Tuesday, Dec. 08, 2009
"D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)" by Jay-Z
Over a brilliantly chosen jazz-funk sample from French film composer Janko Nilovic, rap's grand old man swaggers on about his hatred of audio gimmickry before resolving his thoughts — irony alert — into the melody line from Steam's insanely gimmicky stadium anthem "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye." "D.O.A." is exceedingly pointless, but the Jay-Z phenomenon has never been about the meaningless things he says so much as the entertaining ways in which he says them. Here, Jay's rhyming is loose and powerful, balancing his beef against audio software with a few genuinely funny jokes. In its casual sense of superiority, it's a Sinatra-esque performance.