November 6, 2007

New Jay-Z Video - "Roc Boys (And The Winner Is)" (Plus Jay Predicts A Recession, Hits Storytellers)

We follow up a very favorable evaluation of Jay-Z's American Gangster with a look at Sean Carter's evaluation of the American economy. Plus, more JiggaTube than you could shake a fake retirement at. We'll start with Jay's new vid for celebratory American standout "Roc Boys (And The Winner Is)"...

The "black superhero's music" is what he brought to Letterman's midtown studio Friday night, after an interview in which he talked retirement ("I went on a farewell tour ... I got presents"), Gangster, and how his Nets would fare this year.

Jay's a good interview. And it turns out, Sean knows international finance. In his video for "Blue Magic," Jay-Z flashes a wad of Euros. Considering that Giselle Bündchen just asked that she be paid in pretty much anything but dollars, does Hova know something Hellicopter Ben doesn't? Or when rappers and models start making macroeconomic calls, is that what the day traders call a 'contrary indicator'?

After the jump, we've got the "Blue Magic" vid, some economist commenter theory, and clips of Jay from his recent session in Brooklyn for VH1's Storytellers.

First, homework: Watch "Blue Magic."

What do you make of that cash flashing? Let's turn to someone with his mind on his money:

When I start seeing rap stars flashing euros instead of U.S. dollars, I know our economy is in trouble. Jay-Z carries a lot of weight. Just look at what happened when he began boycotting Cristal champagne. Itâ€™s sad that rap stars can no longer show their style with a good old $500 U.S. bills (featuring President McKinley) and now need to flash $500 Euros (featuring some sort of suspension bridge). I don't need the chairman of the Federal Reserve to tell me about the state of our economy. I just need Jay-Z, the new Alan Greenspan. I don't blame Jay-Z. A stack of $50,000 in Euros would equal $72,000 in U.S. currency. And youâ€™d need 144 $500 bills to equal a stack of 100 $500 Euros. I don't know if even Jay-Z has that large a money clip. When I start seeing rap stars throw around the Canadian Loonie, then I know our economy is really in trouble.

Of course we didn't need Jay-Z to tell us the dollar was in trouble. We all learned that during our Radiohead pre-ordering days.

To combat the perpetually declining dollar's effect on his good fortune, Jay hit VH1 and brought some American cuts to the previously mentioned Storytellers taping. Here's a few for ya.

"American Dreamin'" (Live On Storytellers)