Jay-Z is patiently waiting in a London studio to play us some tracks from
his much anticipated The Blueprint 3, the final album in a trilogy which
began in 2001 and set a precedent that most other rappers and hip hop
artists have yet to achieve.
At almost 40, the man also known as Beyoncé's
hubby is still on top of his game.
A keen businessman - he has his own
clothing line Rocawear, and was at the helm of Def Jam, before parting ways
and setting up his own label, Roc Nation - and a discoverer of talents including
Rihanna, Jay-Z is a focused man.
Tonight, his iPod is his main focal
point, which contains much of the tracks of The Blueprint 3 where guests
abound. Besides Rihanna and the ubiquitous Kanye West, his album also
features some other prominent guests. "I worked with a bunch of people:
MGMT, Drake, Kid Cudi, Mr Hudson... I'm missing some other people... And some
other people!" he laughs. He presses play.
Jay-Z: Run This Town, from The Blueprint 3
The following morning at his hotel, Jay-Z appears fresh despite a night
spent clubbing - and ready to discuss, with no false modesty, this third
blueprint he has drawn up for rap music's future generation. "I call it the
new classic because it takes the traditional approach of making music, but
it's a blueprint for the next generation because the first generation was
based on the soul samples and the music that I heard growing up," he says
with all the confidence of Leonidas attacking the Persians.
"The second
Blueprint was all over the place 'cause it was all my musical influences and
I was pulling from Lenny Kravitz in rock to Sean Paul in R&B. This one is
like we're becoming those icons that we all looked up to, so we have to set
a blueprint for the next generation." More than just making music, Jay-Z
seems to want to install a sense of perception. The night before, I was told
not to take any notes because "Jay-Z wants you to feel his vision." One that
he wants to set him apart from the rest.
And the rest, in many cases, find a niche, bask in its safety and stagnate.
Jay-Z agrees. "Yes and understandably so, because of the way the Internet has
affected the music business. The sales are down so now everyone has less
margin for error. So they can't just make music that they love. They have to
make music to fit on the radio because they need the most impressions to
sell the most records," he explains.
"But when you do that, it's not always
good because now everything just sounds alike because everyone's trying to
fit into this radio format. So it's just me taking ownership in that and
trying to make great music for the sake of making great music and hopefully
people will follow that blueprint."
The man's got a point : A lot of rap
nowadays sounds like the same old song. "It's like a Catch-22 situation.
Before, a person could make an album and not have a record on the radio and
still go gold. It's not happening in today's climate so there's a lot of
pressure on artists as well. But we still have great music. We'll figure
all the other parts out later." Yet when it comes to his own music, he's
unfettered. "I love it, you know. I love to make music," he says.
"Rappers can be around for as long as they're
making great music. I don't think there's an age limit on rap." - Jay-Z, pushing 40
"I think
you really have to love or have passion for something. I still try to make
albums. This is not even a day and age of albums. I concentrate on making
full, complete albums. If you look at my career and the records that I've
made, I've got it right more than I've got it wrong 'cause I concentrate on
making an album. I don't want to make two records a day and then have a
shitty album. I want a great album." Without auto-tune.
Jay-Z has widely criticized the overuse of auto-tune. The track D.O.A.
(Death Of Auto-Tune) is pretty much self-explanatory. And he even considered
scrapping the track he had recorded with his pal Kanye West because of the
use of the "enhancer" in the recording. "I have it, it's on my iPod," he
says. "I actually liked it, but if you're going to take a stance against
something you have to follow through with it. I don't hate auto-tune. I just
hate that everyone's following each other. It's more about everyone
following each other than the device. People are going to turn away from it."
He elaborates: "It's like what happened with rock music. Rock music was stuck on hair metal
bands. That was a big blow to rock that I don't think they recovered fully
to this day. And it kind of opened up the door for hip hop. And if we do
that, we'll open up the door for something else." Gangsta rap and bling
bling have also died down. "It's like a trend, like auto-tune! But I like
diversity in music and I like growth in music as well, and I don't think rap
should be afraid to grow. Rappers can be around for as long as they're
making great music. I don't think there's an age limit on rap or anything
like that. It should just be as wide and as big as it can be."
So is rap the new rock? "Yeah, I think the rebelliousness in it was replaced
by hip hop for the most part." Jay-Z is also a fan of rock. After working
with Linkin Park and Chris Martin, he wants to tick the next person on his
wish list. "Bono would be a great person to work with. I think he's cool."
The U2 front man would make a great rapper. Jay-Z laughs: "Yeah, that's
true! He's good!" Or Jack White. "I saw The Dead Weather play. I think he's
brilliant. I think he's a genius."
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