened in the song, he did have a falling out with his friend/business partners and some of his artist, resulting in the end of his record label Roc-A-Fella Records.
Hilarious in Hindsight: Jay-Z sampled "It's the Hard Knock Life" for his 1998 Breakthrough Hit, "Hard Knock Life". Sixteen years later, he helped to write new music for the 2014 reimagining of Annie starring Quvenzhalé Wallis.
Ho Yay:
- Ever notice how fond he is/was of his old friend The Notorious B.I.G.? This makes an epic Tear Jerker in "A Dream", where he raps about how important Smalls was to him and sounds on the brink of tears for most of it.
- With Kanye West thanks to Watch The Throne. Seems to be fading as of late in favor of a collaborative relationship with Justin Timberlake. Kanye is nowhere to be found on Magna Carta...Holy Grail, and likewise for Jay on Yeezus. The two eventually patched up their issues with Jay's appearance on Kanye's song "Jail" off his 2021 album Donda.
Memetic Badass: In an interesting case, this applies to Jay's mother Gloria rather than Jay himself. Not many mothers can say they got their son to apologise to the rapper they were feuding with after some rather nasty comments they made in a disstrack but she did just that.
Memetic Mutation:
- "I've got 99 problems, but a bitch is only [some number] of them."
- "If you've got [name of object] problems, I feel bad for you, son: / I've got 99 problems, but [name of object] ain't one."
- "In Neeewwww Yoooooooork, CONCRETE JUNGLE WET DREAM TOMATO!"^Explanation
Nightmare Fuel: The "On To The Next One" video, which involves Jay-Z and the director having fun with all the Illuminati-Free Mason rumors leveled against him, and quite a bit of disturbing imagery. Hell, on it's own, the song isn't exactly something you'd want to listen to in the dark.
Sequelitis:
- Some feel that the two sequels to The Blueprint don't live up to the original. Hell some think that everything he's made up to this point doesn't compare to Reasonable Doubt.
- For specific cases, many have argued that Kingdom Come and Magna Carta Holy Grail exemplify this trope.
Serial Numbers Filed Off: Many of his lyrics are "inspired" or absolutely copied from others, especially from his friend Biggie. He responded by rapping "I'm not a biter, I'm a writer, for myself and others", and saying that whenever he copies the The Notorious B.I.G. it's a Shout-Out. This was very quickly remixed against him for "I'm not a writer, I'm a biter", to be used in compilations showing how much he copies. Also, needless to say, former rival Nas seized on this in his diss track "Ether."
Signature Song: "99 Problems", though "Empire State of Mind" might give it a run for its money.
Surprisingly Improved Sequel: 4:44 is generally considered this to Magna Carta Holy Grail, the former scoring an 84% on Metacritic, as opposed to the latter's 60%.
Tear Jerker: "Where Have You Been?", in which Jay and Beanie Sigel call out their fathers for not being there for them in their childhoods, over a somber beat with an equally somber hook. Beanie Sigel's verse is especially heartwrenching, as he spends the whole thing literally on the verge of tears, and even cracks a couple of times.
Tough Act to Follow: Four notable examples:
- Reasonable Doubt, his debut. While the 3-volume series of albums following it were all huge sellers (Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life in particular is far and away his biggest selling album), fan and critical reception of them was mixed.
- The Blueprint enjoyed overwhelmingly positive reception and stands alongside Reasonable Doubt as his most beloved album. He followed it up with a double-album sequel, The Blueprint 2: The Gift and the Curse, which did alright but was largely seen as a disappointing follow-up with too much filler. (Jay seems to agree with the critics, as he later whittled the album down into a single disc called The Blueprint 2.1.)
- The Black Album was to be his final album before retiring, and was very warmly embraced by fans and critics and is still seen as one of his best albums. Then he came back with Kingdom Come, which was considered a pretty lackluster offering, especially compared to its predecessor. Even Jay himself felt the same way, feeling he was rusty on Kingdom Come and naming it the worst album he'd ever done.
- 4:44 is rapidly shaping up to be this, as it was loved by fans and critics alike for being one of, if not Jay Z's most personal album. Not to mention a shining example of how an over-40 rapper should sound. Songs like "Kill Jay-Z", "The Story Of O.J" and the title track are standouts.
They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
- Some of the reactions to albums such as In My Lifetime, Kingdom Come, and The Blueprint 3 due to them having a more "pop" sound. In some circles the Blueprint get this as well. Or ALL of Jay-Z's output post Reasonable Doubt.
- The same reaction emerged following Jay's flirtations with Trap Music on Watch the Throne and Magna Carta...Holy Grail.
Values Dissonance: Big Pimpin' is flagrantly sexist by today's standards. Jay-Z himself agrees and doesn't hold the song in that high of regard anymore.

YMMV / Jay-Z

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