For those wondering what prompted his move away from the double-time rhyme scheme used on songs such as “I Can’t Get With That” and “The Originators,” Jay-Z says it was a simple matter of style versus substance.
“When I first started writing raps, I was a kid,” Jay-Z explained. “I started when I was nine-years-old, so I didn’t have real life experiences. The thing I drew off of was being creative. It was more about the technique than what I was saying. I was trying to say things in different ways—doing faster flows and triplet styles. It was more of a technical thing.”
Jay added that as he collected more real life experiences, he focused more on subject matter and less on the technical aspects of his rhymes. The slowed-down delivery, with an attention to social commentary manifested itself on songs such as “Minority Report,” which addressed Hurricane Katrina and “Say Hello,” which took Don Imus and Al Sharpton to task in one of its verses.
“It became more about the words, more about what I was saying and more about this emotion and this truth,” Jay-Z said, while pointing out that he revisited the face-paced rhyme scheme, presumably on songs such as “Nigga What, Nigga Who (Originators ’99)” among others. “I still had the technical side because I was writing for so many years.”
The video interview is part of a promotional campaign for an iPhone application in conjunction with Jay-Z’s Decoded memoir/lyric book. A similar interview, also found on Jay-Z’s official YouTube channel emerged last fall; the clip featured Jay explaining the lyrics to his song, “Most Kings.”
good interview
that was a good listen
youtube my name check out some of my music williano
here some links hope they work
check out some of my music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaHEiFKrMAU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sW6qR1m3b1g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp6onX_nGoU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C159A0OE7s0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dcuL-sZuQ8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyA5caf_IcU
Right on righ on
i was hoping for a more in depth explanation…
ANYWHO,
CHECK ME OUT. I PROMISE GREAT MUSIC. IT’S A PROMISE!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdylMPXtisY
well boss thug, he needs to be more creative than he has been in the last few years, he was a beast when he first came out, and it’s just been declining since.
Jay-Z wants to be Jewish, oops did I say that…?
This comment is exactly the reason why people are stuck where they are. You have allowed the prejudice of others to dictate how you feel about you and who should be, sound, act and look like. He doesn’t want to be Jewish, Jewish people are not the only ones who want to prosper and achieve success.
He does talk like a old jewish dude, but there’s alot of jews in Brooklyn. I know a lot of niggas in NY that got the ‘jew’ influence.
diz iz wut makez jay-z! da best eva. he doesn’t stick 2 one style all da time. he has diffrent flowz and topicz 2 discuss and doesn’t stick wit one subject. wordplay iz incredible and can’t b fucked wit by no1. don’t no y niggaz hate on hiz new shit. it’z just az good az hiz old shit. all top notch muzik. kanye and j cole r next in line 4 goat.
RNGMB BITCH!
you must have failed your english class……hey, ever heard of adult school?
http://www.youtube.com/user/305ilovemia#p/a/u/0/_svkAbbdDl4
I SPAM…..IMMA SPAMMIN ASS MUTHAFUKA
TILL I GET BANNED..WHATEVER MUTHAFUKA
Wit ya open toe sandles and u look like joe camel
i call bullshyt. i got his old albums. outta 10 songs it was 2 about “something”. the others were just braggadocios bs like evry other rapper…but at least he had some. most had/have none.
Yeah Jay is a master of making hits. Hell Blueprint 3 was bragging for 14 tracks all of them could have been a single
i think its true that jay does say more on his later songs than in shit like “i cant get with that.” but, its not like he was a 9 year old kid when he made those early songs with that different flow. that was when he supposedly was “knee deep in the dope game” . so why would it take him to be 40 years old and like 20 years removed from all that shit for him to make minority report.
im not sayin that i dislike any kind of jay… im just sayin that his explanation doesnt make 100% sense
“And plus Nas had came out and everybody knows he was the best, so it just made since that I start to rap more like what he was doing”
He definitely changed his style up over the years…Just listen to his pre reasonable doubt tracks IF you can find them lol. Hes gotta tight lock on keeping those tracks from hitting the net.
http://www.youtube.com/nonsense913
“You aint got no style muth-sucka”
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/vroom-vroom-feat-jjnay-single/id419177266
JJNAY has been selected to appear on ITUNES with platinum selling rapper MIMS as part of the “Open Bars” Contest! Whichever rookie artist gets the most downloads of their version of the song with Mims will meet with a MAJOR RECORD LABEL! Please help JJNay achiev…e his dream by downloading this song for only 99 CENTS! Scrawny little white kid from Maryland got potential here!
Jay-Z dumbed down his style from the 90s so he could sell more records a matter of his story capabilities being better or something is some bullshit. when he put out reasonable doubt it was technically more advanced and it still told stories then he wanted to sell more so he wasnt as technical plain and simple.
Thats’s real talk. Jay even admitted on a track that he “dumbed down for my audience” which I thought was a dick move. He basically was saying that those who listen to him are idiots.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69TveqTxA54
EMINEM BEST RAPPER ALIVE? OR IS IT LIL WAYNE, JAY Z , KANYE?
YOU DECIDE VOTE ON!
http://bigblogtalk.com/whosthebest.php
ALSO VOTE FOR WHOS BETTER TUPAC OR BIGGIE?
AND WHO THE BEST NEW ARTIST IS! TYGA? J COLE? MAC MILLER ? WHIZ!
YOU DECIDE AND LIKE US ON FACEBOOK THANKS :]
First question choices should be Nas, Jay Z, or Em.
Third question choices should just be J.Connor, J Cole, and both Whiz and Drake for th hell of it.
Wow, I can’t believe the hate this man gets while he is trying to speak and back your culture and hip-hop in the eyes of mainstream media.
Recently the one of the news papers wrote that Hip-Hop is ruining kids, and Jay-Z’s book would be good explanation why hip-hop is the way it is.
Stop the nonsense and hate.
NAS lost
i hope you aint talkin bout the beef they had on the mic, cause nas ripped jay apart!!!
NAS won you ignorant dumbasses…go do some research about the music you claim to love. Jay used to spit like Das Efx on some tongue twisting shit and could not even get a record deal. Then Illmatic came out and Jigga and every other rapper hopped on his nuts and bit his flow and style…Then Jay released “Dead Presidents” (which also sampled Nas on the hook) and then “Reasonable Doubt” blew up and Jay started to blow. This camel faced sellout owes his whole career to Nas but does not have enough talent or content to be on his level. He only raps about one thing while Nas can cover any subject matter he chooses with a million times more skill. This generation does not know shit about Hip-Hop, they just worship every overhyped sellout fag that comes out…fucking pathetic.
NAS WON
Damn, Jay Z looking more fruity than a fruit store in that pic with his big mouth open! Honest most of the shit we hear about Jay Z these days is just ol PR bullshit.
Truth be told Nas was and is the bombass nigga. Always will be. Nas’ big muthfuckin mistake was to join Def Jam cause he aint understand that Jay Z aint the man Nas is. Nas thought it was for hiphop to squash the beef but Jay Z’s bitchass was all about winning over Nas in the end when he couldnt do it by skills.
Jay Z can have all the white PR and corporate push he likes but many folks aint fooled. White folks keep saying damn why is this ugly ass rapper up in our face, he aint got shit going for him cept Beyonce, hes just jiving for cherry coke and his hoops team are losers.
Black folks who think know what time it is. Bitchy lil Jay came outta retirement for finances, not for music. He and Beyonce hire PR to say this and that money yadda yadda but they been lying about record sales for years. Jay Z done spent too much but not like Dame.
Real hiphop heads know Jay Z bit everybody, stole their music, used up friends and is a slave to monopolies. He’s a muthfucking boring ass old man who needs to retire again before he loses more respect.
Chuuuch bruh!!!! The jigga stans hate hearing the truth.
“…All I did was give you a style for you to run with…” NAS. And boy did he run with it.
That’s what I’m saying (re: above post)
It’s funny b/c when I say the picture for this link (without seeing the headline) the first thought that came to my mind was, Jay-z has always been a follower and biter of styles. He looks liek Kid Kudi in ths picture. It made me think how all the way since he first came out he has always been a duplicator. I partially believe his reasoning alluded to here- that he grew up- because that happens to most writers, but the real reason is he stopped being around Jaz, aso then he emulated other people he was around an influenced by. There’s nothing wrong with that per se, most people do that, it’s just funny how he has a reputation for being so forward- thinking or genre-bending or stylistic or any of that.
And, wait a minute, I thought he didn’t write??? That “rumor” is so BS. Anyone who rhymes knows they got written ish in their head, so you go to the studio, hear the beat and think of something that you got that goes with it. That’s what most peopel do when they do a “real-time” collab meaning they atually build the song on the spot as opposed to emailing a protool session to the engineer!
yo….’not writing’ means writing in your head. jay doesn’t claim his tracks are freestyles, he just writes in his head. hear a beat, and slowly build up to it, memorizing the lines in your head.
and jay not a biter what so ever…if ANYTHING say he a biter now…when he tries to cop the new styles like drake and shit…but early in his career, so original, yeah he had inspirations he drew on but thats inevitable. jays simple yet eye opening flow so unique yo foreal
can’t hate on jay. but if he had stopped after the black album….what a flawless album streak that would be
\/haterz\/ How can you blame dude for constantly staying relevant. btw Jay took MUCH better punches at nas than vice versa.
1 hot album every 10 year average haha
Jay-z is the best that every did it..and rappers no that shit unlike the hating fans…he killed nas ..and for the record diss records are won are truths not jokes…every album is a beast that he put out..name your favorite rapper that has as much hits as HOV…go listen to black gangster than holla back..HOV THE BEST ..AND THE ONLY REASON rappers like Em get burn is because hes white..period!!!!!yeah hes nice but white society has pushed him over the edge..i remember when z100 in NYC wouldn’t play hip hop, but soon as em came out all them white stations was playing it..but in my hood i dont hear no cars bumping no em shit, but when i’m in Howard beach them white boys bumping that shit hard like he invented rap..bottom line hov the best that ever did this shit…
Jay-z is one of the best but he isn’t the Goat and he ain’t fuckin wit Nas ever!!!!
Hov will always be the best to do Hip-Hop n I don’t need fools like haters here to tell me he’s not when old and young in thesame game with him call him the greatest. So glad to be Hov’z Stan’s coz I know he will keep making hits for me while those actors you fools on here call rappers are no where to be. just like the likes of Ja rule, nas, dmx, mase, game, snoop, b real, dre, cube and I could go on and on on these faded rappers and just like He (HOV) told the game ” you young rappers won’t last in the game” so it is. Bitches!