Behind Jay-Z Inc.'s doors

[Myrealname]

"New York -- "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming out," says Jay-Z in a Vegas lounge lizard voice. "Now don't forget -- there's a $10,000 cover charge, so if you could just take care of that on the way out."

Jay-Z always thinks big. One of the towering names in hip-hop, with seven platinum-plus albums to his name, he stands at the center of an empire that includes Roc-a-Fella Records and the Rocawear clothing line -- a hot young men's sportswear brand with sales projected at more than $300 million in 2002.

He and his team branched out into film, producing 2000's hip-hop documentary "Backstage" and the recently opened action flick "Paid in Full." They even made a deal to distribute Armadale vodka, a British brand whose promotional material says that its strategy is "to be the highest-priced vodka on the market."

So here at rehearsal for "Saturday Night Live," Jay is launching his new album, "The Blueprint 2: The Gift and the Curse," with an appearance that's almost star-studded enough to make a five-digit admission price sound reasonable. He's performing the record's first single, " '03 Bonnie & Clyde," with Destiny's Child leader (and his much-rumored squeeze) Beyoncé Knowles, and Lenny Kravitz and band are playing behind them.

This blend of hip-hop, R&B and rock exemplifies the crazy-quilt approach Jay took on the album, a two-disc extravaganza full of big-name collaborations and surprising styles. In addition to Knowles and Kravitz, guests include Big Boi from OutKast, the illustrious rapper Rakim and rising dancehall reggae star Sean Paul. Producers Dr. Dre, Timbaland and the Neptunes -- the three leading studio wizards in hip-hop -- are also on board.

"We're at a point in hip-hop where everyone is sounding like each other," Jay says, relaxing backstage during the endless, tedious hours of downtime during "Saturday Night Live's" all-day run-through. "If someone doesn't experiment with the music, it's not going anywhere. So as one of the people at the forefront, I feel like I need to put out all different types of music, to show that you could make a rock song, a reggae song. You could make a song with live drums. You can make any type of music you want, and you don't have to feel like you're selling out."

The 25 songs on "The Blueprint 2" could certainly benefit from some editing. Part of the power of Jay's best albums -- his 1996 debut, "Reasonable Doubt," and last year's "The Blueprint" -- was in their concision and consistency. But here, the sprawl is part of the point. "Some people might have to skip over some tracks," says Jay. "I'm saying that, and I'm the one that made 'em!"

He's everywhere you turn

In a year when it truly felt as though hip-hop was spinning its wheels, this sort of all-inclusive ambition is a statement in itself. And Jay-Z, who turns 32 next month, is nothing if not ambitious. In the past few weeks, as well as releasing his own album, he has turned up on the soundtrack to Eminem's movie "8 Mile" and on new albums by Missy Elliott and Snoop Dogg. ("Blueprint 2" knocked the Eminem soundtrack out of the No. 1 spot on the charts last week, selling 545,000 copies its first week out.)

Since the release of "The Blueprint," he's recorded a triumphant "MTV Unplugged" backed by Philadelphia hip-hop band the Roots, and released the massively anticipated, and ill-fated, "Best of Both Worlds" project with R. Kelly.

"Best," which seemed like a sure commercial juggernaut, came out a few weeks after Kelly's arrest last June on child pornography charges and has sold less than a million copies. (Over the summer, he told Teen People, "If [Kelly] is doing something morally wrong, he should get help, and I pray for him. I still think the album is a piece of art I wanted to do with a creative person I respect.")

Soft-spoken and quick to laugh, Jay-Z (sometimes called Jigga or Jay-Hova or various other ever-evolving nicknames) sits forward on a couch in the "Saturday Night Love" lounge area and talks excitedly about his new songs. He travels with no entourage, just one security guard. A walking example of cross-promotion, he sips at an Armadale and cranberry juice, and wears a dark Rocawear jersey. For the show's broadcast, he'll change into a Run-DMC T-shirt in tribute to the group's slain DJ Jam Master Jay.

Depending on whom you ask, Jay-Z represents the best or the worst of hip-hop. His effortless, conversational delivery ("He flows like a faucet," according to "The Vibe History of Hip-Hop"), innovative slang and irresistible hooks on singles such as "Hard Knock Life" and "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" rank him with the genre's greatest talents. "Remarkably, rap's best MC may be its most popular," wrote Spin magazine earlier this year.

But his relentless materialism and obsessive product-placement lifestyle -- complete with multimillion-dollar fantasy videos, carousing in the Hamptons and rhymes crammed with prestigious brand names and glamorous, high-maintenance women -- is something many in the hip-hop community have grown tired of. Jay-Z's 1999 single "Big Pimpin' " even created a name for this sensibility.

At the same time, his lyrics often point to the roots of his fascination with all that glitters. Filled with references to his own past and intricate narratives of drug deals and street crime, they tell a classic rags-to-riches story. Born Shawn Carter, Jay was raised in Brooklyn's Marcy Projects by his mother, a city worker (he recently met with his father, who left the family when Jay was 11). He dropped out of high school to tour as rapper Big Jaz's sidekick, but when that didn't work out he returned to Brooklyn and a life of dealing crack, he says. After someone shot at him from close range in 1995, he decided to get back into the rap game.

Unhappy with the record deals being offered to him, Jay formed Roc-a-Fella Records for the release of "Reasonable Doubt." He and his partners eventually signed a distribution deal with rap powerhouse Def Jam Records and began a run of hits few rappers have ever matched.

Several well-publicized offstage actions, however, add a disturbing underside to his story. Most notable was his 1999 stabbing of record executive Lance "Un" Rivera at a party. Jay pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and received three years' probation. ("It was a fight that escalated and got crazy," he told XXL magazine recently. "It made me that much more cautious -- even more levelheaded.")

Then there was the ugly war of words between Jay and rival rapper Nas. What started as a feud over who has superior talent devolved into personal attacks and talk of either a pay-per-view rhyme battle or a boxing match. Discussion of this bad blood dominated New York rap radio for much of this year and gave a dramatic boost to Nas' career.

In a recent speech at a New Jersey hip-hop conference, Public Enemy leader Chuck D attacked the "criminal element and criminal attitude" of rappers like Ja Rule and Jay-Z. "They can't tell you the difference between a musical note and a banknote," he said.

Jay-Z shrugs off the disapproval, attributing most of the criticism to jealousy. "Everybody wants to come for the top guy," he says. "That's an easy target. Everyone wants to root for the underdog, that's just our nature. After a while, it's not cool to say Jay-Z is hot anymore. It's like saying, 'Michael Jordan can play basketball,' 'Michael Jackson can dance.' OK, fine, cool. I just got to keep continuing to make great music and people will support me."

Getting his hooks into a song

One thing no one can deny is Jay-Z's pure rhyme skill. Astonishingly, like his late friend and fellow Brooklynite the Notorious B.I.G., Jay never writes anything down on paper, but improvises his raps in the studio. "It's a gift, man," he says quietly. "Even I'm like, damn, how the hell did I do that? Sometimes I finish songs in like seven minutes -- three verses, hooks, and perform it. Think it, do it, and gone right there on the spot.

"I don't believe in coming in with ideas," he says. "Putting it on paper makes it too uniform for me. It puts it between those two margins and it locks the flow up, so I don't ever think about what song I'm gonna make. I listen to a track and I think this track is saying this or saying that. Or I'll think of an idea and try to find a track that matches, but that's much harder, that's tough."

He did finally break down and buy a Dictaphone recently so that he'll stop losing ideas that come to him and disappear before he makes it to the studio. "I really believe I lost about three albums' worth of music that were in my head and I just didn't get them."

But, Jay claims, those ideas won't be making it onto records for much longer. His own relationship to performing has been sufficiently ambivalent that he's talked about retiring ever since his first album. He swears, though, that he now has his exit strategy worked out.

After the experimentation of "The Blueprint 2," he says he's got one more album in him and then it will be time to move on. "My next album will be 'The Black Album,' " he says, "and then that's it. I want to make it a prequel to 'Reasonable Doubt,' leading up to me having an idea for a song. I'll be saying, 'I'm going to use that Four Tops song, "Ain't No Woman" [a reference to his breakthrough single "Ain't No Nigga"],' and that's how the album's going to end. I'm going to loop the whole thing back together, make it a nice package, and that's it -- it truly, truly is. I just feel like it's time to do something else."

He sees his future not in the clothing line or film or even the liquor business -- he leaves those divisions to his longtime partner Damon Dash -- but in getting more involved in Roc-a-Fella Records. The label has enjoyed moderate success with acts like Beanie Sigel and Memphis Bleek, and Cam'ron's single "Hey Ma" went Top 10 this fall, but Jay thinks that with his experience, he has more to offer on the executive side of the game.

"I really enjoy new artists," he says. "I like watching someone grow, watching when they first get on Letterman, hearing them say, 'I'm never going to get a chain, I ain't into it like that,' and then next time you see them, they have eight chains. It's almost like having a kid. I don't have any kids, but I can imagine that's what it's like."

As for the widespread speculation about his relationship with Beyoncé Knowles -- who's not just one of the biggest names in R&B but also a budding movie star in her own right after her role in "Austin Powers in Goldmember" -- Jay prefers to let the music do the talking. His new " '03 Bonnie & Clyde" is a sweet declaration of love and devotion, with a chorus featuring Jay singing the line ( taken from a 2Pac song) "All I need in this life of sin / Is me and my girlfriend."

His version of "no comment" goes like this: "As far as making music, we make music -- the record is out there, listen to it. It could be entertainment, might not be. But as far as elaborating on the details of one's relationship, I think that's a bit much. I think that's crossing the line as far as being an entertainer."

He's more eager to talk about the unconventional tour he's doing in the weeks after "The Blueprint 2" comes out -- traveling the country, speaking at schools, acting as "Principal for a Day."

"Do you remember the guy who came in with the fake smoke in his lungs, to show how your lungs look after smoking?" he asks. "I thought about that for years. I still think about it. So I'd like to maybe be able to get to somebody and be able to affect their life. I just want to give them my story, and my story is a long road. I want to show them that there's at least five or six times I could have given up before I ever made an album, tell them about perseverance and about working hard.

"I still beat a lot of my artists to the studio -- that should never happen, but it does. Just tell these kids they can do anything, and I ain't one for preaching, but I really mean it. It's sort of like my music. I don't tell people to deal drugs or be hustlers or do anything, I just show them my life, show them, this could happen to you. This ain't every day, this is one in a billion."

[bez]

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[DPG4lyfe]

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[Instigator]

That was a good read, Thanks.

[Myrealname]

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