Fame exists on a sliding scale. If you were to take your index finger and point to the top, you’d find Jay Z. This week he lands in the UK for a run of arena shows in support of his latest opus, ‘Magna Carta Holy Grail’, his 12th studio record and another entry in a discography now bursting at the seams with seminal moments.
“When art started becoming part of the galleries, there became a separation between culture. Even in hip hop people were like, 'art is too bourgeois'. We’re artists, we’re alike, we’re cousins. That’s what’s really exciting for me, bringing the worlds back together.” - Picasso Baby
On The Music Business And The Release Of ‘Magna Carta’
"First of all we're in a dying business, everyone sees that. So what am I supposed to do? Just wait and sit here until it reverses, wait till it gets to zero before I do something? I'm like, 'Ok let's figure out how to bring new revenue streams into the business'. Their job is to encourage the business to bring in new revenue streams, not to discourage me. So at that point, if you're not with the changing times, you're irrelevant to me. I'm gonna move on." - The Truth/Rap Radar
On Staying Relevant
"For me, to be able to compete at Lil' Wayne's level at my age, that's rarefied air. It's never been done." - Rolling Stone
On Producers
“Rick [Rubin] ain’t normal. I don’t give a fuck. I know all producers have their idiosyncrasies, meaning you know quirks, weird shit. But he’s just strange by strange standards. We was downstairs doing hardcore rap records and shit, upstairs he had a bunch of people having koala leaves and doing some type of Tibetan freedom concert planning. Over 20 years into his career the dude ain’t changed. He got his own vibe. It’s Rick. You gotta love him for that.” - On Rick Rubin
"Everyone has to put egos aside for the sake of the project and he wasn't accepting of that and that was almost like the last straw. When he came back, I saw a new Timbaland. He has this maturity and this growth and I was like, 'Oh OK, this is going to work out'.” - On Timbaland, BBC Radio 1
On The Past And Learning Lessons
"I know about budgets. I was a drug dealer. To be in a drug deal, you need to know what you can spend, what you need to re-up. If you want to start some sort of barbershop or carwash - those were the businesses back then - things you can get in easily to get out of [that] life. You have to have an exit strategy, because your window [for dealing drugs] is very small. You're going to get locked up or you're going to die." - Vanity Fair
“Boxing is a glorious sport to watch and boxers are incredible, heroic athletes, but it's also, to be honest, a stupid game to play. Even the winners can end up with crippling brain damage. In a lot of ways, hustling is the same. But you learn something special from playing the most difficult games, the games where winning is close to impossible and losing is catastrophic: you learn how to compete as if your life depended on it. That's the lesson I brought with me to the so-called ‘legitimate’ world.” - Decoded
On Barack Obama
"I've spoken to him on the phone and had texts from Obama. Of course. He's a regular guy as well. He's very heavy into sports so a lot of his analogies end up in sports. I don't know if this is breaching national security but when he was getting elected the second time, he was like, 'Hey, you know, off-courter, just give me the ball.' I said, 'word'." - Hot97 Radio
On Trayvon Martin
"I was really angry. I didn't sleep for two days. We all knew there was still a bit of racism in America but for it to be so blatant. If you just asked the questions, asked yourself the question, 'Didn't Trayvon have a right to stand his ground?' He was being chased and he fought back. He may have won. That doesn't mean he's a criminal. He won! I mean, if you chase me and you try to attack me and I defend myself, how can I be in the wrong? How is that right?” - The Truth/Rap Radar
On Blue Ivy And His Music
“‘More, daddy, more...daddy song.’ She’s my biggest fan. If no one bought the 'Magna Carta', the fact that she loves it so much, it gives me the greatest joy. And that’s not like a cliché. I’m really serious. Just to see her, ‘daddy song, more, daddy.’ She’s genuine, she’s honest, because she doesn’t know it makes me happy. She just wants to hear it.” - Vanity Fair
On His Public Persona
“Yeah, 50 Cent told me that one time. He said, ‘You got me looking like Barksdale and you get to be Stringer Bell!” - New York Times
On Athletes, Agents And The Sports Business
"They go to Nike, they do the contract and then they sit back. They don’t do anything else. So they’ve been sitting around for 20-30 years just not doing anything. So me coming, that’s a problem for them. 'Cause now they have to go to work, now they have to wake up, now they have to do things. So they don’t want me around because now they have to do something for these athletes. The bigger goal is for all artists to get their just due. Not to get half-ass agents or people who rob them or people who don’t care about their finances. They’re just taking whatever is going to get them a check.” - Fox Sports
Thu October 3rd 2013 - MANCHESTER Phones 4u Arena
Fri October 4th 2013 - MANCHESTER Phones 4u Arena
Sun October 6th 2013 - DUBLIN The O2
Tue October 8th 2013 - BIRMINGHAM NIA
Thu October 10th 2013 - LONDON The O2 Arena
Fri October 11th 2013 - LONDON The O2 Arena
Sat October 12th 2013 - LONDON The O2 Arena
Mon October 14th 2013 - LONDON The O2 Arena
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