Music: Tom Ford

"I don't pop molly, I rock Tom Ford" raps Jay-Z on his twelfth studio album, Magna Carta...Holy Grail.

MCHG is at the very least the best rap album of this summer and at the very most the best rap album of the year. It was certified Platinum the day of it's release! That has to be some kind of record and was accomplished in part to due to an unprecedented digital download deal with Samsung subscribers. An innovative and modern day approach to album sales by Jay-Z.


The album features guest appearances by Justin Timberlake, Nas, Rick Ross, Frank Ocean and Beyoncé. Timberlake not only starts off the album with "Holy Grail", but the song was released as the first official single and lyrically samples "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (which had me immediately sold).

Long time fans of Jay-Z will appreciate the collaboration with Timbaland who first became a part of the album with "Picasso Baby". Timbaland was at the time working with Beyoncé on her next album and played the instrumental for what would become the beat for "Picasso Baby" for Jay-Z. According to Jay-Z, "that song built the album" and led the way for Timbaland to handle most of the production on the album. Jay-Z stated that while the two have recorded many songs in the past, it was not until MCHG that they got "the chemistry" to collaborate for a whole project.

However, this month is all about Tom and leads us to MCHG's "Tom Ford".

Jay-Z has been a long time customer of Tom Ford, but an entire song named after the brand and designer is a new level of artistic appreciation.

Mr. Ford tells WWD, "Who would not be flattered to have an entire Jay-Z track named after them? I mean, come on, it's pretty rare that something like that happens. It's a kind of validation of one's work, as it means that one has really penetrated and made an impact on popular culture."

Ford did not need a Jay-Z song to impact me. He is everything! And continues, "My favorite line is ‘I don't pop Molly, I rock Tom Ford.' I love that he gets a ‘high' from my clothes. I have been dressing him for years now, and I have to say I think he looks great in my clothes. (He) is one of our biggest customers. He let me know about this quite a while ago."

Though the song only references the name in it's chorus, Jay-Z does rap "Spent all my Euros on tuxes and weird clothes".

There is nothing weird about the name drop, only success for both MCHG and Tom Ford. In less than a month surrounding the album release, Tom Ford online searches jumped 155%. Seems like everyone wants to "rock Tom Ford". In fact, the new Drake album, Nothing Was the Same, features "Tuscan Leather" as it's first song. A nod to Ford's Private Blends?

The song is yet to become an official single, but gets plenty of radio play here in LA. But, not official means no official video (yet), so all I can give you is the beats themselves. Enjoy!