Hear Jay Electronica Sample Jay Z for Anthemic ‘Road to Perdition’
Jay Electronica has shared a relentless new track, “Road to Perdition,” after a low-quality version version leaked Friday morning. “Oh well, since it leaked… here’s a better quality version,” the rapper tweeted, posting a link to the track on Soundcloud. He followed with, “Can you smell what #TheRoc is cookin?,” a possible hint to the status of his long-awaited Roc-Nation debut, Act II: Patents of Nobility (The Turn).
“A thousand kisses to the haters ’cause they made me greater / A thousand wishes from a million slaves could raise a savior / A thousand visits to these dickheads at these major labels / From Big Daddy Kane to Big Daddy Cain and Abel,” the rapper rhymes over brooding organ, soulful horns and a recurring Jay Z ad-lib sampled from 2007’s “Success.” Stream the track below.
Jay Electronica first gained national exposure with his MySpace-released 2007 mixtape, Act I: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge), which featured prominent samples from Jon Brion’s lush score to the 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and spoken-word cameos from Erykah Badu and Just Blaze. In 2009, he released two singles, “Exhibit A” and “Exhibit C,” both produced by Just Blaze, and he signed to Jay Z’s Roc Nation label the following year.
In 2012, the rapper tweeted the tracklist to Act II: Patents of Nobility (The Turn), which featured “Road to Perdition” among its 15 songs. As Pitchfork reported, the breakdown also hinted to appearances from Kanye West, The-Dream, Charlotte and Serge Gainsbourg, Sean Diddy Combs and…well, Ronald Reagan. “Road to Perdition” is the album’s second song to hit the web; last year, Electronica shared the dreamy “Better In Tune With the Infinite,” featuring LaTonya Givens.
Though the album has yet to see an official release date, the rapper does have one confirmed project ahead for 2015: He’s set to star in Jason Goldwatch’s experimental film Into the Light.