"This is anti-Auto-Tune" he proclaimed on the track DOA (Death of Auto-Tune).
As Jay-Z records go, the song, "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)," is middling.
And there was no "D.O.A. Kellz," his reimagining of Jay-Z's "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)" as an assault on R. Kelly's streetwise-R&B crown.
Jay-Z may have hoped for the Death of Auto-Tune last year, but obviously his plea was ignored: the effect is more ubiquitous now than ever.
Multiple songs here — "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)," "Off That," "On to the Next One," "Reminder" — essentially boil down to laundry lists of things Jay-Z doesn't like, to say nothing of things Jay-Z did before you did.
On the single "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)," Jay-Z mentions rappers that he previously overshadowed, an acknowledgment, perhaps, of a shift in hierarchy: "This shit need a verse from Jeezy, I might send this to the mixtape Weezy".
For the album's first single, he pointedly chose "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)," which ridicules the robotic, computer-tuned hip-hop aimed for pop radio play and ring tone sales.
In 2009, Jay Z released a hit single called "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)," intended to draw a line between so-called "real" hip-hop and poppy soft stuff; it inspired fans to chant "Fuck T-Pain!" during live performances.
And at Jay-Z's Sept. 11 concert at Madison Square Garden, he was the unexpected highlight, toughening up "U Don't Know" and "D.O.A (Death of Auto-Tune)." But virtuosity does not a star make, and Mr. Mayer has proven adept at displaying it in flashes — enough to impress, not enough to appear dull.
