Dead Presidents (song)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Dead Presidents II
)

"Dead Presidents"
Mafioso rap[1]
Length3:28 (Original)
4:27 (Dead Presidents II)
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Ski
Jay-Z singles chronology
"In My Lifetime"
(1995)
"Dead Presidents"
(1996)
"Ain't No Nigga"
(1996)
Music video
"Dead Presidents" on
YouTube

"Dead Presidents" is a 1996 song by American

About.com's Top 100 Rap Songs[2] and number 42 in Rolling Stone's Top 50 Jay-Z Songs.[3]

The title is slang for money because portraits of dead United States presidents appear on most Federal Reserve Notes.[4]

The song was produced by

Tip
Mix)".

Music video

The music video features cameos by The Notorious B.I.G., AZ, Lil' Cease, Damon Dash, Kareem "Biggs" Burke, Smoothe da Hustler, and Tyran "Ty Ty" Smith.

Feud with Nas

Nas was originally invited to re-rap the chorus for Jay-Z and appear in the track's music video, but he declined. Some view these two actions as the catalyst of the Jay-Z vs. Nas feud.[7]

When Nas and Jay-Z directly feuded, both rappers discussed the merit of the sampling in the song in individual "diss" records. In Nas' track "Stillmatic Freestyle," he says:

You show off, I count dough off when you sample my voice.

Jay-Z responds to Nas' claims in his song "Takeover" with the lines:

So yeah, I sampled your voice; you was usin' it wrong: you made it a hot line, I made it a hot song. And you ain't get a coin nigga you was gettin' fucked then; I know who I paid God, Serchlite Publishing.

The line was later used in Cassidy's 2005 hit "I'm a Hustla":

Yeah I used dude's voice props to the boy Shawn, He made it a hot line, I made it a hot song.

In 2005 at Jay-Z's I Declare War concert, he performed "Dead Presidents II" with Nas, officially ending their feud.

Production

In a YouTube video called Ski Beatz - the making of Jay-Z's "Dead Presidents" beat[8] Ski explains how he filtered out the high frequency content of the melody sample (using a lowpass filter) to achieve a more prominent bass line without replaying one in. Ski's Beats, Rhymes & Samples mixtape contains the Q-Tip remix in the context of a "Dead Presidents" sample because the original from "The World is Yours" had altered lyrics in connection to the sampled vocals. At the end of the sample from the chorus, you can hear the "Whose" from "Whose world is this?" from the beginning of the chorus of "The World is Yours".

Dead Presidents 3

Jay-Z recorded a track called "Dead Presidents 3" around the time of The Black Album but it was never completed. The unfinished song was leaked onto the internet in the fall of 2007, around the release of American Gangster. In it, Jay-Z referenced some of his lyrics from the original "Dead Presidents" and he used the sample but the sample was played in reverse and had a darker more atmospheric and sinister feel to it.

In July 2013 during a rare Twitter Q&A, a fan asked Jay-Z if "Dead Presidents 3" would be released, which led to Jay-Z giving Young Guru and Just Blaze the permission to release the track on Young Guru's SoundCloud account.[9]

Remixes

Many artists have released remixed versions of Dead Presidents with original lyrics (often freestyles) performed over the original sample and chorus. Notable artists to release versions of Dead Presidents include

Curren$y, and DJ Premier who recorded a version with reworked instrumentals from Jay-Z's original lyrics and vocals from Nas' The World is Yours
(Remix).

Charts

Chart (1996) Peak
position
US Billboard Hot 100[10] 50
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[11] 17
US Hot Rap Songs (Billboard)[12] 4

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[13] Gold 500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Jay-Z: 50 Greatest Songs". Rolling Stone. October 27, 2017. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  2. ^ "Top 100 Rap Songs". Archived from the original on August 27, 2011. Retrieved March 4, 2008.
  3. ^ "Jay-Z: 50 Greatest Songs". Rolling Stone. December 4, 2019. Retrieved February 3, 2022.
  4. ^ Dead Presidents Songfacts
  5. ^ "Lonnie Liston Smith: A history in 5 hip-hop samples". Red Bull. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
  6. ^ "From Jay-Z To 2 Chainz: The Story In Samples Of Lonnie Liston Smith's "A Garden Of Peace"". Stereogum. March 18, 2019. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
  7. ^ Escobartheory.
  8. ^ "Roc-A-Biz: Ski Beatz" Archived January 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. HNNLive.com. January 7, 2007. Retrieved June 23, 2007.
  9. ^ "Jay-Z – DP3". Indie Shuffle. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
  10. ^ "Jay-Z Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved December 28, 2021.
  11. ^ "Jay-Z Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved December 28, 2021.
  12. ^ "Jay-Z Chart History (Hot Rap Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved December 28, 2021.
  13. ^ "American single certifications – Jay-Z – Dead Presidents". Recording Industry Association of America.

External links