Jay-Z officially declares 'Death Of Autotunes' and says he was overcharged by Def Jam

June 6, 11:27 AMNY Hip-Hop Music ExaminerSamantha Greaves

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Jay-Z puts the plug-in in it's coffin.

na na na na...na na na na...hey hey hey....goodbye. So you didn't think we would see the day that someone would speak up and lay out the truth about the fad that Hip-Hop was diagnosed with in 2008 did you? Jay-Z does Hip-Hop fans proud with his new song that hit the airwaves last night titled "D.O.A. (Death of Autotunes)".

The song carries a very hard, gritty, yet laid back beat with heavy drums, electric guitars and a fluttery horn. Though Jay doesn't spend time being more lyrical (he actually lets the beat do the talking), his wordplay makes up for it all.

"D.O.A." premiered on Hot 97 last night and was brought to us courtesy of Funk Master Flex and Mister Cee, and boy did it make a few listeners shed a tear; some from joy and others from total shock.

After the songs premiere, for literally an hour, the Internet ran ramped with folks absolutely baffled by Jay's audacity and daring move to release a track that basically turns it's nose up to what has defined Hip-Hop today. But Jay didn't stop there, he also took the liberty of bashing NYC radio station Z100, gentleman who like to wear tight jeans paired with bright colors, singing rappers, takes a swing at T-Pain (the Auto-Tune King), and dismisses anything so much as deemed as pop culture.

Jay's direction with his new album appears to be to pay homage to a genre that was well respected and universally understood before it was franchised. This writer had completely given up on the entire auto-tune fads. If you take a look back at the archives you will see that yours truly has been everything but mum on the subject of auto-tunes, so the song really hit home. It is reported that Jay's album before the decision to change up the direction was headed down the road of auto-tune infused, thankfully someone came to their senses because that decision would have been career ending and respect diminishing for the gifted emcee.

With Blueprint 3, judging by the material that has been heard in the past week, is going to be a more raw and art full side to Jay-Z, kind of like a return to Reasonable Doubt. He has already experienced the success of being number 1 by changing up his style and molding to what pop culture wants, now it looks like he is returning home to give us more of that vintage Hip-Hop that talks about things that are relevant and is not afraid to go there. Let us all have a moment of silence for the overused and played out plug-in.......because the dawn of Hip-Hop has finally begun. 

In the video below, Mister Cee and Funk Master Flex caught up with Jay-Z after the storm of "D.O.A" and here is what he had to say about the controversial track and being overcharged by Def Jam for his contract buy out.