Does Cardi B's re-up of a classic Jay-Z track have you going back to decipher lyrics you memorized as a young, imaginary player? It’s cool, Hov’s work has a way of doing that – but if you’re stuck on the question of “what’s the difference between a 4.0 and 4.6?” the answer goes deeper than $30 to 40K.
You don’t have to be a gearhead to figure out the reference is automotive in nature. Specifically, the comparison involves measuring up different trim levels of a four-wheeled fixture in hip-hop culture, the Range Rover by Land Rover. At the time of In My Lifetime, Vol. 1’s release, the famed British OEM offered the Range – which it boasted as the “world’s most advanced sport utility” – in two distinctively different trim levels, the 4.0 SE and the 4.6 HSE. The difference in those numbers cuts to the underlying theme of the song – the levels that exist in the world of having nice things.
There’s an old adage in the automotive world that’s sort of a car enthusiast’s way of saying “Men lie, women lie, numbers don’t” and it goes “There’s no replacement for displacement.” It’s now highly-debatable with modern day tuning technology, but for a long time it was gospel. In essence, it says that in the quest for power, nothing beats the size of your engine or, more specifically, the length of your (piston) stroke. In this case, both SE and HSE were very capable aluminum block V8s engines, with the latter having a higher volume piston-sweep that pumped out roughly 30-40hp more and inflated the sticker price to aforementioned levels.
The difference in trim levels didn’t stop there. In 1997, Land Rover offered the HSE in a greater selection of colors and with other standard features like 18-inch alloy wheels, Pirelli tires and a six-disc CD changer. To counter Mr. Carter’s final lyrical knife-twist though, we can report that – for both SE and HSE – them sh*ts did have leathers.
That said, this whole breakdown brings up another time-tested gem of wisdom for those looking to flaunt their four-wheeled wares; never ever EVER buy the base model.