Jay Electronica’s five best guest verses
Jay Electronica is an enigma. While he’s generally considered to be one of the most talented MCs in hip-hop, he’s always been elusive. For years, the New Orleans rapper was known as the man behind masterful singles like ‘Exhibit A’, ‘Exhibit C’, and ‘Shiny Suit Theory’. Despite demand for an album, it seemed like a full-length project might never come.
Eventually, he released his debut album A Written Testimony in 2020. Released on Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, the project debuted at number 12 on the Billboard 200 with production from Swizz Beatz, Hit-Boy, The Alchemist, No ID, and Khruangbin. Hov contributed to many of the songs, resulting in a ‘Best Rap Album’ nomination at the 2021 Grammy Awards.
Later that year, Electronica would release his follow-up album Act II: The Patents of Nobility (The Turn) as a TIDAL exclusive, but it was taken down for unknown reasons. Since then, he’s gone off the radar once again and returned to his reclusive self.
Aside from his solo material, part of his hype over the years has been fuelled by stellar guest appearances on rappers’ songs. He’s collaborated with everyone from Reflection Eternal to Rapsody, providing endless spiritual verses that are often difficult to decipher. Below, take a listen to five of his best performances.
Jay Electronica’s five best guest verses:
Mac Miller – Suplexes Inside of Complexes and Duplexes
Mac Miller successfully distanced himself from the criticism of Blue Slide Park with his second album, Watching Movies with the Sound Off. It was the project where people really took him seriously as a rapper, and what better way to do it than with a guest verse from Jay Electronica. The pair collaborated on ‘Suplexes Inside of Complexes and Duplexes’, which saw Jay referencing everything from Cinderella to The Wizard of Oz.
In his verse, submitted just two hours before the deadline, he raps, “So miss me with the irrelevant, the godbody is heaven-sent/ The hard-body is reverence, since the son of Byford/ Brother of Fal, every rhyme’s halal/ Every line is kosher, livin’ la vida loca /Shout out to Tony Toca, we ballin’ like we suppose to.”
Curren$y – The Day
Certain songs capture a moment in time, and that’s exactly the case with ‘The Day’. Curren$y kicked off his Pilot Talk series in 2010, recruiting Electronica and Mos Def (now known as Yasiin Bey) for one of the highlight tracks on the album. At the time, Spitta was a recent member of the XXL Freshman Class and a trailblazer for weed rap alongside Wiz Khalifa.
In Jay’s verse, he references trailblazing groups like Public Enemy and Run-DMC. “My momma told me, ‘Son, always call a spade a spade’/ Be like Chuck D, never be like Flavor Flav/ But that clock around his neck is so fly/ And the way he complimenting Chuckie with that bow tie flow,” he spits.
Chance The Rapper – How Great
Jay Electronica recently reunited with Chance The Rapper on a song from his Star Line album, but their first collaboration is one of his shining moments. The duo linked up in 2016 on ‘How Great’ from the Chicago rapper’s Coloring Book project, packing the song full of Biblical language. Although Chance is Christian and Jay is Muslim, they combine to sing the praise of Christ.
In his Lion King-referencing verse, he raps, “I was lost in the jungle like Simba after the death of Mufasa/ No hog, no meerkat Hakuna matata by day, but I spent my nighttime fighting tears back/ I prayed and prayed and left messages /But never got no hear-back or so it seemed/ A mustard seed was all I needed to sow a dream.”
Kanye West – Jesus Lord
While Kanye West’s most recent projects have lacked the quality of his early releases between The College Dropout and Yeezus, there have been several bright spots in and amongst his chaotic outbursts. One of these is Electronica’s verse on ‘Jesus Lord’, which appeared on Ye’s Donda album in 2021.
His verse references lyrics on ‘Exhibit C’, in which he rhymes, “It’s Jay Elec-entendre-nica coming through your monitor/ Back from the great and yonder, the son of man and the son of Donda/ I never rode the GSXR or the R6 or the Honda/ But I flew my Ducati through North America like Wakanda.”
Big Sean – Control
Kendrick Lamar’s explosive verse on ‘Control‘ received so much attention that Jay Electronica’s contribution didn’t quite get the attention it deserved. While K. Dot called out the whole competition, including J Cole, Pusha T, Drake, and Tyler, The Creator, the No ID-produced track also saw phenomenal verses delivered by Jay and Big Sean.
Electronica kicked off his verse by flexing his lyrical prowess. “You could check my name on the books/ I Earth Wind & Fire’d the verse, then reigned on the hook/ The legend of Dorothy Flowers proclaimed from the roof/ The tale of a magnificent king who came from the nooks,” he raps.