As hip-hop’s first Billionaire, Jay-Z is an icon and a name known worldwide. However, with 13 studio albums and five collaborative projects to his name, it is challenging for anyone to provide a shortlist of their favourite Jay-Z tracks, let alone a super fan like IGOR musician Tyler, The Creator.
In 2021, to honour the Brooklyn rapper on his 52nd birthday, Spotify’s head of urban music, Carl Chery, asked his Twitter/X followers and musicians alike to name their favourite Jay-Z songs ever, and the results were varied.
Chery began by listing his favourites and named, ‘D’Evils’, ‘Dead Presidents’, ‘Where I’m From’, ‘A Million and One Questions (Premiere Remix)’, and ‘U Don’t Know’ as some of his favourite Hov songs of all time.
However, Chery then proceeded to post a video of Tyler, The Creator (real name Tyler Okonma) naming his favourites. In no particular order, Okonma listed, Fuck All Nite’, ‘Excuse Me Miss’, ‘Funk Flex Grammy Family Freestyle’, ‘Allure’, ‘Do It Again (Put Ya Hands Up)’, and ‘Show You How.’
But he also explained his choices, elaborating, “That last verse on ‘Show You How’ put a lot in perspective for me as a kid, but that’s six, so I’m done,” he said. He also said that ‘Do It Again (Put Ya Hands Up)’ was “crazy” and “insane.”
Despite being a major fan of Jay-Z, earlier this year, during an appearance on DJ Drama’s Gangsta Grillz podcast, Okonma unveiled that when he first erupted onto the scene, he turned down a record deal Jay-Z offered him due to the lack of creative control it presented.
Despite the deal not working out, the two MCs have had an extremely close relationship with the two artists collaborating on Frank Ocean’s Biking LP in 2017, and in an appearance on New York’s HOT 97.0, Okonma revealed that behind the scenes, Hov has been giving him advice for years. You can see Tyler, The Creator’s favourite Jay-Z tracks below.
Tyler, The creator’s favourite Jay-Z songs:
- ‘Fuck All Nite’
- ‘Excuse Me Miss’
- ‘Funk Flex Grammy Family Freestyle’
- ‘Allure’
- ‘Do It Again (Put Ya Hands Up)’
- ‘Show You How’