A Companion Primer for Summering Smooth with Swagger
A special to The Agenda by Jay-Z
[Note: This article originally appeared in The Agenda #18]
What's good, family? It's your boy, H-to-the-Izzo. I ran into my man P Breezy at Martha Stewart's annual spring key party in Southampton, and he put me on to his plans for THE SUMMER OF SMOOTH©. Since I "retired" from the game (You call running Def Jam Records retirement?), I've had a lot of time to enjoy the smoother side of life, but you know Young Hova needs to flip it with a little more flavor than your average man. When you see me and Beyonce (Holla at your boy, B!) roll up in the Maybach, stepping out looking immaculate, you know shit is on and popping. It ain't just smooth-it's smoove.
What's the difference between "smooth" and "smoove?" I'll tell you the same way I told Donald Trump: Michael McDonald is smooth; Billy Ocean is smoove. When you see Preston and the Bradthird family rolling tandem bikes through Bristol wearing boat shoes and captain's hats, snacking on a picnic basket full of egg salad sandwiches, and you hear the soulful sounds of Hall and Oates drifting through the air, that's smooth. When Jiggaman and the R-O-C fam are skating on 20's up in the Hamptons, rocking Gucci flip-flops and an Izod bucket (I'm so old school!), eating chicken and waffles cooked up by P Diddy's man Farnsworth Bentley, and bumping Earth, Wind and Fire, you know that shit is smoove.
Now don't get it confused: you need to make sure your game is impeccable to get with the Summer of Smoove©, but that don't mean you need Russel Simmons-type money to roll. Smoove ain't just about keeping wifey fresh to death in Moschino, stepping out with next summer's Manolo Blahniks-it's all in your swagger. I'm from Marcy, son, and you know S-dot-Carter kept it smoove way before Hova the God was big pimpin'. You don't need ice around your neck to be smoove, but make sure you got ice in your glass-along with some Armadale (holla!). Keep your game Billy Dee tight and it don't matter if you got two dollars in your pocket or you got money so long you're still spending small-face hundreds, you'll be slaying dime honeys from here to Kalamazoo. Now that's smoove. What it do, P Breezy?
