Commentary XVII

I somehow joined Jay Z and the notion of an “Independence Day”

Guardian Prime

On Jay Z’s first verse of his “Young Forever”, you find the mechanics of theurgy. He contemplates living in a fable, where everyday is the best day, and each day is a reset of sorts. But time still moves forward for him, as he acknowledges a prayer for a better tomorrow in the chorus prior. So “when the director yells cut” refers both to this endlessly cyclical day, and the end of his life in “linear” time. The immorality he seeks is gained while alive, and will persist beyond his death. It is a “specular” immortality, gained by the magic of rap as musical poetry, the material success it brings, and the legacy it creates in those who will learn his name. For Jay Z, his life should fittingly become a fable for others, such that, as Sallust says, “these things indeed never took place at any particular time, because they have a perpetuity of subsistence”[1].