Thank You

Album: The Blueprint 3 (2009)
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Songfacts®:

  • This is one of only three tracks on The Blueprint 3 where Jay-Z goes solo without a guest artist.
  • On this song Jay-Z is thanking his fans for supporting him.
  • On this track, Jay-Z raps, "just got 10 #1 albums Maybe now 11." Of the Brooklyn MC's 10 official solo albums released prior to this one, the last 8 reached #1. Adding his #1 collaboration sets with R Kelly and Linkin Park, that brings him to 10 #1 albums.
  • This contains excerpts from "Ele E Ela" by Brazilian singer-songwriter Marcos Valle.
  • This is one of a number of tracks on The Blueprint 3 album where the word "ni--er" can be heard. The Guardian September 12, 2009 asked Jay-Z if he thought twice about using the controversial word. The rapper replied, shaking his head: "It's not an issue for me at all. I think people give words power and a racist is a racist; if you eliminate the word 'ni--er' he'll say 'monkey' or 'jigaboo'. What we had done in hip-hop is we defused the power of the word and changed it into a term of endearment. I know a lot of people don't buy that but that's just what you have to accept."

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