Great little interview with Jay-Z about Reasonable Doubt in XXL. Jigga is planning on performing the album in full at Madison Square Garden.
You mentioned “D’Evils” earlier. Did actual events inspire the song?
The funny shit about “D’Evils,” this might sound a little weird, but I remember I dreamt the beginning of the song. I called Biggie right after like, “Yo, I made up these fuckin’ bars in my dream.” It was a really weird experience.
Break this down now, because the verses are set up like a kidnap scene. You’re giving your boy’s girl 50 dollar bills in exchange for info. Yet she’s crying, wishing you and her man were still close…
Right, because of the greed she’s taking the money. “About his whereabouts I wasn’t convinced/So I kept giving her money until her shit started to make cents.” Now that’s a line—if you take money and break it down into a literal sense, when you chew money, your body breaks it down and takes what it needs. So when you take a dollar and eat it, it breaks down to cents, right? So I kept feeding her dollars until her shit started to make sense. See, it’s a double entendre. She feels guilty, so she crying because she knows her man is going down because of her. But with her greed, she can’t help but to take the money. That’s why I love that. I love, love that fuckin’ song.