It’s been nearly 10 years since Jay-Z released his last solo album, 4:44. In the years since, he has gone on tour in support of his deeply personal album and started producing the Super Bowl Halftime Show. The only new verses Hov would rap are for Jay Electronica and DJ Khaled. There’s seemingly no new album in the pipeline, despite reports from Memphis Bleek suggesting otherwise. What’s taking so long? Aside from his usual business endeavors, Jay-Z doesn’t know what new music is “going to fulfill me and make me happy.”
In a rare interview with GQ, the Brooklyn-bred rapper admitted that the “scratch ideas” came from a very “heavy” space. Jay-Z said there’s too much negativity in hip-hop as is after the feud between Drake and Kendrick Lamar. Why contribute more to that?
“I was just so… heavy. I don’t know how to make music that’s not reflective of how I’m feeling at the moment. It would have been fiery. I don’t know if it would have done more harm than good. I have a lot of scratch ideas and they’re all bad,” he laughed.
Jay-Z Doesn’t Know What a New Album Would Sound Like Today
Ultimately, Hov just wants to create something that he’d feel good about releasing to the world. Does it feel honest to where he is at the current moment? What he’s made recently doesn’t answer that question for him.
“I don’t know yet. I don’t know. Forget the landscape of music. I don’t know what I need to create currently that’s going to fulfill me and make me happy because that’s most important. I know I just got to be honest about what I feel and where I am,” Jay-Z said in the interview.
Admittedly, the Blueprint rapper and entrepreneur said he might be in his own head about it. But he’s relying solely on his instincts of what’s real. “Whatever it is, it just needs to be a true representation of how I feel,” Jay-Z added. “Trying to create something that people like is where I think a lot of artists get jammed up. And people can feel that because it’s not authentic. I just got to make something timeless that I really love and that’s really honest and true to who I am.”
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