Jay Electronica | Victim of the Wrong Label or Wrong Era in Hip-Hop

Nas hit me up on the phone, said “What you waitin on?”
Tip hit me up with a tweet, said “What you waitin on?”
Diddy send a text every hour on the dot sayin
“When you gon drop that verse nigga you taking long”
-Exhibit C

Back in July 2011 Jay Electronica tweeted that, “Act II: Patents Of Nobility (the turn)” was done. Yet we had no release date. Then March 8th of 2012, he took to twitter to tell the world once again that the album was done. “Thank you for your patience and support. The Album will be turned in tomorrow evening. The wait ends,” he tweeted.

You ask, why isn’t it bumping from your cars, iPads, computer speakers and headphones. Good question… Jay-Z says there isn’t a single on the entire album. He wants Electronica to go back in the studio and add a single or two to the album. This according to Questlove is the reason for the delay. However, Quest also mentioned it’s Jay-Z’s favorite record of 2012. My question to Jay and the public is do we need a single? Exhibit C [here] dropped late 2009 and was ranked as one of the top hip hop singles of the year. It got radio play and ultimately was influential in getting Electronica signed. Is Exhibit C a radio friendly single? I would say no. It isn’t a typical song due to it not having a chorus or hook, but it was embraced by hip hop. Don’t get me started on Exhibit A [here], which is also said to be on the album.

Let’s talk about one of my favorite albums ever, The Notorious B.I.G.’s, “Ready to Die.” That album wasn’t made with many radio friendly singles. Juicy is a great song which stood the test of time thanks to its stellar lyrics and a being a “rags-to-riches chronicle.” It’s not even close to being the best song on Ready To Die. Nor was it the reason the album sold. Ask anyone who owns that album, and they will tell you they play it from start to finish. It is a complete work of art. My question to the public and Jay-Z is, do you really want to make a single for the sake of making a single? If Puff Daddy (his name when Ready to Die was being made) told Biggie he needs four radio singles, it would ultimately ended up hurting the album. Another single off that album, One More Chance, needed to be revamped [here] to make it radio friendly [here] and also to give it a commercial appeal. Faith Evans was added to the track and the lyrics were change completely. We would understand if Roc Nation did something similar.

Jay-Z doesn’t have the greatest track record when it comes to promoting artists. Method Man, DMX, LL Cool J, and Joe Budden to name a few have been shelved or not promoted enough under Jay-Z’s watch. Makes one wonder if Jay-Z would have told Biggie to go re-recorded Ready To Die. Could it be a form of jealousy? One would hope not. Jay-Z is an international superstar and will go down as one of the greatest MC’s ever. But he is far from a great executive (See Michael Jordan). Looking back Electronica would have been better off signing with Diddy (his name when Jay Electronica was a free agent).

For Hip Hop to gain respect and credibility again, we need artist like Jay Electronica. If his album is as a good as Jay-Z claims, then release it already. The public will embrace it like we embraced the unorthodox singles, Exhibit A and C. Just give us something… We’ve been waiting for over a year now!