JAY-Z & Angel Wood & Idris Elba
JAY-Z
JAY-Z
JAY-Z & Lil Wayne
JAY-Z
JAY-Z
JAY-Z
JAY-Z & Pharrell Williams
JAY-Z
JAY-Z & Beanie Sigel
JAY-Z
JAY-Z & Nas
JAY-Z & Bilal
JAY-Z & Pharrell Williams
JAY-Z
“Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)…” is the second single from Jay-Z’s tenth studio album, American Gangster. On the track Hov celebrates street corner capitalism; and takes the chance to give a toast to his cohorts and his customers – in both the rap and drug games.
The track peaked at #63 on the Billb...
[Produced by LV, Sean C, and Diddy]
[Intro: Jay-Z]
And the winner is Hov,,
My man
Speech!
[Verse 1: Jay-Z]
First of all, I wanna thank my connect
The most important person, with all due respect
Thanks to the duffle bag, the brown paper bag
The Nike shoe box for holding all this cash (Okay!)
Boys in blue who put greed before the badge (Okay!)
The first pusher who ever made the stash (Okay!)
The Roc Boys in the building tonight (Hey!)
Oh, what a feeling, I'm feeling life (Hey!)
Thanks to the lames, niggas with bad aim
Thanks to a little change, I tore you out the game
Bullet wounds will stop your buffoonery
Thanks to the pastor, rapping at your eulogy
To Lil' Kim and them, you know the women-friend who
Carry the work cross state for a gentlemen
Yeah, thanks to all the hustlers
And most importantly you: the customer
[Chorus: Jay-Z & (Kanye West)]
The Roc Boys in the building tonight (Hey!)
Oh what a feeling, I'm feeling life (Hey!)
You don't even gotta bring your paper out
We the dope boys of the year, drinks is on the house
(We in the house, hou-, hou-)
The Roc Boys in the building tonight
Look at how I'm chilling, I'm killing this ice
You don't even gotta bring ya purses out
We the dope boys of the year, drinks is on the house
(We in the house, hou-, hou-)
(We in the house, hou-, hou-, HEY)
[Verse 2: Jay-Z]
Let ya hair down baby, I just hit a score
Pick any place on the planet, pick a shore
Take what the Forbes figured, then figure more
'Cause they forgot to account what I did with the raw
Pick a time, let's pick apart some stores
Pick a weekend for freaking for figure fours
I figure frauds never hit a lick before
So they don't know the feeling when them things get across
Put ya hand out the window, feel the force
Feel the Porsche, hit defrost
Ice-cold, jewels got no flaws
Drop got no top, you on the top floor
Pink Rosé, think OJ
I get away with murder when I sling yay
Her-on got less steps than Britney
That means it ain't stepped on, dig me?
[Chorus: Jay-Z & (Kanye West)]
The Roc Boys in the building tonight (Hey!)
Oh what a feeling, I'm feeling life (Hey!)
You don't even gotta bring your paper out
We the dope boys of the year, drinks is on the house
(We in the house, hou-, hou-)
The Roc Boys in the building tonight
Look at how I'm chilling, I'm killing this ice
You don't even gotta bring ya purses out
We the dope boys of the year, drinks is on the house
(We in the house, hou-, hou-)
(We in the house, hou-, hou-, HEY)
[Verse 3: Jay-Z]
Rare Porsches, rare portraits
Rare guns if you dare come near the fortress
This apple sauce is from the apple orchard
This kinda talk is only reserved for the bosses
Which means I get it from the ground
Which means you get it when I'm around
Rich niggas, black Bar Mitzvahs
Mazel tov, it's a celebration bitches!
"L'chaim!"
I wish for you a hundred years of success but it's my time
Cheers, toast to crime
Number one D-boy, shame he could rhyme
[Chorus: Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Cassie & (Kanye West)]
The Roc Boys in the building tonight (Hey!)
Oh what a feeling, I'm feeling life (Hey!)
You don't even gotta bring your paper out
We the dope boys of the year, drinks is on the house
(We in the house, hou-, hou-)
The Roc Boys in the building tonight
Look at how I'm chilling, I'm killing this ice
You don't even gotta bring ya purses out
We the dope boys of the year, drinks is on the house
(We in the house, hou-, hou-)
(We in the house, hou-, hou-, HEY)
The Roc Boys in the building tonight (Hey!)
Oh what a feeling, I'm feeling life (Hey!)
You don't even gotta bring your paper out
We the dope boys of the year, drinks is on the house
(We in the house, hou-, hou-)
The Roc Boys in the building tonight
Look at how I'm chilling, I'm killing this ice
You don't even gotta bring ya purses out
We the dope boys of the year, drinks is on the house
(We in the house, hou-, hou-)
(We in the house, hou-, hou-, HEY)
The Roc Boys in the building tonight (Hey!)
Oh what a feeling, I'm feeling life (Hey!)
You don't even gotta bring your paper out
We the dope boys of the year, drinks is on the house
(We in the house, hou-, hou-)
The Roc Boys in the building tonight
Look at how I'm chilling, I'm killing this ice
You don't even gotta bring ya purses out
We the dope boys of the year, drinks is on the house
(We in the house, hou-, hou-)
(We in the house, hou-, hou-, HEY)
[Outro: Jay-Z]
Sweet!
Let that ride out!
Bring the horns back in, yeah
This is black superhero music right here, baby
American Gangster
Taking flight, coming to a town near you
Soon as I touch down, I just want y'all to start playing the horns like...
Hovi's home!
Lukey, baby!
Hahahahaha... oww!
Roc Boys (And The Winner Is)... was written by JAY-Z & Diddy & Bosco Mann & Leon Michels & Mike Deller & Dave Guy & Thomas Brenneck & LV (Producer) & Sean C & Homer Steinweiss.
Roc Boys (And The Winner Is)... was produced by Sean C & LV & Diddy.
JAY-Z released Roc Boys (And The Winner Is)... on Wed Oct 10 2007.
Jay Z’s entire American Gangster album, which this song is a single of, is inspired by Ridley Scott’s film of the same name. Scott’s biopic tells the true story of Frank Lucas, a notorious New York crime boss.
In November 2007 she spoke to AllHipHop.com about her involvement in the recording of “Roc Boys:”
Puff produced a lot of the album and I was recording my stuff in the studio next door. Puff would be like, ‘Cassie, could you come in here real quick and put some vocals on this.’
When Puff would have...
The music video for “Roc Boys (And The Winner Is)…” was recorded at Jay’s 40/40 Club in Manhattan. It was directed by Chris Robinson and styled by Hov’s longtime stylist June Ambrose.
‘Roc Boys’ is the height of celebration. You can’t celebrate by yourself, so I invited all these great people to be...
The video features cameo appearances by Nas, Rick Ross, Memphis Bleek, Diddy, Freeway, Terrence J, Tru Life, Young Gunz, Jadakiss, Yaya DaCosta, Swizz Beatz, Drew Sidora, Kristia Krueger, Chain 4, Chantel, Beanie Sigel, Cassie, DJ Clue, Larry Johnson, Tristan Wilds, Just Blaze, Zab Judah, The-Dream,...
At the time of the video’s filming Kanye was on tour, performing at the “Desert Rhythm Festival” in Dubai. He wrote on his blog he was “salty” that he missed it, adding that “the scene with Jay, Puff, and Nas is iconic. 3 kings!”
Sean “Puffy” Combs produced the track alongside Sean C & LV, a duo affiliated with his Hitmen production team.
The three spoke with XXL magazine about the track in October 2007. First, Puff:
The ‘Roc Boys’ is crazy. It’s one of them urgent tracks. We all love the tracks that Hov does that are...
I had all this real subject matter on American Gangster and I wanted the story arc to have that celebratory moment. You’ve reached the height of everything. The horns made me feel like I was winning a Grammy. It’s about capturing the rise of your power. The height of your career. To be blindly succe...
This song samples “Make the Road by Walking” by the Menahan Street Band.