Music

Fat Joe, Remy Ma, and Jay Z’s “All the Way Up” Remix Doesn’t Quite All the Way Pop


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The remix to Fat Joe, Remy Ma, French Montana, and InfaRed’s simmering single “All the Way Up” dropped last night in Yankee Stadium. It features Jay Z. You may know him from such enterprises as Roc Nation, Tidal, and (allegedly) cheating on Beyoncé. It’s Jay’s best verse in nearly two years. (It’s Jay’s only verse in nearly two years.) It’s his first public statement since getting excoriated by the internet for infidelities allleged on Beyoncé’s new album Lemonade. It’s Jay and Joe’s first official collaboration after years of veiled disses and rumors of bottles smashed over heads in the club. It’s Joe and Remy’s belated post-Terror Squad reunion. It’s Remy’s return to the charts after seven years in prison and a stint on Love and Hip-Hop with rapper/husband Papoose. It’s the most adroitly New York sounding New York rap joint to make a splash in some time, thanks to a breezy sax loop from Cool & Dre.

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The intrigue ends when you press play and get serviceable but ultimately too chill verses from Jay and Joe, the former flipping Guru of Gang Starr’s classic “DWYCK” head scratcher “Lemonade was a popular drink and it still is” into an iffy boast about his marriage surviving infidelity and the latter dropping speed bump bars like “Getting so much brain, now I’m a Don Cartagenius.” Remy’s the only one who brings enough energy to match the gym room flex of the beat, and she easily washes both boys just for sounding like she really wants to be there. “All the Way Up” is an event record that’s too comfortable knowing you think it’s an event. It’s, as the out-of-towners always say about us, too busy looking cool to have all that much fun. This’ll get burn for all the reasons mentioned up top, but for me, personally… The hook’s catchy, but I’m good. Stream it below if you haven’t already.