A Stan Reacts to Jay Electonica's "Road to Perdition" Verses

I feel like Boosie's daughter right now because I told y'all. I told y'all last summer when Elect stormed the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival flanked by the Fruit of Islam. I told y'all when he brought a Nation of Gods and Earths chain-wearing Jiggaman out to perform his "Young, Black, & Gifted" freestyle. Me and my colleague Insanul Ahmed fucking lost it. We lost our damn minds that day. I also wrote a 1,000-plus-word open letter pleading for him to drop some new shit, and I don't regret it because I am a fan first, journalist second. I write with bias, and I don't give a fuck. I have listened to "Road to Perdition" 100 times since I got into the office, and I might fuck around and watch the movie it's named after tonight. Fuck with me. The beat is triumphant. The drums knock, and the horns were the soundtrack to Jesus' return to Jerusalem, dawg. I swear to God, google it.

This shit made my day. It gave me life. The album is coming, dawg. Act II (The Turn): Patents of Nobility should've made our most anticipated albums of 2015 list—but I get why it didn't. We've been waiting for Act II for what feels like ages now. It's pretty hard to fight for an album that's been in the making since 2010.

The only two things I don't fuck with on "Road to Perdition" are the Reagan sample, because fuck Ronald Reagan, and Jay Z not having a verse. I may be alone on this, but Jigga gave us a top 10 verse on "Shiny Suit Theory." I would be here for a Jay Z x Jay Elect album produced entirely by DJ Khalil if it weren't for Electronic's lack of production. But whatever, man. He's clearly sitting on something special judging by his last couple releases. Around this time last year he gave us "Better in Tune With the Infinite."

I was in Austin for SXSW when he unleashed that joint, and let me tell you, he was the talk of the town. That shit was beautiful. Now, as I listen to the joint he just dropped on us today, I'm going to react to his bars with GIFs because you care about "real" rap, or at least claim to.

Verse 1:

"I got that black on black skin tone, actual-fact syndrome/That's why I dropped the jewel on every verse you heard me shit on/OK, it's a Slumdog opera/The tale of a king whose name wasn't on the roster/My road to glory was Road to Perdition and Act II: The Turn is just the memoirs with no omissions/We came a mighty long way from standing near the stove/In the cold, the greatest story ever told/The realest niggas see the pain in my story boards/The true believers say, 'Wallahi, I support the boy'/My life feel like a highlight reel/This is lightning striking, feel how the Zeitgeist feel/Get a slight chill"

I couldn't find a better reaction to that line than this one below. I did the same thing when I heard it.

I wept when he said this shit:

"My road to glory was Road to Perdition and Act II: The Turn is just the memoirs with no omissions/We came a mighty long way from standing near the stove/In the cold, the greatest story ever told"

I caught the Holy Ghost after he said this:

"My life feel like a highlight reel/This is lightning striking, feel how the Zeitgeist feel/Get a slight chill"

Elect is basically the pastor in the video above.

Verse 2:

"My swag is on 1.21 gigawatts, 10 trillion kilowatts/Hardcore Thriller pop, Michael Jackson, nigga rock/Google me, baby, understand where I'm coming from/My destiny's to hit a grand slam when my number come/All hail the lyrical, Grand Wizard Imperial/Nigga signed the dotted line with Hov, that's a miracle/And I ain't leave the thugs alone/The humble and meek will surely inherit the mud we on and shoot up every club we clone/The flow is too atomic/The poetry's too Quran-ic, the young prophet Muhammad/And I could drop a verse to change the whole vibration/The whole Roc Nation, the whole Live Nation/So pour libation/Beware, but prepare for the polarization, it's the globalization/Warn all the clergymen and notify Satan/I been waiting, this the notarization, I been patient"

Wheeewwww:

​"My swag is on 1.21 gigawatts, 10 trillion kilowatts/Hardcore Thriller pop, Michael Jackson, nigga rock/Google me, baby, understand where I'm coming from/My destiny's to hit a grand slam when my number come"

I prayed after hearing these bars:

"All hail the lyrical, Grand Wizard Imperial/Nigga signed the dotted line with Hov, that's a miracle/And I ain't leave the thugs alone/The humble and meek will surely inherit the mud we on and shoot up every club we clone/The flow is too atomic/The poetry's too Quran-ic, the young prophet Muhammad"

Last verse:

"A thousand kisses to the haters cause they made me greater/A thousand wishes from a million slaves could raise a savoir/A thousand disses to these dickheads at these major labels/From Big Daddy Kane to Big Daddy Kane and Abel/You pay a cost to be a boss, nigga, I paid the wager/Mastered both sides of the force and plus I made my saber/Yes sir, I'm a soldier of love drowning all my sorrows and woes in the club/My white boys say, 'That shit you spit last year, bro was like a real fine Merlot and a cashmere throw'/Some black chicks say he ugly, white women they love me/My Asians and my mamis don't put nothing above me/I call it as it happens, the art of quality rapping/One autobiographical chapter could start up the rapture/And even though I walk in the narrow valley of death/All I see is green pastures, bitches screaming from the rafters"

I heard the bodies of rappers drop after Electricity said this shit:

"A thousand kisses to the haters 'cause they made me greater/A thousand wishes from a million slaves could raise a savoir"

I was drinking my tea as he said this:

"I call it as it happens, the art of quality rapping/One autobiographical chapter could start up the rapture/And even though I walk in the narrow valley of death/All I see is green pastures, bitches screaming from the rafters"

Overall, DJ Khalil's production and Jay's verses had me feeling like Michael Sullivan Jr.​ on the open road.

If you haven't watched Road to Perdition starring the likes of Tom Hanks, Jude Law, Daniel Craig, and Paul Newman, please do. The film is just as great as this song. And just like Michael Sullivan (Tom Hanks' character), Jay Electronica gives no fucks and is out for blood. 2015 is already shaping up to be better than 2014, rap wise. We called it.

Angel Diaz is a staff writer for Complex Media. Follow him @ADiaz456.