Jay Z Struggles with Rap Retirement

Wednesday, June 15, 2005
By: Dondiego

Kanye West

Jay Z makes and appearance on the remix of ‘Diamonds’ the first single from Kanye’s sophomore album ‘Late Registration’. This brings the legitimacy of his early retirement into question once again. Jay Z’s new position as ‘President Carter’ of Def Jam seems unable to fulfill the artists need for expression. While Jay Z battles the Ghosts of the “Hand Grenade” (The m.i.c. for those of you who missed Rakims – Pass The hand Grenade) Kanye gets socially conscious on his latest installment. His rhymes refer to the horrific civil war in the small, diamond-rich African country of Sierra Leone, where since 1991 rival militias battling over the illegal diamond trade have killed and mutilated thousands of civilians.

Related Audio: Kanye West ft Jay Z - Diamond (rmx)

"Good morning, this ain't Vietnam/ Still, people lose hands, legs, arms for real," 'Ye rhymes. "It was known, in Sierra Leone/ When I speak about diamonds in this song/ I ain't talking about the ones that be glowing/ I'm talking about Roc-A-Fella, my home/ These ain't conflict diamonds, is they Jacob?/ Don't lie to me, man/ See, a part of me saying, 'Keep shining,' / How even though it's thousands of miles away/ Sierra Leone connects to what we go through today ... I thought my Jesus piece was so harmless/ Till I saw a picture of a shorty
armless/ And here's the conflict."

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