"Blue Magic" is the first single from

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American Rapping, rapper, businessman, and record executive. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he was named Billboard and Vibe's 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time, the ...

's tenth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

, '' American Gangster''.Shake (September 20, 2007)
Jay-Z to Release 'American Gangster'
. HipHopDX. Accessed September 27, 2007 The song was released as a single on September 20, 2007. In the chorus, Pharrell sings an interpretation of the song " Hold On" by the R&B girl group

En Vogue En Vogue is an American vocal girl group whose original lineup consisted of singers Terry Ellis, Dawn Robinson, Cindy Herron, and Maxine Jones. Formed in Oakland, California, in 1989, En Vogue reached No. 2 on the US Hot 100 with the singl ...

, who are also featured in the song. The name "Blue Magic" is a reference to a potent form of

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...

sold by

Frank Lucas Frank Lucas (September 9, 1930 – May 30, 2019) was an American drug lord who operated in Harlem, New York City, during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was known for cutting out middlemen in the drug trade and buying heroin directly from hi ...

at the height of his drug trade in

Harlem, New York Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan ...

. An official remix features

Pharrell Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973), also known mononymously as Pharrell, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and fashion designer. He first became known as one half of the music production duo ...

and

Trey Songz Tremaine Aldon Neverson (born November 28, 1984), known professionally as Trey Songz, is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B singer and songwriter. After being discovered by record producer Troy Taylor (record producer), Troy Taylor in 2003, Songz ...

. The lyrics in the first verse refer to Eric B. & Rakim's song " My Melody". Most of the song itself is a reference to the 1980s. Jay-Z brings up his time as an early age drug dealer with links to the Iran-Contra scandal and CIA and Contras cocaine trafficking in the US that rocked the 1980s and the Reagan Presidency.

''Blame Reagan for making me into a monster''
''Blame Oliver North and Iran-Contra''
''I ran contraband that they sponsored''
''Before this rhyming stuff we was in concert''

Blue Magic also samples the 1931 horror film, ''

Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 Gothic novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a Sapience, sapient Frankenstein's monster, crea ...

''.

Chamillionaire Hakeem Temidayo Seriki (born November 28, 1979), better known by his stage name Chamillionaire (), is an American rapper. He began his career in Houston's hip hop scene in the late 1990s. He was briefly signed with the local record label Swishah ...

released a freestyle of this song for his ''Mixtape Messiah 4'' called "What the Business Is".

Royce Da 5'9" Ryan Daniel Montgomery (born July 5, 1977), known professionally as Royce da 5'9" (or simply Royce 5'9"), is an American rapper. Best known for his association with fellow Detroit rapper Eminem, they became acquainted in 1997 and formed the hi ...

released a freestyle of this song called "Blue Magic". It was a "diss" track on '' Mistah F.A.B.''.

Music video

The music video was directed by

Hype Williams Harold "Hype" Williams (born August 1, 1970) is an American music video and film director, film producer, and screenwriter. Early life Williams was born in Queens. He is of mixed African-American and Honduran descent. He attended Adelphi Univ ...

with costumes designed by June Ambrose. It was first shown on

BET Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...

's ''

106 & Park ''106 & Park'' is an American hip hop and R&B music video show, set up in a countdown format, that was broadcast on weekdays at 6:00 pm ET/5:00 pm CT on BET; it aired on a one-day delay on BET International. It was the network's highest- rated ...

'' on October 11, 2007. The video shows the recording artist and dancer

Teyana Taylor Teyana Me Shay Jacqueli Taylor (born December 10, 1990) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, model, dancer, choreographer, and music video director. After choreographing the video for Beyoncé's 2006 single " Ring the Alarm," she signed ...

, dancing and

popping Popping is a street dance adapted out of the earlier Boogaloo (funk dance), boogaloo cultural movement in Oakland, California. As boogaloo spread, it would be referred to as "robottin'" in Richmond, California; strutting movements in San Francis ...

throughout the video. The video appeared at the bottom of BET's ''Notarized: Top 100 Videos of 2007'' on December 31, 2007. The video was noted for prominently featuring wads and a suitcase full of

500 Euro note The five-hundred-euro note (€500) is the highest-value euro banknote; it was produced from the introduction of the euro (in its cash form) in 2002 to 2019. Since 27 April 2019, the banknote has no longer been issued by central banks in the e ...

s, and it was noted that the video gave the

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

media attention at a time when the

U.S. dollar The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

had sharply lost in value against most major world currencies such as the euro, pound Sterling and

Canadian dollar The Canadian dollar (currency symbol, symbol: $; ISO 4217, code: CAD; ) is the currency of Canada. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $. There is no standard disambiguating form, but the abbreviations Can$, CA$ and C$ are frequently used f ...

.David Usborne
"Rappers join models in insisting on euros as greenbacks fall further out of fashion"
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', November 17, 2007. Accessed February 9, 2017

Charts

References

External links

* {{authority control 2007 singles Jay-Z songs Pharrell Williams songs Song recordings produced by the Neptunes Songs written by Pharrell Williams Songs about drugs Songs written by Jay-Z 2007 songs Songs written by Denzil Foster Songs written by Thomas McElroy Songs written by Foster & McElroy Roc-A-Fella Records singles Music videos directed by Hype Williams