I know this may come as a surprise, but once upon a time Jay Z was on top of the hip hop game with a combination of lyrics, swagger, and desire. While the married father hopefully never puts out music again, there are still so many gems he gave us over a decade. Yes, his first album came out in 1996 but most Jay Z fans do not really listen to his music past American Gangster in 2007.
As I did intensive research over music I already listen to religiously, it became clear that Jay Z has so very quotable lines. While I could not use some of his more aggressive bars, I still found a great deal of lines that relate to the average person.
“I'm a hustler, baby; I sell water to a well!”
Sometimes you are just so skilled at your occupation that you can sell things to clients who don't need them. How many times have you gone to a place of business looking for one thing and bought something on top of that? Looking back you probably did not need it but you have to respect their hustle in that situation.
“You know the type: loud as a motorbike but wouldn't bust a grape in a fruit fight.”
These people can be found in your classroom, at your job, and in every other facet of life. The ones who claim tough guy (or girl) status but will not deliver when the time comes. And instead of changing our owning up to their behavior, they will just give a lame excuse and continue the faux tough guy act.
"Pray and pray for my downfall, but every time I hit the ground I bounce up like groundball"
There have been many incidents that could have derailed Jay Z's career including: beef with Tupac, beef with Nas, receiving haymakers from Solange, the Sunshine video, apparently losing 92 bricks, and Tidal. Despite this, Jay Z has shown great resilience and stayed afloat for his entire career and sometimes we forget how resilient we can be. Sure it looks bleak at the moment, but most of us have too much pride to let those who want us to fail have any joy.
“Remind yourself, nobody’s built like you. You design yourself.”
Sometimes in an effort to stand out, we forget who really are. We often forget that we are the best at being ourselves and we should do nothing more than be ourselves. Instead of trying to fit in or stand out, just be yourself and go with the flow. Being you is the easiest thing in life. Why make that difficult?
man running in forestPhoto by 
