The much anticipated follow-up to ’03 Bonnie And Clyde’ was released this week, and who would have thought that Jay-Z and Beyonce could make a song about outlaws such a snoozefest?
‘Part II (On The Run)’ samples ‘Believe In Me’ by One Way and is so laid back that it’s practically horizontal, even more so than it’s ?2003 predecessor. It’s the musical equivalent of sinking into a hot bath after three glasses of wine and a deep-tissue massage. Which is great and all, but you’d imagine that Bonnie And Clyde would want a song dedicated to them to have a little more chaos and fire.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wnd3eUlAGgg
Beyonce’s voice is stellar as always, chilled out songs always suited her voice much more than the ones where she had to elongate every single note to last five seconds each, ??la Listen or the random warbling she did in the background of most early Destiny’s Child songs.
The beat is your typical summery slow R’n’B jam, that could easily pass for the backing track of a classy porno if you took away the vocals – whether that’s a good or a bad thing really depends on your personal taste. Just as you’re being gently lulled to sleep by it all, Jay-Z comes in to add a little energy to proceedings. Nothing groundbreaking or particularly controversial, just some good old fashioned product placement:
Boy meets girl, girl perfect women/Girl get the bustin’ before the cops come running/
Chunking deuces,?chugging D’USSE /?Fuck what you say, boys in blue say
D’usse is Jay-Z’s cognac and according to Rap Genius, ‘get the bustin’ refers to getting down and dirty with ‘Bonnie’ ?before the cops catch up with them. The rest of Jay-Z’s contribution is pretty much standard Hov, showing off how hot his wife is and generally going on about how he’s the best thing since sliced bread. It’s his album that this is appearing on – ?’Magna Carter Holy Grail’ – so that’s allowed.
It definitely picks up where ’03 Bonnie And Clyde’ left off, but it would have been nice for a stomping, explosive party anthem, seeing as Robin Thicke already has the ?’smooth r’n’b interrupted by a swaggering rapper’ quota filled.
Overall it’s everything you’d want for lazy summer listening – if you’re a fan of ?’03 Bonnie and Clyde’, ‘Party’ and ‘Dance For You’, then you’ll love this. That is, up until a month from now, when this song is being played on every single radio station and you’d trade your left eye just to listen to ‘Blurred Lines’ again.