Jay-Z: Venus vs Mars – Breaking it Down
They’re saying the Blueprint 3 will be the most over-hyped album of the year, some people will probably even say the decade, cause they like to hate, and because, well, this is supposed to be a masterpiece: the third installment in the best trilogy in rap history. Then others are saying Jay hasn’t had anything to rap about since boxed lunch, or, more precisely, since he dealt drugs. But it is STILL the most juiced up album of the year, so what is the guy going to talk about?
Well let’s not forget that Jay-Z is a writer, a modern day poet, if you didn’t already know it. He’s even putting out a HUGE anthology that includes every lyric from every album he’s written, and probably a whole lot more (its my guess that this will cost a little more than the album) and would potentially sell more if hip hoppers actually liked to read. (If you’ve read this far then my apologies.) So, based off of one of the freshest leaks since I was 20 beers deeps, I’m willing to say that the man is still more than relevant. Venus vs Mars = lyrical largesse. Today, I break down everything from bars to meaning and metaphors on the track.
He starts the track with some cultural centerpieces (which probably got him a couple grand per):
“first a blackberry bold/ shorty had a sidekick/ she used to have a man/ i used to have a side chick/shorty got wind/ i had to blow the chick off/ she got rid of him/they both took the shit hard”
Sidekick and side chick, wonderful, but “shorty got wind, I had to blow the chick off,” pun-derful.
“Shorty played the piano/ me, I played with white keys”
A two for one piano/drug reference with “white keys.”
“Shorty like Pac/ me: big poppa/ she screamin ‘hit em up’/ I’m screamin ‘who shot ya?’”
Able to allude to the top two talents: Pac and Big, and work a rhyme with some of their best tracks. Who is number three?
“Me, I’m from the apple/ which means im a mac(k)/ shes a PC/ so she lives in my lap”
Allusions to the Mac vs PC ads, some of the most culturally relevant stuff of our time, infused with the double meaning of mack (pimpish character who gets many women) along with turning laptop into something sexual. Very nice.
The hook: “shorty get it in, daddy go hard, shorty get it in, daddy go hard, shorty get it in, daddy go hard, shorty get it in, venus vs mars,” is deserving of credit as well. The juxtaposition of the female and male voice in the hook is resemblant of the entire track where he moves from shorty-this to shorty-that while fixing himself “in between,” all puns live on that one, “shorty get it in” and “daddy go hard” are as much sexual references as they are simple sayings. If women are from venus, and men are from mars, then this track is fire.
Don’t look over what is perhaps the best line on the track: “shorty like pepsi/ me: I’m the coke man/body like a coke bottle/ I crush it like a coke can.” Again, separating men from women with cultural icons like coke and pepsi is brilliant, but then alluding, once again, to his ever-present theme of cocaine is Coca-Cola Classic. The shape of the coke bottle resembling the woman’s body: completely original, and using “crush” as a pun for sex is just beyond me.
While I don’t think this song is as much about Beyonce as it is a universal track for men and women, it is possible that the girl has a ‘sidekick,’ and could have influenced some of the lyrics on this song. But it is definitely not her on the hook.
It is my expectation that Jay won’t push past the timelessness of the first two installments of Blueprint but create something that is timely, well thought out, and lyrically superior to most any artist in the game.
seanermc
Trek Life Round 2
Stalley
David Dallas
Elite
Lil' Friday
Wispers
Apollo The Great
T3 of Slum Village
Miguel Jontel
Aloe Blacc
Yelawolf
Guilty Simpson
Homeboy Sandman
Questlove
Sage Francis and B. Dolan
Treklife
Element
DJ Webstar
Moonsatellite
does this song have anything to do with beyonce?
This song have anything to do with beyonce?
Thanks that was nice
thats a good ? man, wish i had the answer… i would think its more of a universal story than anything else, but shorty does have a sidekick….
Could the Blackberry line be saying that he is a business man? Since Blackberry’s are used for business… and possibly choosing the Bold, kind of self explanatory, referring to him being bold.
thats not beyonce on the hook….
@ yamuda, you could probably break a lot of this down even more, blackberry for business man could definitely be what he is gettin at; it as, at least, a symbol of his social status
it really sounds like bey on he hook.. u sure its not her? and also, she was advertising pepsi..
It Is Beyonce on the hook!! An he used the referece to hovs a black berry bold cause yes he is a business man an before a lot of these other new phones came out most people either had a blackberry or a sidekick an blackberrys are seen as more mature then a sidekick! U also forgot the point he made when he says me I’m from the Apple which means I’m MAC, the apple meaning New York !! Which came together with the reference of bein a Mack!!
Beyonce was credited for the hook,
just not on the album credits.
He’s good at knowing when not to use big names as gimmicks.
Did the same with “Watch The Throne” featuring a couple of famous opera singers and La Roux, as well as Pharrell’s vocals.
“Daddy goes hard” sounds exactly like her. Listen to the intro of “Nasty Girl” by Destiny’s Child clearly it’s her.
=========
This defines the whole song:
Said I party too much
Shorty got fed up
Shorty got Britney
Shaved her whole head up
We used to make out
Kissing each other’s face off
Fell for the Ponzi scheme
Damn shorty just made off
Means: He partied too much, she got fed up, she went crazy. He remembers how they use to be all over each other…..
And the best line:
“Fell for the Ponzi scheme
Damn shorty just made off”
Means: Bernard Madoff defrauded investors in the Ponzi Scheme. The way he ended the the line “Made off” is genius.
So it’s either that she left him and stole his heart or left him and stole his money or both.
There’s not many rappers who can formulate something this complex, especially without using paper & pen. Give the man his props.