99 Problems
"99 Problems" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Jay-Z | ||||
from the album The Black Album | ||||
Released | April 27, 2004 | |||
Recorded | July 2003 | |||
Studio |
| |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:54 | |||
Label | ||||
Songwriter(s) |
| |||
Producer(s) | Rick Rubin | |||
Jay-Z singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Music video | ||||
"99 Problems" on YouTube |
"99 Problems" is the third single released by American rapper Jay-Z from The Black Album. It was released on April 27, 2004. The chorus hook "I got 99 problems, but a bitch ain't one" is taken from the Ice-T single "99 Problems" from the album Home Invasion (1993). The hook was coined during a conversation between Ice-T and Brother Marquis of Miami-based 2 Live Crew.[4] Marquis used the phrase in the 1996 2 Live Crew song "Table Dance".
In the song, Jay-Z tells a story about dealing with rap critics, racial profiling from a police officer who wants to search his car, and an aggressor. The song reached number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Production
The track was produced by
The title and chorus are derived from Ice-T's "99 Problems" from his 1993 album Home Invasion. The song featured Brother Marquis. The original song was more profane and describes a wide range of sexual conquests. Ice-T would re-record his version of the song with the Rubin/Jay-Z guitar riff for Body Count's 2014 album Manslaughter in order to "reclaim" the hook from being mis-attributed to Jay-Z.[5] Portions of Ice-T's original lyrics were similarly quoted in a song by fellow rapper Trick Daddy on a track also titled "99 Problems" from his 2001 album Thugs Are Us. Jay-Z begins his third verse directly quoting lines from Bun B's opening verse off the track "Touched" from the UGK album Ridin' Dirty.
Analysis
The second verse, describing Jay-Z's traffic stop, has received much more attention than the rest of the song.
The second verse was based on an actual experience of Jay-Z in the 1990s in New Jersey. He wrote that in 1994 he was pulled over by police while carrying cocaine in a secret compartment in his sunroof. He refused to let the police search the car and the police called for drug-sniffing dogs. However, the dogs never showed up and the police had to let him go. Moments after he drove away, he saw a police car with the dogs drive by. In a discussion at the Celeste Bartos Forum at the New York Public Library,[6] Jay-Z described the second verse of the song as representing "a contest of wills" between the car's driver who is "all the way in the wrong" for carrying illegal drugs, and a racist police officer who pulls over the driver not for any infraction but for being African-American. "Both guys are used to getting their way" and thus reluctant to back down, Jay-Z notes, and the driver "knows a bit about the law because he's used to breaking it" and asserts his legal rights.
In 2011
While the song's meaning is widely debated, the chorus "If you're having girl problems, I feel bad for you son/I've got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one" was defined in Jay-Z's book, Decoded, as referring to something different in each verse. In verse two, it refers to a police dog.[11]
Reception
The song garnered widespread acclaim. The song came in at No. 2 on
Jack White has hailed the song, describing it as "the story of America ... in a nutshell, [it's] the story of all the struggles in America, black or white, [and of] class systems".[15]
The song won
Covers and performances
In 2008, the song was covered by Barry Chuckle of British children's comedy duo
On January 21, 2009, Jay-Z performed the song as part of his set at the Staff Ball, the last official event of Barack Obama's inauguration. The ball was exclusively for 4,000 staffers who had worked on Obama's campaign. Jay-Z tweaked the lyrics to suit the historic atmosphere, and the crowd sang along: "I got 99 problems but a Bush ain't one", replacing "bitch" with the name of the former President.[16] At a rally for President Barack Obama in November 2012 Jay-Z changed the lyrics of the song to "If you having world problems I feel bad for you son / I got 99 problems but Mitt ain't one."[17] President Obama quipped in his monologue at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on April 27, 2013: "Some things are beyond my control. For example, this whole controversy about Jay-Z going to Cuba. It's unbelievable. I've got 99 problems and now Jay-Z is one."[18]
Eminem referenced the lyrics in his song "So Much Better" on The Marshall Mathers LP 2 album, with the lines "I got 99 problems and a bitch ain't one/ She's all 99 of 'em; I need a machine gun".[19]
Music video
The
The video accompanied The Black Album which, at the time, was to be Jay-Z's final release. Jay-Z has stated that he wanted the video to be as auto-biographical as the rest of the album.[23] The goal for the video was to create a portrait of where Jay-Z grew up. In a conversation with the video's director, Jay-Z stated that he wanted the video to "make a pissy wall look like art".[24] The job of directing this video was originally intended for Quentin Tarantino, however Rick Rubin suggested that Jay-Z offer the job to Mark Romanek.[25] Due to the research and influence of Romanek and the videos cinematographer, Joaquin Baca Asay, the video borrows visual characteristics from many New York street photographers and black and white photographs (Martin Dixon and Eugene Richards to name a few). The video is shot entirely on black-and-white film. It consists mainly of scenes filmed in close proximity to Jay-Z's childhood home, The Marcy Houses in Bedford Stuyvesant. These include:
- Jay-Z and Rubin in a Lexus GS300 being stopped by the police (lyrical reenactment).
- Jay-Z in the housing projectwhere he grew up.
- Break dancers and a group doing a rhythm choreography.
- Jay-Z performing in Transit Wheelers Motorcycle/Van Club House.
- Jay-Z on the Brooklyn Bridge.
- A woman putting on makeup.
- Inmates of a prison in the Bronx known as Vernon C. Bain Correctional Center.
- Rick Rubin walking with Vincent Gallo.
- A funeral director making preparations.
- A rabbi praying.
- A dogfight with many spectators, and the owners of the dogs taunting them in preparation for the fight.
- Members of Alpha Phi Alpha performing a complex stepping routine.
- Jay-Z's lawyer, facilitating bail then reacting to news of his death.
- motorcycle clubsin front of Transit Wheelers MC Club House in Brooklyn, New York, performing street stunts.
- Jay-Z being shot with multiple bullets by unseen assailants. This final scene was very controversial as BET. Jay-Z explained that the depiction of a shooting is analogous to the "death" of Jay-Z, and the "rebirth" of Shawn Carter.[26]
Track listings
99 Problems/My 1st Song
A-Side
- 99 Problems (Clean)
- 99 Problems (Main)
- 99 Problems (Instrumental)
B-Side
- My 1st Song (Clean)
- My 1st Song (Main)
- My 1st Song (Instrumental)
99 Problems/Dirt Off Your Shoulder, Pt. 1
- 99 Problems
- Dirt Off Your Shoulder
99 Problems/Dirt Off Your Shoulder, Pt. 2
- 99 Problems
- Dirt Off Your Shoulder
- 99 Problems (Video)
- Dirt Off Your Shoulder (Video)
99 Problems/Dirt Off Your Shoulder, Vinyl
A-Side
- 99 Problems
- 99 Problems (Clean)
B-Side
- Dirt Off Your Shoulder
- Dirt Off Your Shoulder (Clean)
Charts and certifications
Weekly charts
|
Year-end charts
Certifications
|
Release history
Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
United States | May 24, 2004 | Rhythmic contemporary · urban contemporary radio | Roc-A-Fella, IDJMG | [39] |
June 8, 2004 | Contemporary hit radio | [40] |
References
- ^ Weiss, Dan (April 6, 2012). "Ten Rap-Rock Songs That Are Actually Awesome". LA Weekly. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
- ^ Unterberger, Andrew (July 21, 2017). "Yes, We're Going to Talk About How Awesome Linkin Park & JAY-Z's 'Collision Course' Was". Billboard. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
- Rolling Stone. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
Jigga's incredible decade-long run reached its hard-rock crescendo in this Black Album smash...
- ^ "Ice-T Talks New Body Count Album, Jay-Z's Remake of "99 Problems" & Much More". Radio.com, YouTube. July 7, 2014. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
- ^ Ice-T on the Return of Body Count, D&D Tongue-Twisters, and Wimpy Tweeters Vulture.com.ca June 9, 2014. Retrieved February 28, 2014
- ^ Jay-Z Unravels 99 Problems DailyMotion.com, accessed 01 November 201
- ^ a b Mason, Caleb (2012). "Jay-Z's 99 Problems, Verse 2: A Close Reading with Fourth Amendment Guidance for Cops and Perps" (PDF). Saint Louis University Law Journal. 56 (2). Saint Louis University School of Law: 567–85. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 10, 2012. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
- ^ Pennsylvania v. Mimms, 434 U.S. 106, 111 (1977).
- ^ California v. Acevedo, 500 U.S. 565, 580 (1991).
- SSRN 2104970.
- ISBN 978-0-8129-8115-5.
- ^ Hermes, Will; Hoard, Christian; Rosen, Jody; Sheffield, Rob (December 24, 2009), "100 Best Songs of the Decade". Rolling Stone. (1094/1095):59-62
- ^ "Jay-Z: 50 Greatest Songs". Rolling Stone. December 4, 2019. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
- ^ 150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years, NME.com
- ^ Interview in Zane Lowe: Masterpieces 2010: Jay-Z - The Black Album, broadcast on BBC Radio 1, 7pm November 23, 2010.
- ^ "Jay-Z - 99 Problems But a Bush Ain't One @ Obama Staff Ball". YouTube. January 21, 2009. Archived from the original on December 22, 2021. Retrieved September 21, 2010.
- ^ Austin, Christina (November 6, 2012). "Jay-Z Raps '99 Problems (But Mitt Ain't One)' At Ohio Rally". Business Insider. Axel Springer SE. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
- The Huffington Post. Retrieved April 28, 2013.
- ^ "Eminem – So Much Better Lyrics".
- ^ "Ariana Grande - Problem Lyrics".
- ^ "YouTube - (Part 14) Armond White on Jay-Z "99 Problems" - Mark Romanek". Tw.youtube.com. November 16, 2007. Archived from the original on December 22, 2021. Retrieved September 21, 2010.
- ^ Editor: Robert Duffy, Spot Welders
- ^ "Jay-Z, Rick Rubin recording "99 Problems"". YouTube. November 26, 2011. Archived from the original on December 22, 2021. Retrieved April 6, 2015.
- ^ "Director Mark Romanek, Jay-Z's "99 Problems" Music Video". MVWire. September 14, 2004. Retrieved April 6, 2015.
- ^ Rotter, Jeffrey (May 9, 2004). "Music Video; Jay-Z Wants to Kill Himself". The New York Times. Retrieved April 6, 2015.
- ^ "Mark Romanek.com on "99 Problems"". Markromanek.com. Archived from the original on October 12, 2010. Retrieved September 21, 2010.
- ^ "Jay-Z – 99 Problems" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
- ^ "Chart Track: Week 20, 2004". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
- ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
- ^ "Official Hip Hop and R&B Singles Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
- ^ "Jay-Z Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
- ^ "Jay-Z Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
- ^ "Jay-Z Chart History (Pop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
- ^ "Jay-Z Chart History (Hot Rap Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
- ^ "End Of Year Charts: 2004" (PDF). UKChartsPlus. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
- ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Jay-Z; '99 Problems')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
- ^ "British single certifications – Jay-Z – 99 Problems". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
- ^ "American single certifications – Jay-Z – 99 Problems". Recording Industry Association of America.
- ^ "Going for Adds" (PDF). Radio & Records. No. 1556. May 21, 2004. p. 25. Retrieved July 3, 2022.
- ^ "Going for Adds" (PDF). Radio & Records. No. 1558. June 4, 2004. p. 27. Retrieved July 3, 2022.
External links
- Entry on mvdbase.com
- Page on Mark Romanek's official site. Includes screenshot gallery, treatment, credits and production stills.
- Music video for "99 Problems" on YouTube