The beat for “Blue Magic” the first single from Jay-Z’s tenth studio album, American Gangster was originally produced by Pharrell for Yung Joc but he passed on it.
Yung Joc revealed during an interview with Vlad TV, he was booked in the studio with Pharrell in Miami. Skateboard P played the “Blue Magic” beat and gave him a “Rakim flow”, but Yung Joc wasn’t feeling it. “I was like, I don’t know if that’s me,’ Yung Joc tells Vlad TV. Later Diddy and Jay-Z walk into the studio and when Pharrell played the beat Jay-Z was instantly feeling it and told Yung Joc if he didn’t take it he would.
Yung Joc sure enough gave the Blue Magic beat to Jay-Z and after came “Blue Magic.” with Pharrell on the hook. Jay-Z even mentioned Rakim in the song.
Read: Common passed on the beat for Kanye West’s “Everything I Am” and “Heard ‘Em Say”
Read: Memphis Bleek passed on the beat for Cam’Ron’s “Oh Boy”
