Blue Magic (song)

"Blue Magic"
Single by Jay-Z featuring Pharrell Williams
from the album American Gangster
Released	September 20, 2007
Recorded	2007
Genre	East Coast hip hop
Length	4:10
Label	Roc-A-Fella Def Jam
Songwriter(s)	Shawn Carter Pharrell Williams Thomas McElroy Denzil Foster
Producer(s)	The Neptunes
Jay-Z singles chronology
"Umbrella" (2007) "Blue Magic" (2007) "Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)..." (2007)
Pharrell singles chronology
"Give It Up" (2007) "Blue Magic" (2007) "I Know" (2008)

"Blue Magic" is the first single from Jay-Z's tenth studio album, American Gangster.^[1] The song was released as a single on September 20, 2007. In the chorus, Pharrell sings an interpretation of the song "Hold On" by the R&B girl group En Vogue, who are also featured in the song. The name "Blue Magic" is a reference to a potent form of heroin sold by Frank Lucas at the height of his drug trade in Harlem, New York. An official remix features Pharrell and Trey Songz.

The lyrics in the first verse refer to Eric B. & Rakim's song "My Melody". Most of the song itself is a reference to the 1980s. Jay-Z brings up his time as an early age drug dealer with links to the Iran-Contra scandal and CIA and Contras cocaine trafficking in the US that rocked the 1980s and the Reagan Presidency.^[2]

Blame Reagan for making me into a monster
Blame Oliver North and Iran-Contra
I ran contraband that they sponsored
Before this rhyming stuff we was in concert

Blue Magic also samples the 1931 horror film, Frankenstein.

Chamillionaire released a freestyle of this song for his Mixtape Messiah 4 called "What the Business Is". Royce Da 5'9" released a freestyle of this song called "Blue Magic". It was a "diss" track on Mistah F.A.B..