![‘[Don’t Let] None of Those Billions of Dollars Confuse You’: Alchemist Says Jay-Z is Still Tapped In With The Underground](https://dnyuz.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/1757251688_‘Dont-Let-None-of-Those-Billions-of-Dollars-Confuse-You-1140x641.jpeg)
For Jay-Z, it’s extremely easy to ignore the world around him. Billions of dollars, a hefty business portfolio, a superstar wife, and kids to raise? There’s no need to rap. What would he rap about today? Where does he get inspiration from if he can hardly relate to anyone nowadays? How do you stay in tune with what’s going on when you’re so high up? Apparently, this has never been an issue for Hov. According to Alchemist, he’s still hip to what’s bubbling in the underground.
Recently, the super producer and Freddie Gibbs spoke with Complex in promotion of their album Alfredo 2. There, the interviewer inquires about Alchemist’s bucket list, even if he has one still. Admittedly, he doesn’t have much of one anymore, especially since he worked with one of the names recently in Erykah Badu. However, Alchemist does confirm one “no-brainer” in Jay-Z. Additionally, Hov is extremely connected to everything Alc is doing, as well as the whole underground at large.
Alchemist Says He still Has His Ear on The Underground
“I’m closer to having a direct line. So, you never know. Shout to Hov, man. He did tap in, actually, and said that he fucked with the record and everything. That meant a lot,” Alchemist says. “The thing about Jay, he is tapped in to everything. From the under to the over, which blew my mind when we were able to connect. He knows everything. He’s still a lyricist at heart. [Don’t let] none of those billions of dollars confuse you. [He] cares and knows about the lowest underground to the highest top. He’s got it all, he’s Jay.”
Alchemist admits that, in the past, he probably didn’t have much of a path to collaborating with Jay-Z. He theorizes that his relationship with Mobb Deep, particularly Prodigy who was sparring with Hov at the time, nipped any such possibility in the bud. “It was tricky when P and Mobb Deep and Nas had beef with Jay-Z,” Alchemist explains to The Breakfast Club. “It was always a weird thing. It probably stopped me from doing work with Jay back then. But that’s the past.”
The post ‘[Don’t Let] None of Those Billions of Dollars Confuse You’: Alchemist Says Jay-Z is Still Tapped In With The Underground appeared first on VICE.
