Dead Presidents II analysis

Dead Presidents II
Jay-Z


Shawn Corey Carter was born December 4th, 1969, he is best known for his stage name, Jay-Z. He is the former CEO of Def Jame records and currently partly owns the New Jersey Nets, and owns the 40/40 club. Jay-Z has a net worth of 587 million dollars, the most for any rapper. He married Beyonce Knowles April 4, 2008. He has produced 11 articles in his career and he is on the verge of a 150 million dollar partnership with LiveNation. His First Album entitled "Reasonable Doubt" contained many big hits but Dead Presidents II was one of the biggest.
The song is about the Drug Dealing Underworld Jay-Z uses some good literary terms in this song but a lot of the song is pretty straight-forward, the most common term he uses is similes. There are 4 similes in this song. In the first verse he says, "By the ounce dough accumulate like snow." He is comparing him money piling up like snow piles up in a storm. The only other literary term in a paradox. He says "I was crazy straight." This contradicts itself because crazy means nuts or not all there, but straight means good mind, and having a good head on your shoulders. This first verse is Jay-Z reliving his life in the slums of Brooklyn where he grew up. He talks about how he has made it to the big show, they, "Don't shine they illuminate."
In the second verse Jay really breaks out the literary tricks, he uses a lot of metaphors and allusions and similes. "Roll like Monopoly" this is an obvious simile referring to the game monopoly and how he rolls. He also talks about white crystals, which is an allusion to Meth or Cocaine. Right after that line he uses a simile to compare the crystals to copycats. He is talking about how when he was dealing drugs there were a lot of people who would copy him and take his sales ect. Later in the verse he uses a metaphor, "I got a good life man, pounds and pence Nuff dollars make sense, while you ride the bench." He is comparing himselg being a big player to the other guy riding the bench and not "playing." This is all an allusion to a sport, it could be basketball, baseball, or football, it isn't very specific. But then he clears it up in the next line where he says, "got me swinging for the fence." This allusion is about baseball. "Eleven sixty to show, my doe flip like Tae-Kwon." This simile refers to his doe flipping, tae-kwon. Tae-Kwon is a martial art that involves flipping an jumping. "Heavy spenders like hit records: Roc-A-Fella." This simile refers to heavy spenders and hit records.
This song is filled with lyrical content and Jay-Z has a very sophisticated rhyme scheme, on the song rate chart this single scored a 94, which is the highest rating i have ever given a song. The song name is a allusion but I honestly don't know what it alludes to. I really like this song and i think i made a good decision picking it.