It’s been nearly a month since Jay-Z first announced his partnering with Budweiser to curate the “Made In America” Festival, and with tickets still available, fans are still chomping at the bit for more from the Brooklyn rapper. Now, in the wake of the festival announcement, Hova reflects on his long road to the top.
Jay explained to MTV that he doesn’t feel that his success as an individual artist is separate from Hip Hop. He said that he feels that he doesn’t operate separately from Hip Hop culture in anyway, so that in a sense, his personal triumphs are a benefit for the entirety of the Hip Hop community.
“I’m not jaded by the whole process,” he said. “I’m a fan of the journey as well. I see myself as part of the collective of Hip Hop. I don’t see myself as a thing that operates outside of it. So when I do these sort of things [like Budweiser’s ‘Made In America’ Festival], I’m like, ‘Man, we’ve come a long way.'”
Check out the full interview below.
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So when I do these sort of things I’m like, “Man, we’ve come a long way.”
And than I see a Mcdonalds commercial rapping about chicken nuggets and I think, “damn, we’ve fallen a long way.”
Pure nignorance
Jay still tries to act young though that’s not being relevant man he has to grow and that he has yet to do….listen to his lyrics & etc…. he finally tried to grow on WTT but he has to continue that. Jay u been in the game long enough to know where your at.
Naw man. He tried to grow on Kingdom Come but turned right back around on American Gangster and Blueprint 3.
He tries to grow and do grown man music but people turned on him on Kingdom Come and he was force to go back to doing young music. If people let him grow and grow with him than he would grow along. He does not need to retire, he simply needs to do more grown and more social, political and leave that young shit to the kids. No more money, cars or jews raps.
“No more money, cars or jews raps.”
I agree, I’d like to hear more grown up music from him, but I’ll be 32 soon. Hell I was 16 when Reasonable Doubt dropped. I’ve grown as a person and so has my ears. I’m done with the drug raps the get money rap the shoot’em up rap. All that shit is already out there already and when I want to hear it I listen to the old songs. I’d like to hear more uplifting music from hip hop. I actually think that’s what the hip hop community needs right now.
The realest talk ever @SmeezeF!
Jay is wealthy. 50 is rich.
Half a billion is not wealth.
jay z wack as hell
THE GOAT
glad to hear he thinks that way.
The article says to peep the whole interview below and then it’s just the shit that was already in the article…
Really?
young hova the god-mc
This nigga sucked the white jew’s dick for his success. Smh
Jay shouldve retired after The Black album honestly.
I think everyone in hip hop agrees. Since then, he’s released embarrassing songs such as Run This Town, You Forever, On to the Next and Off That. His legacy is tarnished forever.
If Jay retired after the black album there would be no Watch The Throne.
Rock artist don’t retire they tour off of their catalouge.
Jay z is the blue print for heaving a family and a succeful rap carear at the age of 40.
Will you support your favorite artist when they hit 40 or will you say he’s washed up.
If your a hip hop fan we need jay to keep going so that the labels don’t say “your washed up” and put the money behind the next “new artist”.
Jay Z is liked by the president, Warren Buffet we need this for hip hop.
Only jay z can drope one song (D.O.A) and kill a hole new sub genre of hip hop, Auto Tune.
When you turn your back on fam and call police on them at shows, now he thinks the whole hip hop community gaining because he’s collecting more corporate sponsors
Jay-Z has certainly made an impact on the culture. He was the first rapper to create a fake persona. Jay-Z never sold any drugs. Not only was he not a dealer, but he snitched on Preme. Since Jay’s debut, every rapper talks about how much weight they’ve moved.
Another important contribution that Jay-Z made to the rap game was legitimizing pop rap. While Nas, Dre, the Wu, Sean Price and others were making meaningful songs in the 90’s Jay-Z was making songs like Money Ain’t a Thang and Song Cry.
Jay-Z started everything that’s wrong with hip-hop. He’s not the savor of the genre. He’s a cancer that has destroyed it from within.
Good to know that you personally know everything about Jay’s personal life.
Also, Nas had some wack ass songs…or did you forget that he had albums between it was written and stillmatic?
As far as Jay goes, he’s the living embodiment of hip-hop’s American Dream. He went from nothing to the top and has both respect and success.
Funny thing about rap fans: If Jay died in 1999 or 2000 or if he fell the fuck off commercially or just died down (like Nas and other great rappers) he’d get called underrated and dope.
Fuck your opinion when its clearly biased. Its fact that Jay is one of the most successful rappers ever and that’s something to be proud of.
Nigga kill that noise. Dre and Diddy damn sure had their hand in “legitimizing pop rap” as you say, and believe me even the almighty Tupac didn’t exactly shy away from that either
You gonna put that on Jay-Z? He just knew how to make smart popular records resulting in his consecutive #1 albums but he ain’t pioneered shit
commercialized hip hop started with dr dre and the overexposal of hip hop with diddy, fact
N.W.A = first studio gangstaz
you all have points. so in conclusion..commercialized hip-hop fucked up the game
finally people see tha truth about Jay-Z. he iz a wack ass nigga, he bites other rappers. he is killin hip hop in a bad way. Lil Wayne is da best rapper alive. he can outrap dis old ass camel. swag
You think Jay-Z bites other rappers? You obviously have never seen this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mptMWzF1K_k
Classic rap fans would love Jay if he died circa 1999 or if he had never had commercial success. Its hilarious. Nas can’t, i repeat, CAN’T make a good single to save his life, but you know…he’s the G.O.A.T.
At least Jay’s straightforward, he doesn’t try to do what he can’t do. I hate to keep comparing Nas with him but other fans bring it up so much.
Nas’s “Untitled” album CLEARLY had certain songs that were supposed to get radio play and buzz. Hero was an alright song but y’all give him a pass for “Make the World Go Round” with Chris Brown?
All I’m saying is I don’t really give a damn about Jay’s personal life or if he aims for commercial success. If I like the music I’ll bump it, if not, then I trash it.
make the world go around is the song that kept this song from being a classic and that song has to be the worst Nas song ever
this album*
Damn, are we still using small excerpts from this single interview last month as stories?
Greatest of all time, the hate just proves it only further.
your line is washed up
oh no u di’int
Jay-Z is bitin Lil Wayne… but Weezy killed him on Tha Carter IV. Weezy sold 1 milli first week in 2008 and 2011… Jay cant o it. Weezy is da best sellin rapper. dis is why he is da best rapper live. swag
Lol, it’s sad that your definition og the Best rapper is being the rapper with best sales. In my book that just makes him the most popular, not what I characterize as being a great rapper.
Em and 50 have sold more records than Wayne so that is a flawed reason for him being the best rapper.
jay-z’s solo albums have always debuted at #1 since 1998.. just sayin. and wayne?
Jay Is The GOAT is quiet simple,if you dnt like Jay Z music dnt listen to it why are you stressing yrselfs unless you are abunch of haters
When we going to hear about Jay Electronica and Kate Rothchild scandal.
For real! I really do sense a cover-up hardly any us outlets have run that story.
If it’s true I’m more than disappointed in JE’s – so-called pro-black dating Erykah
WTF is he thinking
The Rothschilds, one way or the other, probably own Hip-Hop DX. You think they gone let them post that shit. A bum ass nigga from out the gutter, came up rapping, fucked one of the daughters. The Rothschilds! The muthafuckas have caused more wars and death than any other family in history. And a hip hop nigga fucked a Rothschild, after they done fucked the whole world. We should be celebrating in the street, nigga.
this dude is such a big fraud
he just jumped into to the gap left by some of the greatest and pretend to be humble and shit
it is not about the money. it is about the skills. and i can name at least 10 mc’s more talented than this folk (nas, scarface, dmx, ghostface, pharoah, az, kurupt, eminem, andre 3000, black thought)
seriously, i saw it comin in 2005 when def jam putted him ceo. and i remember saying to myself hip-hop is goin to get fucked up straight in the A.
just remember how this dude was outshined back in the days when hip-hop was the real deal. you got the wu, epmd, snoop, the dogg pound, nas, mobb deep (in their prime), the firm, the westside connection etc and this dude was just in the middle of it that’s it.
now everybody, especially kids, are suckin him saying he is the “GOAT”. fuck outta here, i aint buyin this shit
the firm were wack, westside connection too, the rest you’ve named are dope though and snoop fell of in the late 90′ but he was still respected because of his doggystyle album
^ jay’s albums as a whole don’t have the replay value as much….considering the fact that his stans call him a legend…he atleast has to have 1 truly classic album….n yeah Doggystyle>>>>>>>> anything jay’s ever put out or will put out…..fuck snoop for sellin out
i can tell that you posess no knowledge about hip hop as a whole. you try to discredit jay’s skills by pointing out his wealth, which has nothing to do with it. jay is by far one of the most skilled rappers to ever spit into a microphone, you’re full of shit if you can’t admit it. anybody who drops verses like he did on rd is in a discussion for the goat. btw, the grammy family freestyle or his verse on shiny suit theory are greater than the great majority of works from the emcees you have mentioned. foh if you can’t deal with jay’s status. you hate hip hop if you hate jay, it’s as simple as that. and someone who mentions that fake ass clown nas as a goat contender should be banned from a site from this, when he is the true personification of selling out.
^ u must be butthurt Beyonce….hahaha
it’s obvious the guy making a connection between a so-called “knowledge of hip-hop” and jay-z skills is a die hard jay-z stan. therefore your point of view is bias and non objective motha fucka
like one of the dude said above jay-z has merely one classic album and his discography definitely don’t have the replay value as much as some other artists who definitely are more talented than him
You’re wrong about no replay value. That’s one thing you cant say. I host poker games @ the house and i often let The Blueprint and Reasonable doubt play through. PPl still love that shit. thats the prob with ppl that dont like certain artists. They will say w/e to discredit them. Have your opinion, but u are waay off base
^ no way ur telling me u actually like each n every song on blueprint n reasonable doubt??…..replay value means each n every song on the album must be listable atleast…i’m not saying JayZ doesn’t have classic songs….but an album as a whole he doesn’t have a classic….
Half agree – the Blueprint is definately a classic.
But RD – shit when wood at the time – when everyone was selling big stupid numbers – no-one in 2005 would of put album in any classic list.
Then Jay retires -and starts giving interviews saying it’s a classic – bla bla… the album didn’t go gold until 2006!! LOL
Well, he might be biased. But you’re telling me you haters who try to discredit Jay aren’t? Dickriding gets called out, but pure baseless hate gets a pass? And saying Jigga ain’t got no classics is riduculous. If you say there’s an artist that you like every song of, you’re lying. Even Illmatic had One Time 4 Your Mind and nearly the whole Hip Hop world would disagree with you, most would say that Jay has 3 classics in RD, TBP and TBA. I’ve seen shit that was truly outrageous and saying Jigga is the GOAT ain’t one of them. Anyways, Hip Hop lost for people really trying to take down of it’s absolute legends. Take your hate to a wack artist. I mean, you got people on here saying every Nas album is a classic, but you don’t see them getting shitted on for it. A clear example of the unbalanced and unfair hate that Jay gets from some of you guys just for being the top dog.
that bitch really has the nerve to say nas has more skills than jay? really now? a guy who’s rapping with one flow for 20 years? did you hear his recent ‘freestyle’ with eminem? jay gave eminem a run for his money on renegade. compare the horrible effort of nas to 22 twos, the freestyle with big l and especially the grammy freestyle. there’s better rappers than jay, but nas is not even close to jay’s level when it comes to pure rapping ability.
nas is waaaaaay beeeeetter than jay-z
you talking bout nas rappin with the same flow since 1992 so is jay-z
it’s funny how jay-z dickriders have nothin to say so they pull some fake ass non relevant points to get this dude some props. fuck outta here !
jay-z is OVERRATED. it’s a fact. the only reason he’s so much talked about is because he married beyonce, hangs with coldplay and fucks gwyneth paltrow
as far as his catalogue, like many people said, he has no classic album. maybe a few classic tracks but that’s it.
JIGGA JIGGA THAT NIGGA JIGGA
the dude made it like a real business man, there is no love in the business that’s how you get to the top
you clowns are ridiculous. nas paved the way for all the sellouts we have today with iww.
Liar!
Pac paved the way for all of the sellouts we have today. In fact they imitate what he did tit for tat. Difference is Pac really meant it when he said,”play the game to change the game.” He had a plan. Now these dudes just do it for the money
YEAH, I AGREE
REAL TALK UP IN HERE!!!!
Wow Jay look hella old.
Cuz he is lol.
TOP 5 , GREAT JIGGA
whats the song in the background?
HEEELL Y EEEZZZ NIKKKAS
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nigga admit it, you hate Hip Hop and you don’t give a shit about it anymore.
He’s right coz when he does these things people outside of hip hop view him as the face of hip hop or representative of hip hop, so really any win for him is a win for hip hop, coz if he does something & it’s successful people outside of hip hop will be more open to working with hip hop acts. The man opened a lot of doors dumb niggas don’t hear me tho
“Half a billion is not wealth”
Combine him and Beyonce’s money and that’s wealth. You probably bounce checks.
I would LOVE to rob this queer, that other ho and her daughter!
hell yea you robbing folks cause you are STARVING. now see a nigga like me, I got enough bills to impregnate myself and I’m still in the ghetto! That’s because I’m so hood I don’t need to leave the hood. But you in the ghetto because you stuck on that mothaphucka.
k about being a corporate hoe and not doing shit for the streets? Fuck Jay!
The “full interview” is exactly one phrase in addition to the already given quote.