JAY Z sat down this past week with hip-hop journalist Elliott Wilson (via Life + Times) before his "Legends of the Summer" stop at Yankee Stadium. The two talked about Jay's new record, Magna Carta Holy Grail, his views on the current state of rap and his recent Samsung deal, which set off a great debate about record sales, sponsorships and new technology (aka #NEWRULES).
In the clip, Jay calls himself a "serial collaborator," referencing his wide-ranging past collabs, which include recent guests/producers The-Dream and Pharrell, as well as Santigold, Chris Martin, R. Kelly, Mary J. Blige and J. Cole.
He also discusses the vision behind the "Legends" tour with Justin Timberlake, explaining that the pair wanted to create a "once in a lifetime" type show, not just Timberlake "on one side" of the stage doing his songs an Hov doing his songs. For the tour, the artists are performing on each other's songs.
The always insightful MC also offers his take on dealing with paparazzi: "People are still getting shot where I grew up. I've got a couple cameras in my face, I can deal with that. You go through it like, 'This is terrible I can't even take my daughter to the store'—wait a minute—let's put it all in perspective. It's not a real problem. People have real, real problems."
Regarding his Samsung deal addresses In America, we have an overreaction to everything. I'm not really concerned with noise, because I'm playing for long game. I see 10 years down the road, and then we'll really be able to judge the album for what it is.
Jay also says he's excited about the next generation of rappers—the "new legends," as he puts it: "the Kendricks and Coles and Drakes." And he doesn't intend on "doing the Rolling Stones thing, at 70."
Watch Part One (yes, Part Two arrives later this week) below:
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