WATCH THIS: Jay-Z feat. Santigold “Brooklyn”

Santigold & Jigga Go Hard For BK With A “Boom Bye Bye like Buju.” Brap.

It should have come as no surprise when Jay-Z jumped on that Mavado track. First of all, Brooklyn is damn near Jamaica’s 15th parish, and its dancehall scene is a cosmos unto itself—impossible to overlook. Ever since Jay came out with that rapidfire diggity-Das-EFX flow, we knew he had to have heard those sound system cassettes that used to pass hand to hand from Jamdown to BKNY: Pupa San and Daddy Lec spittin that “phenomenon perdemanent, phenomenon…” and on and on till the breakadawn. “This is black hoodie rap,” Jigga says to start things off on this throwback track from the soundtrack to Fox Searchlight’s new Biggie bio-pic Notorious. (Fitting that he drops yard slang on a track for Biggie. No rapper loved reggae more.) Producer Kanye West samples Santigold’s dubby “Shove It” (mixing in a trippy church organ and drums straight outta hell) then invites Santi in to body a guest verse (@2:43) that lifts the record to unbelievable heights. Let off…

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