You can read these lyrics by Jay Z, from his song “December 4th,” in Bartlett’s Familiar Black Quotations. Read the lyrics in their full context here.
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Meet the Masterminds Behind the Beats: Celebrating Black Music Producers by Region
Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and founding director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He is also the editor-in-chief of The Root. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
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