When Jay-Z’s “God Did” verse dropped last month (Aug. 26), the internet was ablaze with discussion, with fans debating whether it was the best this year or even Hov’s best ever.
However, Ari Melber took a different approach, analyzing the verse to examine America’s war on drugs. He broke down the lyrics during a segment on MSNBC’s ‘The Beat With Ari Melber.’
Jay-Z was a fan of the report and has released it on streaming platforms. Tidal, Apple Music, and Spotify now carry the piece under the title “HOV DID”
Jay-Z said of the segment, “That was an amazing job,” during a Twitter Spaces chat last week. He explained, “Ferg hit me up, like: ‘We needed that’ — for people to articulate and understand what we’re going through.”
“Ferg hit me up, like: ‘We needed that’ — for people to articulate and understand what we’re going through.
That was an amazing job.”
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The Beat anchor described “the poem/verse” as “a deep history lesson, and *prohibition policy* analysis.” He questioned, “How many will understand the poetry is as mind-blowing as the accomplishments, against the odds?”
Ari Melba described Jay-Z’s endorsement of his segment as “an honor,” during a recent interview with Hip-HopDX.
“As a journalist, I report on and interview many artists,” Melber told the outlet. “But seeing Jay-Z release our report on his verse as a track is definitely a first — and an honor. Jay-Z sharing the segment with listeners also elevates the context for posterity — turning a Beat report into a kind of audio guide to accompany his dense, amazing verse about his life, and the arbitrariness of the drug war.”
He added, “And as Jay might say, he sampled my voice, and turned it to ‘a hot song.’ As for whether I was using my voice right, that’s for others to decide.”
Check out the segment below.
Jay-Z – HOV DID