Rating: 7 / 10

In recent times, Jay's new singles have been met with decent reactions from DJs and fans alike, while arguably not straying too far from his formula (eg. Show Me What You Got and Roc Boys from his previous two albums). Therefore, to think the reigning King Of New York can cause so much of a stir in his 13th year in the game (longer if you include his pre-solo work) with this new single DOA says two things; firstly that his impact remains as powerful now as it ever did, and secondly that the statement made by this single's title has clearly struck a nerve with an exceptionally large number of hip hop fans worldwide.

In reality, purists and hip hop critics have maligned the use of auto-tune since T-Pain began his onslaught of guest features and solo shots; however the public, club DJs and radio stations embraced it – and it soon became the biggest phenomenon of the last few years, without a doubt. Then, in 2008 the fad reached its apex. Not only did Lil’ Wayne smash down rap/pop boundaries with Lollipop, but Kanye of course took the whole thing to the next level with his divisive 808s & Heartbreaks set. When two of hip hop’s biggest stars embraced the vocal-effect, everyone had to sit up, take notice and finally take it seriously. Despite there still being negative jibes lighting up message boards, in a high profile u-turn critics were suddenly waxing lyrical about the "creative genius" of Kanye’s album and how Weezy was the undisputed "best rapper alive."  Even Jay-Z has been in recent interviews acknowledging they did it well.

Jigga, however, was clearly not quite so impressed. And neither, so it would seem, was the wider hip hop community who have backed his sentiment to the hilt over the last couple of weeks. With this new single/declaration – Jay has single-handedly caught the culture’s attention in a way not witnessed since Esco pronounced the death of hip hop. Operating on a higher-plane than the average ringtone rap fan could ever appreciate, the bombastic live beat from one of Chi-town’s finest producers, No ID, is complimented by the usual dextrose, smooth rhymes - this time proclaiming "this ain’t a No.1 record" or "for iTunes," "for Z100," or "for sing-alongs" etc. You could imagine the cheering of support the second he dropped these jewels on-stage at Summer Jam, not to mention during its first radio spins and online leaks. For someone to fearlessly go against the grain (let alone media or retail outlets) would be career-suicide for others, but Jay is in the fortunate position of carrying much of a whole coast, not to mention generation, on his back – and he is certainly using his ‘voice of the people’ status to great effect.

Always the don of the memorable one-liners, Jay’s first cut from the highly anticipated Blueprint 3 album doesn’t disappoint; "the only rapper to re-write history without a pen" is a genius quote, as is his open acknowledgement that this may "offend my political connects," which is something we were all thinking given his close relationship with many high profile users/abusers of the device.

As a single, this is one of the most important releases of recent times. Okay, the woodwind section and his sung hook are a little grating and arguably un-necessary, however – and we can all hope – if this makes any of the auto tune offenders think twice about utilizing the effect on their upcoming albums, Jay has succeeded in his mission.  In fact, having seen the uncomfortable T-Pain moment on-stage with Jay already, it looks like this could happen sooner than you might think!

So on this note, it’s over to Jay to leave us with an apt parting shot; "this is death of auto- tune... moment of silence."