Jay-Z- “Allure (Remix)”
From the mixtape S. Carter: The Remix

In the fascinating Jay-Z documentary Fade to Black, we’re treated to some scenes of The Neptunes in the studio with Jay-Z. As the story behind “Allure” goes, Pharrell excitedly called Jay in the middle of the night and told him that he needed a “one last score”-type song. Pharrell envisioned The Black Album as a potential musical analog to Carlito’s Way, a mournful but honorable—and so necessary—kiss-off from a living legend. However, the album was missing a moment that questioned the permanence of Jay’s retirement, that addressed the lure of the life he was leaving behind—the same way there’s that frustrating half-hour detour in Carlito’s Way when he’s desperately trying to make that deal on the boat.

That’s a valid point. But in the hands of The Neptunes, the song comes off just as frustrating. They’re operating at their schmaltziest, with wandering piano chords and an inexplicable explosion stab; Pharrell is aiming for vulnerable with his usually cherubic voice, but he sounds distracted. Overall, the track is too striving and airy to match the gravity of the verses. Both this and “Change Clothes,” their other contribution to the record, stand as the most indolent and forgettable songs on the whole collection.

Luckily, the song was completely re-contextualized with a Just Blaze remix. It took a mixtape designed to promote Jay’s collaboration with Reebok to get us the version we should have had all along. Besides speeding it up and adding some place-holder percussion, Just barely alters a sample of The Independents’ “In the Valley of My World,”and that restraint was the right choice to highlight Jay’s self-aggrandizing but tender outlook. The first part of the sample hints at how deep Jay’s influence has been (“in the valley of my world”), and the second part hints at the empty promises being made on the rest of the album. (“You’ll be my only girl,” which I can’t help but read ironically, considering Jay’s lines: “To all the Lauras of the world, I feel your pain / All the Christys in every city and Tiffany Lanes.”)

The aching, swirling strings complement the sort of impressionistic regret that Jay is reaching for with lines like: “This time it ain’t even fun no more, I’m jaded / Man, it’s just a game—I just play it to play it / I put my feet in the footprints left for me / Without saying a word, the game’s got a mental telepathy.” But at the same time, the sample is grounded by its inevitable loop and Just’s humble snaps.

In general, the Just Blaze version of the song serves Jay’s resigned, contemplative tone in every way that The Neptunes’ did not. It wasn’t Jay’s fault that the song didn’t work originally, so I’m glad we have this version of it.