Author Topic: Jay - Z returns (in depth article about new album, retirement, Def Jam...) (Read 381 times)

Meho · « **on:** September 15, 2006, 03:08:51 PM »

Jay-Z Returns

After settling into the top job at Def Jam, the CEO coaxed his biggest artist -- himself -- to record ''Kingdom Come,'' the comeback disc that tops EW's list of must-hear fall albums by Clark Collis

According to Jay-Z, people should tell the truth, whether they happen to be a multiplatinum-selling rap icon, a major-label president, or a drug dealer. He should know. Born Shawn Carter 36 years ago and raised in Brooklyn's grim Marcy Projects, Jay-Z is the only person on the face of the planet with all three occupations on his résumé. ''In life, anything, just be yourself,'' he says this August evening, largely ignoring the glass of cabernet beside him at the bar of Manhattan's Mandarin Oriental Hotel. ''You don't have to be like that in the record business. You can be conniving and nothing happens to you. But I can't put up a front. On the street, you had to be a straight-up guy, you had to stand by your word. Because something could happen to you...''

Yes, Jay-Z is a man of his word. Except, it seems, when he isn't. In 2002, the rapper declared that his next CD, The Black Album, would also be his last. His future lay not in the beats but in the boardroom. And that ambition became a reality when, in December 2004, he was announced as the new president and CEO of Def Jam Recordings. How to explain, then, the news that this fall Jay-Z will release a new CD, Kingdom Come? ''It was the worst retirement, maybe, in history,'' he admits. And then he launches into an impromptu a cappella preview of the title track, which was inspired by a 1996 comic in which Superman comes out of retirement to save the world. The lyrics that effortlessly roll off his tongue may help explain his return: ''Take off the blazer/Loosen up the tie/Step inside the booth/Superman is alive!''

So without further ado, let us welcome, and celebrate, the return of Jay-Z, a.k.a. Jigga, a.k.a. Hova. He is, arguably, the most powerful man in the music business — but without his music, well, he's just Clark Kent.

Truth is, most people took Jay-Z's retirement declaration with a shovelful of salt. For good reason: The rapper had, in fact, been threatening to stop making CDs since 1996, when the success of his debut album, Reasonable Doubt, ensured that he would never return to the hard-knock life of Marcy Projects. And yet following Reasonable Doubt, Jay-Z recorded a new studio album every year for the next seven years. Each went platinum or better, with 1998's Vol 2: Hard Knock Life alone selling 5 million copies. 2001's The Blueprint was an instant soul-drenched classic, while the eclectic, triple-platinum Black Album features some of Jay-Z's most memorable tracks, including the thunderous, Rick Rubin-overseen ''99 Problems.'' So even after it became clear that Jay-Z was taking his new label role very, very seriously, there may have been only one person who truly thought he was retired: Jay-Z himself. ''I believed it, yeah,'' Jay-Z insists. ''I believed it for two years.''

But at the start of this summer, his feelings changed.

''It's more in the vein of The Black Album than The Blueprint,'' he says. ''I've been experimenting with things, different types of music.'' In addition to Timbaland, Jay-Z has called on the production skills of Kanye West and Dr. Dre. He also hopes to reteam with Rick Rubin. ''Oh, and actually, Chris Martin produced a track on there,'' he adds casually. Yes, Coldplay's Chris Martin. ''We met at a charity dinner and just really kept in touch. He sent me these beautiful chords for this song called 'Beach Chair.' I had Dre put some drums on it. It's really, really incredible.''

Kingdom's lyrics, too, come from a wide variety of sources. A track called ''Most Kings'' is inspired by a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting (which he owns). ''Lost Ones'' finds the man who once rapped about his inability to shed tears dealing with the car-crash death of a beloved relative. ''One of the most crushing things that ever happened to me was losing my nephew,'' he says. ''As you mature you realize that being vulnerable isn't weak. You realize that a man is himself.''

He doesn't yet know who will guest-perform on the CD (''I take care of that at the end''). But one candidate is Eminem. The only rapper who can claim more success than Jay-Z over the past decade did produce a track, ''Moment of Clarity,'' on The Black Album. But Eminem has kept an almost invisible profile since a spell in rehab and his short-lived remarriage to Kim Mathers. ''I speak to him from time to time,'' says Jay-Z. ''He's holding up. You know, he went through a tough time. He's getting stronger.'' Another possible guest, of course, is his frequent collaborator Beyoncé, who has also been his girlfriend since...Well, it's hard to pinpoint when they did get together, given that both parties decline to even admit that they are a couple, despite the massive evidence to the contrary. To cite just one example, on the recent Beyoncé single ''Deja Vu,'' Jay-Z raps that ''We used to bag girls like Birkin bags/Now I bag B''; the accompanying clip features the rapper being suggestively pawed by the former Destiny's Child frontwoman.

Yet Jay-Z could not be more emphatic in his denial that the track represented any kind of official ''coming out'' for the couple. ''No. No. No. No,'' he says. '''Bag' is not having sex. To 'bag' someone is to court them. I don't mean having sex.'' But the rapper does concede that those who watch the clip and think ''Damn, it's good to be Jay,'' would not be wrong. ''At times, man,'' he laughs. ''At times! Ha!''

Which brings us back to that whole boardroom thing, to the reason for that so-called ''retirement.'' It is no exaggeration to say that Jay-Z's appointment as chief of Def Jam was historic. Never before had a top-flight artist of any sort been handed control of such a large record label. It is a responsibility that Jay-Z takes seriously. ''No one thinks I'm ever going to be in my office,'' he says. ''They think it's just this closed door, that no one's ever in. But I've shown that an artist will come into the office early, and be dedicated, and really take a job serious. Two years later I'm still going to the office.''

The results have been, not surprisingly, quite strong. Def Jam has enjoyed a satisfying string of hit records during his tenure, including platinum albums from Young Jeezy, Rihanna, and Kanye West, who was a complete unknown when Jay-Z hired him to help produce The Blueprint. Even non-rap artists seem impressed. ''He's one of those guys, when he walks in, he owns the room,'' says Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz, whose band is signed to Island/Def Jam. ''Every time we're in New York we hang out with him. He came backstage before we were playing a show at Madison Square Garden. He was like, 'Big show.' We were like, 'Yeah.' He's like, 'Lot of people out there.' 'Yeah.' 'Don't f--- it up! Ha!' He's got this infectious laugh. It's like, no matter what he's just said, you want to laugh at it.''

Given that Jay-Z is a man who once spent his time weighing drugs, rather than the future of the music industry, it is impressive to hear him weigh in on the music biz. Whether discussing how the industry needs to find a ''new business model'' or lamenting the time he has to spend examining invoices (''I sign off on everything in the building''), Jay-Z is totally on point. He's even convincing when he insists that serving Bellinis in the Def Jam office on Friday afternoons is an exercise in team-building rather than partying. ''It started as somewhere everyone could get to know each other,'' he explains. ''Like in any lunchroom you had the nerds over there and the jocks over there. I couldn't work in that type of environment. So it was a social setting where everyone could come and download about what they were working on and yada-yada. And it worked!''

Sure, Jay-Z has had his share of corporate missteps. Early releases from his longtime protégé Memphis Bleek and Young Gunz sold poorly. This year's LL Cool J album, Todd Smith, was also a commercial disappointment. But with potential hits from Ludacris, Young Jeezy, Nas, Fabolous, and, of course, himself in the pipeline, Jay-Z's assessment of his performance at Def Jam sounds about right: He gives himself a B+. ''Jay has great ears and they serve him well,'' says producer Rick Rubin (who cofounded Def Jam in 1984 and sold the label four years later) in an e-mail. ''He has good taste. Not just 'hip-hop' good taste, but good taste in general.''

And as his current Hewlett-Packard laptop commercial suggests, Jay-Z's business reach extends far beyond Def Jam. In January 2004, he joined a particularly exclusive club when he became a part owner of the New Jersey Nets, who are possibly headed to Brooklyn in 2008. ''For a kid growing up in the Marcy Projects to be involved with [owning] a professional basketball team is way beyond anyone's dream,'' he says. ''You may think you can make it to [play in] the NBA, and that's a lofty dream. You never have the dream that you're gonna own the team. Every time I sit there and look around the table, I'm like, Wow, this is real. I'm on the board!''

Maybe so, but this fall Jay-Z won't be behind a desk. The rapper has scheduled a two-month international tour that will touch down throughout Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. And no, this won't just be a by-the-books promotional concert outing. In true global superstar style, Jay-Z will take time during the African leg to visit places hard-hit by water shortages. It's part of a UN-backed effort to publicize the plight of the more than a billion people around the world without access to safe drinking water. A documentary about his travels, Diary of Jay-Z: Water for Life, is due to be broadcast by MTV on Nov. 24.

All in all, it's a life that gets further and further from his ''hard-knock'' past. Though the rapper says he is a believer in karma, he doesn't regard his philanthropic endeavors as an attempt to make up for whatever harm he may have done during his time as a drug dealer. ''I don't look at it like that,'' he says. ''When I grew up, I didn't think what I was doing was wrong. When I started realizing it was wrong and that I was being harmful to the community, I was making my transition to get out of it. I just think [charity work] is the right thing to do. If you have more than enough, then you should spread the wealth a little bit.''

The job, the albums, the philanthropy, the superstar (non) girlfriend: Jay-Z's got it all going on. And this time around, he's not even calling Kingdom his last album. In fact, his new take on any potential retirement sounds downright rational. ''If I wake up one day and the best material has passed me by — and that's going to happen,'' he admits, ''then it's time to move on. I've said what I wanted to say.''

And for the very first time, Jay-Z has said something about retirement that we might — might — be tempted to believe.

ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1534551_4_0_,00.html

Regime Mob - Yuk · « **Reply #1 on:** September 15, 2006, 03:12:34 PM »

you already made a thread about this. And its no return lol, everyone with half a brain knew Jay didnt retire in the first place. Nothing is cornier and cheesier then retiring and coming out of it over and over again but hey thats jigga, lame.

Meho · « **Reply #2 on:** September 15, 2006, 03:16:50 PM »

Nah but this is the full article, that was just a small preview.

Of course everyone knows that retirement was bullshit. But Im happy he's back, he shits on 3/4 of these commercial rappers these days.