A couple of months ago, a friend forwarded me an infographic from Vanity Fair which, somewhat ridiculously, detailed every mention of a brand in Jay-Z’s songs since his 1996 debut ‘Reasonable Doubt’. There is little doubt that Jay, now rap mogul, perfumier, entrepreneur, player manager, part-time sports team/stadium owner, heir to the Presidential throne (watch it, Obama) has had an historically significant role in directing the flow of rap culture and, by extension, broader consumer culture. As hip-hop has climbed the rungs in the zeitgeist, so too has its power to influence consumer behaviours increased exponentially. The problem for brands is that hip-hoppers (ostensibly) have morals and so are not cash-for-comment whores. Instead, they prefer to shout out the brands they actually like. Thus Lexus gave way to Bentley gave way to Maybach as Jay’s star rose (and his automobile taste matched his increasing fortunes).
And now this song. I never listened to Magna Carta Holy Grail (why is it not called ‘Magna Carter’ to play off Shawn’s real name? It constantly frustrates me) all the way through because about five songs in, I was pretty bored. How you get Timbaland, J-Roc, The-Dream and No ID behind the decks on one track and still manage to produce something as toilet-worthy as ‘Holy Grail’ boggles the mind. Yet, with time and exposure, one song has grown on me. ‘Tom Ford’, an unashamedly materialist ode to the fashion designer of the same name, featuring the central refrain, “I don’t pop molly/I rock Tom Ford”, is not good. Thus the requisite time, exposure to weasel its way into my head. But Timbaland and J-Roc’s collaboration, elsewhere bloated and boring, is here minimalist and devastating. Those skittering drums and impossibly deep bass are enough to wash the bad taste of too many misfires, at least for 3’10”.
To the extent that Jay-Z now raps about completely unattainable consumer goods (a 50mL bottle of Tom Ford’s Tuscan Leather cologne – also the name of the opening track on Drake’s latest – retails for about $210) he is so far removed from the people’s champ he once was that it becomes difficult to envision him in the role. Instead, Jay-Z is all about grandiose expressions of grandiosity and milking every last buck out of his music career, as an exclusive release deal for ‘MCHG’ with Samsung earlier this year proved. This kind of self-aggrandisement is almost always unpalatable (hence my distaste for the majority of the album) but is made digestible when the production side of things works as well as it does here. I could do without the talk of Bordeaux and Burgundies, tuxes and euros (regardless of the intriguing sociocultural shifts it hints at) and rock with a track that was purely instrumental supplemented by the occasional ‘Tom Ford’ shout out. While that is a ringing endorsement of Timbo’s efforts, I don’t know what it says about Jay-Z’s rhyming prowess. Inversely proportional to his collection of Tom Ford, perhaps.
Jay-Z – Tom Ford
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