There has been speculation for some time that Jay-Z is retiring and S. Carter is taking his place. Furthermore, there have been talks that he will follow Lyor Cohen to Warner and start his own label. His latest video “99 Problems” seemed to encourage that theory, and now Jay is clearing the air. In a recent interview with Sway, Mr. Carter shed some light on where he is going.
Jay was asked about the symbolism of “99 Problems” and if it meant the death of Jay-Z and the birth of Sean Carter, he answered, “That’s been coming, you know, the whole time. People seen that coming, you know what I’m saying? But I don’t want to get extreme with it where I’m in the paper like, ‘don’t call me Jay-Z no more.’ I just didn’t want to just go into the studio and just record music and put out an album just to make money, just to be doing it and going through the motions. I gotta be passionate about it, and I wasn’t feeling that passion, so I put it down. I still feel the same way. I’ve still got a lot of other things to do. So that’s a long way away, and as far as the label, I know I’m going to have to come back to music, ’cause it’s my first love. And I know I love working with new artists and seeing them go through that transformation and putting out new artists and seeing a new guy blow up or whatever. I just don’t know if that’s this year or three years from now.”
When asked about the potential label deal with Warner and the speculation of signing Talib Kweli, Foxy Brown and others, Jay-Z answered, “Well, I like those artists, so I don’t know. Maybe next year, maybe three years, but we’ll see.”
