Jessie Reyez’s new album, BEFORE LOVE CAME TO KILL US, has arrived, and while she keeps the guest features to a minimum, she does pay homage to some several big-name rappers on the project’s ninth track, “ROOF.” The Worth It and Bizness Boi-produced song features a prominent interpolation of Kendrick Lamar’s flow on ScHoolboy Q’s “Collard Greens.” In the same breath, she shouts out a trip of rap and R&B albums, too.
The song’s only verse kicks off with her singing:
Some girls say, “You lucky I don’t want your man”
But the truth is, boy, you lucky I don’t want your plan because
Blueprint, and Blonded, good kid, m.A.A.d city
Got love for Amy and Fugees, and Lauryn
But no f*ckin' pinche cabron, let’s get it
Reyez follows the same cadence as the opening of Kendrick’s “Collard Greens” verse, where he raps:
Translation: Ven aqui, mami, ese culo
Tu quieres coger mis huevos, y papi me molestes
Pero chuparse puto pendejo, el pinche cabron
Let’s get it
She continues to mimic his flow throughout the verse.
The albums she shouts out—JAY-Z’s The Blueprint, Kendrick’s good kid, m.A.A.d city, and Frank Ocean’s Blonde—all hold a special significance to her. In a recent interview with Genius, Reyez explained how she wants to take career inspiration from Frank Ocean.
“[My career goals involve] being able to approach the game like how Adele does it, like how Frank Ocean does it where the art is so heavy that it can hold weight for three years or four years so I can actually give time to my next album,” she said. “And then present it, but have proven myself, so the world stops for an hour just to take it in.”
She expressed a similar sentiment about Kendrick Lamar to Exclaim recently, too. “You know when Kendrick Lamar or Beyoncé drop an album, it feels like the world stopped for a second?” she asked. “I feel like they’ve put in work and hours and proven themselves enough to merit someone sacrificing time from their life for someone you’ve never met for their art. That’s a f*cking big thing. It’s an investment.”
ScHoolboy Q and Kendrick Lamar’s “Collard Greens” dropped in 2013 as the lead single from Q’s third album, Oxymoron. It reached No. 92 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was certified double Platinum in the US.
Listen to both songs above and catch up on all the lyrics to Jessie Reyez’s “ROOF” and ScHoolboy Q’s “Collard Greens” featuring Kendrick Lamar on Genius now.
