Twitter is discussing the legacy of JAY-Z’s 1997 album In My Lifetime, Vol. 1. And Hov has officially weighed in.
It all started on Friday (Jan. 14) when podcaster Will Washington tweeted a hot take: “Sunshine” by Jay-Z was fine and got an unnecessarily bad rap. Actually holds up better now than it did then,” he wrote.
Washington’s tweet, which has been retweeted over 400 times, caught the attention of Questlove. The legendary Roots drummer replied and tagged JAY-Z in his tweet for good measure.
“Our main argument is his hate for Vol 1,” Questlove wrote. “He is embarrassed for trying to make a monster & not putting numbers up. But ALOT of this lp contains his best moments. Fight me @sc.”
Questlove continued to list the songs he approved of on the album, such as “A Million and One Questions,” “I Know What Girls Like,” “Imaginary Players,” “Streets is Watching” and “Friend or Foe 98.” “This jawn knock,” he tweeted.
By Sunday (Jan. 16), Hov had seen enough of the banter and decided to chime in. “Agreed . More so, I know what could have been, so it haunts me … streets is watching was the first song made !” JAY tweeted.
The billionaire hip hop mogul hasn’t shared a tweet since October 2021. While he did participate in a Twitter Spaces event for Alicia Keys’ KEYS album, Hov rarely chooses to communicate on the social media app. His latest tweet though, has even more Twitter users discussing his second studio album.
“Yo. Did I really get Jay-Z to make his annual tweet?!” Washington joked shortly after Hov responded to his tweet’s thread.
Hov’s ill feelings towards In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 are well documented. In a 1998 interview with MTV News, the “Where I’m From” rapper said the album “wasn’t fun” to him like Reasonable Doubt.
“It was like, it seemed really slow to me, and I didn’t set out to do that, just looking back now and listening to it now.”
Check out JAY-Z’s tweet and others below: