Songfacts®:

• Jay-Z looks back on his life in "Moment Of Clarity" and comes to the conclusion that he's a generational talent. The lyrics are loaded with references to his previous songs and albums, including his 1998 hit "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)," his debut album Reasonable Doubt, and his 2001 album The Blueprint.
• Eminem produced the track along with his Detroit buddy Luis Resto. The previous year, Resto helped Emimem cook up his hit "Lose Yourself."
  
  It's not the first time Eminem and Resto worked with Jay-Z - they teamed with him in 2001 on Jay's song "Renegade," where Em and Jay share vocals.
• After his 1996 album Reasonable Doubt, Jay-Z veered into a more mainstream sound with his sophomore album In My Lifetime Vol 1. On this song, he hints that the move was a good one financially, as he raps: "I dumbed down my audience and doubled my dollars." >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Bertrand - Paris, France
• "Moment Of Clarity" is part of Jay-Z's 2003 The Black Album. A few weeks before the album was released, Jay dropped the news that it would be his last, which he mentions at the end of the song:
  
  Y'all can't fill my shoes
  From my Blueprint beginning to that Black Album ending
  
  Of course, it wasn't his last album. Jay-Z came back with Kingdom Come in 2006.