Deciphering Jay-Z's Takeover...Part 1

A lot of people get some of this lyrics twisted, so I decided to explain them for everyone to understand. In 2001, Jay-Z shook the Hi Hop world when he performed his Takeover track off his The Blueprint album at Summerjam. The track had a first verse taking shots at everyone and no one in particular, but the second verse was directed at Mobb Deep (more at Prodigy than Havoc). And at the end of the second verse, he said- "Ask Nas, he don't want it with Hov". Although Jay-Z and Nas had been throwing subliminals at each-other for a while at the time, that was the first time Jay would directly mention Nas's name.




That Summerjam performance lead to Nas recording a freestyle song titled Stillmatic (H to the OMO) going at the Jay-Z and the whole Roc-a-fella camp. That was followed by a full verse on the album version of Takeover aimed at Nas by Jay-Z...and then Nas released Ether. This article is going to be based on deciphering the verse that was directed at Mobb Deep. The one going at Nas would be the part 2 in this series, and would come by weekend.




Below is the first verse, which is just full of lines that could be directed at any rapper.

The takeover, the break's over nigga
God MC, me, Jay-Hova
Hey lil' soldier you ain't ready for war
R.O.C. too strong for y'all
It's like bringin a knife to a gunfight, pen to a test
Your chest in the line of fire witcha thin-ass vest
You bringin them Boyz II Men, HOW them boys gon' win?
This is grown man B.I., get you rolled into triage
Beatch - your reach ain't long enough, dunny
Your peeps ain't strong enough, fucka
Roc-A-Fella is the army, better yet the navy
Niggaz'll kidnap your babies, spit at your lady
We bring - knife to fistfight, kill your drama
Uh, we kill you motherfuckin ants with a sledgehammer
Don't let me do it to you dunny cause I overdo it
So you won't confuse it with just rap music

Now, I would like to decipher the second verse which was aimed at Mobb Deep. The Takeover song actually have 4 verses. Here we go.

"I don't care if you Mobb Deep, I hold triggers to crews."- Jay is trying to say he doesn't care if Mobb Deep consist of two people (a duo), that he'd still hold triggers (guns) at them. It also means that he doesn't care if they are 'mob deep' (i.e, a mob with a lot of people), he holds triggers to crews.

"You little fuck, I got money stacks bigger than you."- Meaning, he has stacks of physical cash bigger than prodigy (both Havoc and Prodigy are quite short).

"When I was pushing weight, back in 88, you was a ballerina, I got the pictures, I seen ya."- Saying he was selling drugs in large quantity (weight)  in 88, and that Prodigy was a ballerina. He actually had a picture to back that up, and he put it up live on the summerjam screen at the point when he spat these lines during his performance. 

"Then you dropped 'shook ones', switched your demeanour."- Referring to Prodigy going from being a ballerina to making the song, 'shook ones: part 2', which portrayed a gangster image of Prodigy and Havoc.

"Well, we don't believe you, you need more people."- Meaning that Prodigy would need more people for his tough-guy image to be believable.

"Rocafella, students of the game, we passed the classes, nobody can read you dudes like we do."- Meaning that he (jay) is a real dude, and can tell Mobb Deep are phony.

"Don't let them gas you, like 'Jigga is ass and won't clap you."- Jay is trying to say Prodigy shouldn't let his friends convince him that Jay is just rapping and isn't really about that life, that he would  actually shoot Prodigy.

"Trust me on this one, I'll detach you. Mind from spirit, body from soul."- Jay is saying he'd really kill/end Prodigy's life- Mind from spirit.

"They'll have to hold a mass, to put your body in a hole."- A funeral.

"No, you're not on my level."- Telling Prodigy that he is not at par with him.

"Get your breaks tweaked."- That Prodigy has been gassed up, and that he needs to stop (get your breaks tweaked). You dig? Breaks are needed to stop a fast moving car.

"I sold what your whole albums old in my first week."- Jay dropped Dynasty (his 5th album)in 2000, and sold 557,000 copies first week with it. Mobb Deep dropped their Infamy album in 2001, and its sales stalled when it got to 500k copies total sold.

"You don't want it with Hov. Ask Nas, he don't want it with Hov...No!!!"- Baiting Nas into beefing with him, by saying Nas doesn't want any problem with him. This was actually the end of the track, before Nas dropped his Stillmatic freestyle (H to the OMO) diss track at Jay, which made Jay-Z record a long verse for Nas on the album version of Takeover.

That's it for now...look out for the part 2. I had a lot of help by visiting Rap Genius...you should check them out