I recall Common talking about how No ID
pushed him to bring it harder on tracks,
because Com was coming weak on his first
takes. Reading No ID talk about how he
basically played therapist to Jay as he
opened up, then pushed him to tell WHY
he wanted a Picasso or boxing him in
using the sample. He says he can't take
credit for Jay saying what he wanted to
say, but it sounds like he's responsible
for us not getting run-of-the mill Jay-Z
lyrics and him bringing us another layer
of honesty.