PREVIEW

Can I get An Encore?

On February 4th at 20h30 etv screened Jay-Z's biofilm Fade to Black, his attempt to sell to the world the false story that he was leaving the rap music industry and also the making of his final Black Album. It's an inspirational biofilm of his travels while making the award winning album and the prolific producers he worked very closely with, amongst them hitmakers Timbaland, Pharrel, Kanye West and many others who took part in what he called 'the movie'.

Sean Carter, who was conceived under a cycamore tree and born in November 3rd, 1973 in Brooklyn is undoubtedly a trendsetter without really trying hard. While some people have said he's a cocky nigga who never really believed he could make is someday, one can read signs of faith in his earlier releases though. Earlier on he never really had beef with his father until he saw capital in it and told us that 'poppa left me/ momma raised me' and later told his mother 'as a man i apologise for my dad'.

He is the nigga who said he produced gees like sperm and later played monopoly with real cash. Tell me you don't think that's a little prophetic and I'll tell you that the same Jiggaman, on his Hard Knock Life album was out telling all and sundry that 'if my situation ain't improving/ i'm trying to murder everything moving' while at the same time hustling with his Rocca Fella Records. That was before he told his mom that he wanted to buy her a home while not knowing that it would be in Rome.

I'll risk being crucified for being Old Skool by claiming that Jigga was really made by the Blueprint albums, which for the first time saw his videos being allocated bigger budgets and video director Hype Williams being roped in to direct them. Big Pimpin' was a hit with its misogynsit video. While the shift from the somewhat street Hard Knock Life to Blueprint came with more glitz and sass, it was his lyrical style that revolutionised his muse. Suddenly he was about 'he's okay but he's not real/ jay-z's that deal/ with one in the chamber never fear for war squeeze that steel'. While everybody thought he was on the rise with apologetic songs like Song Cry which some claimed was an exploration of his relationship with curvesious and luscious rapper Foxxy Brown there were those who said Jigga's woman has always been RnB singer Blue Cantrell.

That was until Nas revealed in Ether, his battlesong that 'Foxxy got you hot cuz you kept your head in the puss'' that everybody was like, 'wow Jiggaman has been shady all along', what with Foxxy being Kurupt's fiance and allegedly bonking DMX. But when things started moving fast and his long time partner Damon Dash came into the picture and it looked like no one could stop them from taking over the world. Suddenly Dash was being more popular than Jay even though we last saw him sloshed on Big Pimpin'. He revolutionised the white sporty.

They did eveything under the sun, stakes in clubs (40/40), clothing (RoccaWear), beer (Armadale) and many other things that was spinning cash like sperm for them. They were on the roll like two dice from the palm of a cheat - dibhombhayi. Then RnB singer Aaliyah, Dash's fiance passed on and it seemed like Jay's partner wasn't taking the strain like a 'hood nigga. Jigga dropped a classic verse in a song that commemorated her.

No one could have seen it coming that sooner than later they would be on each other's throats with Jigga leaving to head Def Jam Records as President and Dash taking half of everything they owned. Jigga was soon shouting 'silent partner/ why do i hear you so loud'. Okay, Dash can't sing so there was no way to retaliate, not even with his chihuahuas trying to bark at Jigga.

Jigga made more albums that made him more cash because as president he could control how they have to be marketed and promoted. He made more cash and attracted paid-girlfriends. He was no longer creeping with Foxxy or Blue but RnB singer Beyonce Knowles, the super-hot part of the Destiny's Child trinity. They made Me and My Girlfriend, a remake of Tupac Shakur's alter-ego Makaveli's Me and My Girlfriend.

And then Jigga discovered tropical Rihanna who sold like hot cakes, kept the Rocca roster and publishing rights while he was presiding over Def. Then one morning he decided to retire, or rather to sell to the world the story of his retirement. This was after his falloff with lifepartner Dash, beefs and make-ups with Nas, interploring Notorious BIG on every hit song he made and indicating he was about to sell off 40/40. Jigga woke up one morning and commissioned a camera crew to follow him as he recorded his Black Album over a few months. He brought the curtain down with a show at Madison Square Gardens in New York, the city he claims to be its king.

There's a telling line on the doccie when he observes all the people who came to see him say goodbye and he says it's not a special thing for white groups like Limpkin Park to fill Madison Square Gardens but for a boy from the 'hood, it's an achievement.

Of course it was an achievement for a Hawaaian soapie fan from the projects. Jigga never left after toasting with his Rocca staff, dropped the baggy and switched to suits and karftans. Everybody should have figured when he sang 'Encore' and omitted the verse about 'this is the victory lap and I'm leaving'. He came back to get married, release more albums and make more beautiful music. February 4 was Sean Carter night on etv,

'Hoping DJ Sbu Leope decides to be his own man instead of idolising Jigga to the point that he wants to be everything he is, including filming his boring little life. Jigga is in the US of A (Land of the Free) and you are in R of SA (Kill for Zuma) broer, his president for the next four years is flamboyant Barack Obama while yours is charismatic Jacob Zuma. Get it broer? Chalk and Cheese?'