If you were stuck in traffic this morning with your radio set to Power 105.1 FM then you were in for a real treat as DJ Envy spent more than 30 minutes running through more than 50 of Jay-Z’s hottest records in honor of the recent opening of the Barclays Center that he co-owns (even though his actual stake is less than 1 percent) and his upcoming eight performances at the Brooklyn Nets home arena that begins tonight. Envy ran though the recognizable hits like “Empire State of Mind,” but things intensified when he went into the archives to play the songs that Jay-Z never performs live but are still considered classics to his fans including the original version of “Is That Yo Bitch,” and the jazzy “Imaginary Player” track from “In My Lifetime, Volume 1.” Things became quite interesting when Envy played Hova’s first verse from “Dig A Hole” where Jay appears to be calling out Cam’ron when he rhymes that the “only time you went plat[inum], my chain was around your neck.” We were also given more examples of subliminal beef when a faster version of “Lost Ones” was played where Jay rhymes about his business breakup with Damon Dash and insists that “niggas wasn’t playin’ they day role, so we parted ways like Ben and J-Lo.”
But Envy didn’t stop there. He went as far as playing classic album intros in the mix such as “The Rulers Back” from “The Blueprint” and the opening track from “The Best of Both Worlds” project that featured R. Kelly. Once Envy ran through snippets of “Hey Papi,” “Coming of Age (Da Sequel)” with Memphis Bleek, and “1-900-Hustler” hosted by Beanie Sigel it made you reminisce about a time when Roc-A-Fella was the most sought-after record label and crew.