Proving again that he is a man after Stereogum commenters’ hearts, the first track from Jay-Z’s forthcoming The Blueprint 3 is “D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-Tune),” a fight song against what Antares and T-Pain hath wrought on our ears for the past too many years. (Besides, it’s probably hard to find things to get your Armani knickers in a bunch when you’re a multimillion dollar industry unto yourself.) “D.O.A.” starts with a fittingly, mercilessly off-key take on sports stadium fave “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” before Jay launches into his polemic. (“I know we’re facing a recession but the music y’all making gonna make it the great depression.”) Kanye gets a production credit (yes, irony), as does No I.D. This is “Death Of Auto-Tune,” moment of silence:
For the deconstructionists, HipHopIsRead IDs the sample as Janko Nilovic’s “In The Space.” Jay surprised the crowd at Hot 97′s Summer Jam at Giants Stadium last night. Having Kanye produce Auto-Tune’s eulogy is fairly ironic; having T-Pain onstage while you publicly debut the song is some next-level shit. Starts at 2:30…
Anybody know what site filmed that clip? I can’t figure it out. The Blueprint 3 is out 9/11/09, eight years to the day after the release of the original Blueprint, via Jay’s Roc Nation with distribution by Atlantic. More info at Billboard. It features no auto-tune.
[Photo of Jay-Z at yesterday's Hot 97 Summer Jam at Giants Stadium by Jeffrey Ufberg/Getty Images]
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This is really, really bad.
I’ll present this as exhibit A in “Why Stereogum Should Not Post Any Hip Hop…Ever”
Cool hip hop tune … always loved his choice of drum samples.
hope the rest of the album is better. this is a bad diss song. the lyrics are weak and the beat is weak. oh well.
Needs more auto-tune
this isnt very good
One of the great mysteries of the world for me is why anyone would ever attend a rap concert.
You’ve obviously never seen the Roots.
Or De La Soul . . . or LL Cool J . . . or DMX, even (before he got stuck on stupid).
In other words, Ron Jenkins, join comehomenow and read the writing on the wall.
I don’t know what you’re saying here. It sounds mad cryptic. But I visited your blog and it’s cool, so I’ll just agree with you.
No big mystery. The writing on the wall says “Die, Hipster”… making you both ignorant and, apparently, illiterate.
In my defense, reading is both very difficult and not required to enjoy Wavves.
My icon started a fight! Wicked!
The television mini-series starring James Fallon?
No auto-tune you say?
Rap Song of the Year.
I approve of this song. Radness. Love the production.
this song is “meh” though
Take that “meh” bullshit to the Brooklyn Vegan site son. That shit doesn’t float round here.
did a ten-year old write these lyrics ? JAY-Z BE TRIFLIN’.
This is really good. It feels really stripped-down, which is a nice change from the faux-orchestral vibe of most mainstream hip hop lately, which I guess makes sense if he’s declaring Auto-Tune dead.
The beat is OK – it’s not overly mainstream, which is good, but it’s not very interesting, which is bad.
The lyrics are a bit better – he sounds a bit like an old guy complaining about the music of today, but he has a point and makes it well.
But the performance is the best: he stands there in front of an audience who probably love mainstream contemporary rap and basically tells them how s–t it is.
Yeah, the funny thing is the stations that have been pumping this auto-tune shit will be all over this track, i they aren’t already.
“The Blueprint 3: Those Goddamn Kids”
Really, Jay? Really? This is what you choose to start off The Blueprint 3? Not just a hate track on a mixtape somewhere? But The Fucking Blueprint 3?
Not off to a good start, Hov.
This isn’t a single for Blueprint 3. This is just a street track to promote the album.
jesus, I love all of these fucking hipsters talking about how bad this song is, I mean if you dont like rap dont fucking comment
all you fucks apologize for having an opinion.
I do like rap and this sucks.
“I do like rap and this sucks,” why cause he’s most likely talking shit on the “rap” you do like?
“ya boys jeans too tight
your colors? too bright
your voice too light”
Classic line…….I’m guessing that line pertains to a lot who frequent this site.
Yeah, I’m so upset that Hov is dissing my favorite rapper for wearing a brightly colored t-shirt? WEAR NEUTRAL COLORS, NIGGA!
And yes, autotune! Whenever I’m having a bad day and autotune is bothering me and autotune is all up in my head — I put on this song, and just feel relaxed. SO GLAD finally someone wrote an anti-autotune song. If only the Ramones lyrics were ABOUT how they didn’t like the grandiose, musical virtuosity of other bands of the 70s. Then, whenever I was in the mood to dislike, say, Emerson Lake and Palmer I could just put on a Ramones record and be all like, yes, FUCK those guys.
this just in: hating jay-z in 2009 = hating all hip hop ever.
me likey.
Well I like it. Saxophones always sound good to me. If it weren’t for the ‘Na na na na…’, it would be awesome; that bit is just kinda stupid.
Look, as a hipster I’m proud to love hip hop. Hova is like the Modern Music Jesus, and ‘Feelin’ It’ is one of the best songs ever created. However, this is weak shit and Jay Z knows it. If this weren’t weak shit we wouldn’t have heard it already and it would be included on The Blueprint 3. The production sounds like basic loops found on garageband or acid music, and Hov phoned this one in…from the sound of it maybe literally.
Yeah, I get what Hov is trying to do, but his performance is weak.
I still have faith that The Blueprint 3 will be strong, though. “Brooklyn (Go Hard)” is a song released by him not too long ago that suggests he hasn’t lost anything.
see the thing that separates a good rap from a bad rap is when you can anticipate the punchlines. half of these rhymes sound like they were written in reverse. violence/moment of silence. . .really? im over-analyzing this. beat is hot but it aint no Dear Summer. yeah, i study this shit.
Well, really, the Ramones made the music they did (fast, loud, gritty, simple) in direct response to all of that. So, yeah, the next time you hear T. Rex on the radio, put in some Ramones or some Pistols and be glad that somone reacted to all of that over-the-top bullshit instead of partaking more.
I still listen to Wu-Tang like it’s new. I can nod my head to this. The thing I love about hip hop is persona carries in the delivery exceptionally well, so while this song might not be wildly inventive, it’s got personality AND GOSH I LIKE THAT.
Looks like Jay has reversed the game on pitchfork and the kidz by serving up this steaming POS. As the AT posse jumps all over him my sense of deja vu takes me back to a time when it didn’t take someone like Jay to state the obvious.
Uh-oh, here come the kids and a lot more zeros. The CEO strikes again. Bravo Jay.
Pity someone as ignorant as Ye can throw something so simply eloquent together so fast. And nice call Coj on the “Na na na na…”
Better than the “yay! autotune lets create yet another street dance” I’ve been hearing on the radio for the past year lol Two thumbs up for going against what’s so called “hot” right now
Please please please let there be a response to this song that is just DRIPPING with autotune and is all like “FuuuUUUuuuck Jay-Z” (imagine in autotune voice). That would be the most awesomest thing.
SSSHHHAWTYYY
li-li-lick it like a lollipop.
Jay-Z sounds like an old man complaining about kids today with their hip-hop music with their crazy auto tune machines
I’ve been using Antares Auto-Tune software on tracks for years – NEVER like this – only to nudge a note here or there, nothing you would ever notice (believe me, if you NOTICE tuning on a vocal or an instrument, it was badly done). Antares never meant for it to be used as a pitch-altering effect in this way – it’s meant to be invisible. Now their flagship product is equated with a style of hiphop that’s jumped the shark, and their unrelated trade-name is taking abuse. They need to change the name of the studio tool and just let the name “Auto-Tune” die.