Jay Electronica’s long-awaited debut album A Written Testimony arrived on Friday.
The night before, the rapper took to Instagram Live for his album release livestream after his listening parties, hosted by Tidal, were canceled. There, he revealed that the album’s closing track, “A.P.I.D.T.A.” was made on the night that Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven others died in a tragic helicopter crash on Jan. 26.
The song is somber from the outset, as JAY-Z opens the track rapping, “Uh, I got numbers on my phone that'll never ring again / 'Cause Allah done sent them home, and they'll never, uh.” While neither he nor Jay Elect mentions Kobe by name, the mere fact that the song was made on the night of the legendary NBA player’s passing suggests that “A.P.I.D.T.A.” was partially influenced by the event.
Jay Elect also raps about the death of his mom in the song, something that wasn’t widely reported. “The day my momma died, I scrolled her texts all day long,” he raps. A Facebook post divulges that her death likely happened in September 2019.
The Facebook page Choice Cuts wrote on Sept. 9, “Unfortunately, due to the death of his mother, Jay Electronica has had to cancel his upcoming show at The Sugar Club this Thursday, September 12th,” the post read. “We're very sorry for the inconvenience and the disruption for your plans, and our deepest condolences go to Jay and his family in this tough time.”
Listen to Jay Electronica's song “A.P.I.D.T.A.” above.
