While reading through The Five Best Stories Jay-Z Told Last Night at the New York Public Library, I came across the backstory behind one of my favorite Jay-Z tracks “This Can’t Be Life” with Scarface.
“We’re sitting in the front room, talking, and his phone rings, and he’s like, ‘Nah, man,’ and you can see something’s happening on the other line. And then he gets on the phone again, and he calls his wife and checks on his children. And then he got off the phone and he told me that one of his friends’ kid was in a house fire. And I’m like, ‘Aw, man, I’m so sorry to hear that, we can do this another time.” And he says, nah, and he sat in the corner, and he wrote this song about the whole experience. He took this very sad experience and [made] this powerful art. It almost had me embarrassed about my verse.”
I never got the Scarface verse but it all makes sense now. So moving. It’s crazy how certain songs can you instantly transport you back to the past. I listened to this song over and over and over in 2000.
I love the intro for this song. It’s so amazing. ”Let’s reflect.. everybody got a story. We all ghetto - here’s mine.” #neverforgetwhereyoucamefrom
