For those that haven’t heard “Can I Get Open,” you should do so now before even thinking of downloading this track. This track is the old Jay-Z, the rapid fire spitting, 3 or 4 metaphors in one bar having, crush grooving, emcee. Don’t get me wrong, he’s very very dope today, and I actually think that his current style is both more appealing and more apt for our times (“I dumb down for my audience and double my dollars…”).
There are basketball references galore! If you’re a basketball fan, this is a good trip down memory lane. I had to listen to this thing three or four times to catch all of the puns and metaphors he threw out there in rapid succession. To save you the trouble of doing so, I wrote down the lyrics to Pass the Roc below:
Jay-Z – Pass the Roc lyrics:
As soon as I pick up a rock it’s
7:30 I gets busy watch the birdie
You can check coast to cost no others can serve me
I’m all Net never Knick when I shoot
Never miss, never whistle me for traveling when I walk like this
I go one on one, sun to sun, make no mistake
I never push (?) ‘em but just give ‘em the head fake
I double pump before I jam baby
Better hold your man baby (I gotta scoooore!)
No assists cuz I never pass, man listen
I go for the goal strong, I got tunnel vision
Gimme the rock when I get open
And I get open and rock!
‘You can’t stop me’ is my slogan
I got the best defense
With no false pretense
Even in broken English me should make sense
Even in the zone
I hold my own punk
and you tell Rodney King ‘White men can’t jump’ (yeah right)
(Chorus)
I hustle like Bird on the flock than rock a bird
Cuz I gotta get the A.C. Green in other words
I run the streets three hundred and sixty like Dominique
Plus five more days to make it complete
I follow the dream like Hakeen for the cream
Then I gamble it on dice like Jordan cuz I won’t miss it
I get the payoff in the playoffs never get sweeped
I 3-peat like ‘who could ever lose to the heat?’
I make your man sorry if your man probably wanna beef
Cuz I shoot from long range like Dan Majerle
I’m signing honeys to the bar(?)
Cuz my game is stronger than Grand Mama
Hop into my Antoine Carr
And we rock from New York to Planet Bebop
I’m standing more than three seconds in your lane
Kill a referee y’all can’t stop ‘the black all of that’
It’s ‘what’ though
Rest in piece because you’re petro (petro)
(Intermission)
I got the inside when you’re outside
Watch your knot cuz I got a great outside shot
I got officials down with me when I catch wreck
I scream on a team and a ref gave me a tech
I’m coming down the lane
Ten seconds left in the game
I aim, I win, let’s take it to the stats
Who scores the most on the map
Renegotiate the contract
Gimme all mine, I gotta pay rent
Or I get foul to the extreme, flagrant
I want the easy two, give me the pay and split
Picture me working hard, at a job laying bricks
I bust a salary cap, (?) I gotta stay paid
From the pre-season all the way to the parade
Whenever the games on the line pass the mic to the middle
When I’m through? I’m going to Disney Land…
