From his humble beginnings in Hip Hop to his present rap magnate status, Brooklyn rapper Jay-Z has never shied away from sharing the stage with his fellow artists. He partnered with R. Kelly for the ill-fated “Best Of Both Worlds” tour nearly a decade ago, he linked up with Eminem for a set of historic shows at Yankee Stadium in 2010, and most recently Hov teamed up with crooner Justin Timberlake for their “Legends Of The Summer” tour.
While speaking with The Truth’s Elliott Wilson, Jay-Z cited his lack of ego as one of the reasons why he’s able to share the stage with such an array of artists. He also dubbed himself a “serial collaborator” as he spoke on his work with tour partner Justin Timberlake.
“First of all, I don’t have an ego in those situations,” Jay-Z revealed. “Everybody should just come to the table and have fun and bring what they bring to the table…If I’m not a Jay-Z fan per se, I get to experience [him] in a setting that I like. I get Justin and ‘Oh okay.’ It’s expansive. It really helps the genre out a lot. When you put it in that place and put it in that light. I’m a serial collaborator…Putting those sort of elements in one room and just—I’m just curious as well. I’ve always been under the belief that it’s just music. We just use different instruments. It’s music…It’s natural for me to play music with Justin. First of all, we both use the same producers. So, pretty much our songs are Timbaland and Pharrell. The majority of them, so they kinda mesh really well because it’s the same sound.”
Jay-Z later touched on his monumental Yankee Stadium show with Eminem, a show he referred to as “a dream come true.”
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“Beyond a dream come true because growing up—at best you may think that you can make it to the [Madison Square] Garden as a musician. And then having Kool Herc and being in the Bronx, the home place of Hip Hop, and all those, how symbolic it was,” said the rapper.
Referred to as “The Home & Home Tour,” Jay-Z’s four-show tour with Eminem took place in September 2010 and included surprise appearances from Nicki Minaj, B.o.B, 50 Cent, and Drake.
As far as Jay-Z’s latest touring feat is concerned, his “Legends Of The Summer” tour with Justin Timberlake kicked off earlier in the month in Canada and will go on to make stops in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and close to 10 other cities this summer.
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