Jay & Nas have a lot of material about "moving bricks" because its a part of a deeper
narrative they created. Not to mention its something they both experienced/witnessed
first hand. They are story tellers. They are artists dealing with something they knew, which is
the ghetto in NY, Bed-Stuy & Queensbridge respectively, which are very close in proximity, but also distinct in the fact that they were their own worlds within a city in a certain time
and place. Late 80's and early 90's were trife times in urban America and still are, but were especially so then. And, the fact that they spawned artists that were able to create vivid imagery of what was happening there is a fucking miracle. So don't get it twisted.
Drake makes cool songs sometimes, but we know he didn't experience certain things
and ain't "catchin' a body like that" EVER. Jay & Nas, for whatever they have become,
are true products of where they're from and have held on to that same narrative all
along. That's a major difference. So this idea that you can write something off because
its about "moving bricks" and maybe in 2012 that sounds tacky or cliche, the fact of
the matter is that that meant something very real and they both touched on it vividly
many times over in a way that only great artists can.