ARTIST: Jay-Z
TITLE: “Blue Magic”
WEB DEBUT: Sept. 20, 2007

ONE-LISTEN VERDICT: The first track to leak from Jay-Z’s forthcoming concept album opens with the mogul referring to himself as “Gray-Hova”; the boasting Jay and big beats of Kingdom Come are replaced by Jay rapping about cooking up coke through a jaw-wired-shut flow and a slow-build beat that’s pushed along by a tense, dirty organ line (and a Pharrell-sung hook that’s nicked from En Vogue’s fantastic “Hold On”). Also, isn’t American Gangster–the movie that Jay’s next album is based on–set in the ’70s? What’s with the Ollie North name-drop?
WHERE TO FIND IT: Nah Right, which has the track in radio rip and CD-quality form.

[Photo: Getty Images]