In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Jay-Z discusses
his thoughts of the Kanye/50 War, album sales and the I Get Money(Billion Dollar Remix).
“It makes me proud as
someone who’s watched his growth from the beginning, when he came in as a
hungry producer, to now; he’s a rock star,”Jay-Z said in response to Kanye’s
early records sales. “I’m happy for him
on that level.”
When asked if Kanye
dropping the same day as 50 Cent, Jay answered, “Yeah! But I think it worked both ways. I think it brought attention to
both projects. I think you lower both numbers if they’re not on the same day.”
“It’s pretty much how
much he cares about it. It’s not done for any other reason but to be the best music
out at that specific time … Every single song he makes, he makes because he
thinks it’s the best record at that specific time,”Jay says of the factors that are pushing Kanye to number one on the charts.
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“We have 75 mixes of ‘Stronger.’
Who does that? When I was sitting in mastering to make sure they got done, he
was somewhere in Sweden sending through mixes of ‘Good Life.’ Sixteen different
mixes of the song! Who does that?”
So what are Jay-Z’s
favorite songs off Graduation?
“Okay, today? I’m
pretty much consistent with ‘I Wonder,’ ‘Champion,’ and ‘Flashing Lights.’ Those
are my three records. I think ‘Drunk and Hot Girls’ would be a great stadium
song for him to perform … And I think ‘Big Brother’ is the best song he’s
written since ‘Jesus Walks,’ as far as structure, emotion, everything.”
“I think it’s a fair
portrayal from a little brother’s perspective. You know, you’ve got your big
brother and you want to go out with him, he’s like ‘nah, get back in the house!’
Things like that, until you come of age. At Roc-A-Fella, we’ve always lived by
tough love … Everyone has to work for theirs,”Jay says on the portrayal of himself throughout Big Brother.
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So why wasn’t Jay-Z
on Graduation; yet found his way on 50 Cent’s I Get Money Remix?
“Well, I was going to do ‘Barry Bonds,’ but it was late in
the day, so I didn’t get to do it.” [And for 50 Cent?] “I just wanted to show
that we’re not enemies … [50 Cent] called me to ask for the remix, and I told
him he couldn’t put the remix out until the first week came. I didn’t want it to
affect any type of numbers.”
And finally, is New York still Hov’s?
“Yea. I was in artist
mode at that time. When I’m in artist mode, why wouldn’t New York be mine,
right? It certainly is.”
