Media Outrage

First of all let us say this, that their is not much more this guy can do to further solidify himself as the Greatest Rapper of all time. We know he is. Yes we are Jay Z fans over here at MediaOutrage, but we are also extremely objective in our perspective and opinions as it relates to rap. Blender is reporting that Jay is worth a whopping $286 million with a collection of great endorsement deals, a slew of 40/40s, Roca-Fella Records, his annual $8 million plus salary as Def Jam President, his minority stake in the New Jersey Nets soon to be Brooklyn Nets, and the millions he collects from album sales, royalties, and tours.

But check out this interview he did with Blender. We rank this up their with one of his best interviews ever.

What is it about this movie that opened the creative floodgates?
It was the emotions I remember from that time. Paranoia, excitement, addiction. It really is an addiction. After a while in the game, you become addicted to the excitement and the sense of uncertainty. Because any day could be your last. Cops are watching you, enemies are watching you — and knowing that, it’s this weird … rush.

It sounds like you’d never felt more alive.
[Nods and raps] “I never felt more alive/Than ridin’ shotgun in Cline’s green five.” I said that on [The Black Album’s] “Allure.” Absolutely. Because every second of that time you’re on pins and needles. It’s like gambling — gambling every day. For the highest stakes.

We hear you like to play the card game guts. What’s the most money you ever won or lost at it?
Mmm … probably 100 some thousand dollars.

Won or lost?
Oh, no, I’ve never lost 100 thousand. I’ve maybe lost 30 thousand. I’m a pretty good gambler — a calculated-risk gambler.

When you were coming up in the game, were there other gangsters you modeled yourself after?
The biggest drug dealer in our neighborhood was a guy named Danny Dan. He was loved by the people. Like a don. I remember that he wrote his own obituary and picked the song he wanted played at his funeral: “We Got Our Own Thang” by Heavy D. He did die really young, but it was in a car crash, not anything drug-related. So it was ironic.

What about more mainstream power struggles? Do you support any of the current presidential candidates?
I have relationships with two people in the race. Hillary — well, not so much Hillary, but I have a great relationship with Bill. And I just sat down and had a conversation with Barack Obama a couple of weeks ago. I love them equally, and they’re both making history. I’m gonna go down to the last day with this one. I’m watching both of them.

What did you and Barack Obama talk about?
We talked about me a lot. He had a friend with him who had extensive knowledge of my career. We didn’t really get into anything more than that.

Now that you’re so successful, do you still experience racism?
Not openly. Money insulates you from things like that. You know, if people’s kids love you, it’s hard for them to say anything bad about you. But I’m aware of it, certainly.

On your new song “Ignorant Shit,” you rap about Don Imus, who referred to the Rutgers female basketball team as “nappy-headed ho’s.” When that happened a lot of black leaders — Russell Simmons, Al Sharpton, Oprah — squared off against hip-hop in general, trying to hold it accountable for such language. What did you think about that?
I don’t have a problem talking about censorship. If we’re gonna talk about it with movies, if we’re gonna talk about it with video games, if we’re gonna talk about it with all the pornography sites that are bigger than hip-hop, then I’m cool with people talking about it with hip-hop. But to single out hip-hop and pull us into the ring with Don Imus, that’s wrong. It wasn’t dealing with the real issue. What Don Imus said was racist. It wasn’t about ­censorship, and it wasn’t about free speech. And it wasn’t about rap’s influence, because Don Imus is not influenced by rappers. He’s not a fan of rap. I mean, he couldn’t name Wu-Tang’s first album.

As a label president, do you feel responsible for the lyrical content of your artists’ music?
You have to look at the people who are making the music, and the areas­ that they come from. On the whole, you’re talking about kids who are 17, 18 years old coming out of bad neighborhoods. They’re angry, they have issues and they’re not mature yet. You gotta let them grow. You can’t control anybody’s art.
On the American Gangster track “Success,” you rap about the disillusionment that can come with achieving your dream: “All I got is this big house, couple cars, I don’t bring half them shits out … How many times can I go to Mr. Chow’s?”
In the context of the album, it was that Scarface moment when Tony Montana sits in the restaurant and looks around and says, “This is all it’s about?” You get to that point where it’s like, “OK, I drove the Rolls Phantom around the corner and … nothing happened.” And you ask yourself, “That’s it? I thought blondes was gonna be jumping on my hood!”

Do you ever hang out with anyone richer than you?
I don’t know. I’m sure I do. I’ve hung out with Bill Gates, but he’s not a friend of mine. I’ve hung out with Bono. He’s gotta be way richer than me.

What’s the most expensive bottle of wine you’ve ever bought?
Oh, my goodness, I know that exactly. I had a $20,000 Petrus 1945 at a place called Graycliff in the Bahamas.

Full-bodied? Playful? Impudent?
Oh, it was definitely full-bodied. Incredible. You could almost taste the barrel. It was one of those things where you say, “Come on, how good could it be? What’s the difference?” But you really could taste the difference. It was damn near like smoking weed. It was a high.
When are you going to set a wedding date with Beyoncé?
Ha ha! No comment.

Do you get any pressure from her parents to make her an honest woman?
No comment.

What do you and Beyoncé argue about? Let me guess: no comment?
That’s right.

Easier question, then: Excluding anyone on Def Jam, who’s your favorite rapper these days?
I’d say, Lupe Fiasco. I love Lupe. He’s a genius writer. In his approach to making music and the depth of his lyrics, the guy is incredibly smart. I’m sure he goes over people’s heads, but I love him for that.

What role did you play in engineering the sales battle between your artist Kanye West and 50 Cent?
I just championed it. Kanye had the idea, and I was like, “You sure? You know what this is gonna entail. I mean, 50’s a fierce competitor. You never know what could happen — you could get, like, eight diss records.”

What would you say your biggest strength is as a person?
I’d say I’m fearless about trying new things, putting myself out there.

And what do you consider your biggest weakness?
I expect people to know certain things. If you’re my friend, you should know certain things, and I won’t tell you, even though I should. Sometimes relationships deteriorate around me because I only address things when I’m upset. I shouldn’t assume people know what I’m thinking.

People often undervalue the skill that comes the easiest to them. Do you think that’s the case with you and rapping?
It was for many years. Parents tell their kids all the time, “You get out of it what you put into it.” And I figured, “Well, I can make these rhymes in 30 seconds. This can’t be worth anything.” It took me a while to see it another way.

At the end of a song on American Gangster you yell out, “It’s just entertainment!” What do you mean by that?
It’s my way of saying, “People, stop taking it so seriously — not everything rappers say is true to life.” It’s entertainment, too. If you can watch a movie and see Denzel as a character, you should be able to do the same when you’re listening to rappers. I know we’re always saying, “Keep it real.” But for the most part [he laughs] — it’s not true!

Even though we took a lot lol their is still way more to read in that in-depth interview.

Check out the full interview Here