The Informative J.O.K.E. – “The Bigger Picture”
This is long. Just a warning from K1ng Eljay.
A lot of people have the tendency to forget or ignore critical things because of a new development. It happens all the time. A lot of people forgot that a shooter murdered 12 people because the importance of his nationality came up (which isn’t freakin’ important at all, by the way). Although the situation I’m about to shed light on isn’t as important, it is similar.
Regardless of who's right or wrong in the situation, this could get bad for everyone involved. Beefs are always more complex and uglier when friends are involved.
If you do not know, Jay-Z’s right-hand man Beanie Sigel recently made contract negotiations with 50 Cent, and they both are planning to address the “Jay-Z” situation in more songs. One of the songs, “I Go Off”, will debut Friday (November 13th) on ThisIs50.com (just in case you’re interested like I am). Looking at the situation, it’s easy to assume a couple of snap judgments without thinking.
“Beanie Sigel is shady for dissin’ Jay like that” or “50 Cent is shady for swooping in on Beans like that.”
And while that MAY BE TRUE, there’s a few things you should realize first. Step back and get the whole picture first. I’m not saying who’s right, who’s wrong, none of that. That’s not the point of this. It’s just that a lot of people don’t necessarily realize the bigger picture…
So what is that? Glad you asked.
“Beanie the Traitor?”
When I first heard that Beans was talking to 50, I figured it was only a matter of time. I told a friend at work, and the first thing he said was “Yo, but they homeboys! How is he gonna s**t on Jay-Z like that? That’s some sucka s**t.”
His words, not mine.
So that got me to thinking how many other people think that Beans is WRONG in this situation? So let’s look at it for a second. Beans got locked up for 366 days on some charge (probably a gun charge, I forget that detail). Beanie has said repeatedly that Jay-Z didn’t visit him at all during the jail time. Supposedly he didn’t even hear from him. Strike one.
As Beanie is released, Jay-Z is President over at Death Jam- oops, I mean Def Jam. So an album is quickly put out, so we’ll call that a foul ball… However, Beanie says that they didn’t promote the album as well as they promoted other select artists (like Jay-Z himself) and he blamed his lack of album sales on that. Now USUALLY, I don’t agree with that, but in his case, he’s right.
It's funny how money can change a situation...
Beanie’s album “The Solution” was hot. It probably would’ve sold more if you consider these factors; At the time, The Runners were THE HOTTEST street producers and they produced the single “All of the Above.” R. Kelly was on the hook, and the song was catchy, but not a radio gimmick. It would’ve sold. But it didn’t due to lack of promotion.
Beanie cited this. Strike three.
So now, not only is Beans still holding his tongue about the situation, the guy he rides for is kind of shelving him for his own personal agenda, whatever that might’ve been at the time.
So is it really surprising that he finally just got fed up and decided to opt-out? To me, no.
“Shady’s Business Partner”
If you don’t know, 50 and Jay haven’t really been friends. Ever since the “I’m about a dollar, what the f**k is 50 Cents” line that Jay spit a long time ago, it’s been an up-down game of chess/poker. True, 50’s a powerhouse today in his own right, but he would be BIGGER if it wasn’t for Jay-Z silently undercutting him.
Let me explain.
Can you remember the first G-Unit album that didn’t sell? Tony Yayo’s album, “Thoughts of a Predicate Felon.” Now, it’s easy to say, “That’s because Yayo sucks”…
…which is true in my opinion…
But if you look at the set-up, it was a win-win situation at the time. Yayo had just got out of jail. G-Unit had all of the momentum in the world. Everything they touched went gold/platinum with no question. The video “So Seductive” was a powerhouse single (although I didn’t like it, everyone else seemingly did, including Free, the best female host EVER from 106 & Park). And there was no competition on the release date.
And silently, Roc-A-Fella moved Kanye West’s 2nd album “Late Registration” to the same date: August 30th, 2005. Kanye did NUMBERS. Yayo didn’t.
For years, 50 Cent and Jay-Z have had an interesting feud. After technically using Jay's name to catapult into the limelight, ironically, it's that same name that's been undercutting him for the last few years.
This wasn’t the first time they’d clashed. If you remember, due to albums leaking online, Jay-Z’s “The Black Album” and G-Unit’s “Beg For Mercy” had to be pushed to the same date of November 14th, 2003. However, the most publicized clash was the one between Kanye and 50 Cent DIRECTLY. Kanye’s “Graduation” verses 50 Cent’s “Curtis,” in which both were technically winners, but Kanye almost went platinum the first week easily, besting 50 Cent. Again.
So that’s THREE times that Jay-Z had some type of hand in undercutting a 50 Cent project. As of now.
You could say four though… on July 1st 2008, G-Unit and Def Jam were scheduled to have another duel. G-Unit’s second group album released their album, “Terminate on Sight.” And on the same day, Def Jam was scheduled to release Nas’ controversial new album “Untitled (N****r).” G-Unit moved their release date to two weeks later for some reason…
Or you could look in the media, and take note JUST to the MTV interviews. Just type in 50 Cent/Jay-Z in the search box and read through the archives. It’s an ON-OFF-ON-OFF relationship. Uniting, divorcing, getting together, giving each other props only to shoot each other down in a business-like way. It’s a chess game.
Or you could look at the fact 50’s tried to recruit certain people somehow connected with Jay-Z. Freeway was under Roc-A-Fella and did a joint album project, “Free At Last”, with 50 as the executive producer. Flopped (but that album was dope too). He recruited Mobb Deep, who has had long standing issues with Jay-Z, most notably Prodigy.
And if you don’t think 50′s that ruthless to resort to that, consider that he recorded his own soldier’s weakest moment (Young Buck) to use against him later, he kicked out a member of his group because they wouldn’t beef with the same people and then leeched off the rest of the rapper’s profits due to paperwork (Game), and the fact that he took his rival’s baby mama shopping in order to dig up dirt on him (Rick Ross).. Yeah, he’s ruthless.
In the chess match between Jay and 50, Beans is something like the pawn that made it to the other side unchecked. In short, he can change the situation... drastically.
But now, suddenly it looks like he may have something huge to bait Jay-Z with…Beanie Sigel. So as soon as an opening appears, OF COURSE 50 swoops in to offer to make music with the guy. TO ME, it seems like he’s been waiting for an opportunity to put some serious pressure on Jay and/or get rid of some of the business bitterness he’s had towards Jay for the undercuts over the last seven years…
And to top it off, 50 visited Beans in jail. Hmm.
The Bigger Picture
So now that a little more of the picture is filled in… look at the situation now. It’s more complex than it originally seemed. And the kicker of this whole situation is that Beans was Jay’s right hand man through MOST of this. Beanie was on classic Jay-Z songs (“This Can’t Be Life”, “Throw Ya Hands Up”, “Change The Game”, “Guess Who’s Back”, the latter actually being Scarface’s track) So he KNOWS the situation between the two of them. Most likely, he knows the complexities of it too.
So, now, consider that Beanie CHOSE to go and make MUSIC with 50 Cent after ALL OF THAT.
This is a situation where Jay-Z would be forced to respond. The nature of the situation stretches well past music and into the street credibility that Jay-Z clings to in his lyrics.
This is the first legitimate problem that Jay-Z’s had. He’s had problems in the past, but each one wasn’t really worthy of his attention. Game wasn’t too much of a problem because he’s double-minded. Prodigy just crossed the line, period (lol). Nas released “Ether”, yes, but then Nas signed to Def Jam, and put out two highly promoted (and gimmicky) albums that technically flopped, and then Jay left him there, so who really won that battle? Jaz-O never got established, and therefore never became credible.
Beanie is a different animal. This is a dude that was under Jay musically for several years. He was a front-line soldier for the man. And his situation almost DIRECTLY violates Jay-Z’s verse on “As Real As It Gets”, a new track in which he makes references of putting a homie that got out of jail back on his feet.
I gave you all of that research (which was common knowledge to me, because I noticed it as it was happening) to say this:
Looking at the full picture, this could be an epic battle on the horizon that could go much deeper than music. Only time will tell… Hopefully this helps fill in the picture a little.
King Eljay
