5/26/2023 0 Comments Mos def the ecstatic explicit“But when you do that, it’s not always good because now everything just sounds alike because everyone’s trying to fit into this radio format. They have to make music to fit on the radio because they need the most impressions to sell the most records,” he explains. So they can’t just make music that they love. The sales are down so now everyone has less margin for error. ![]() “Yes and understandably so, because of the way the Internet has affected the music business. The night before, we were told not to take any notes because “Jay-Z wants you to feel his vision.” One that he wants to set him apart from the rest.Īnd the rest, in many cases, find a niche, bask in its safety and stagnate. This one is like we’re becoming those icons that we all looked up to, so we have to set a blueprint for the next generation.” More than just making music, Jay-Z seems to want to install a sense of perception. “The second Blueprint was all over the place ’cause it was all my musical influences and I was pulling from Lenny Kravitz in rock to Sean Paul in R&B. “I call it the new classic because it takes the traditional approach of making music, but it’s a blueprint for the next generation because the first generation was based on the soul samples and the music that I heard growing up,” he says with all the confidence of Leonidas attacking the Persians. The following morning at his hotel, Jay-Z appears fresh despite a night spent clubbing – and ready to discuss, with no false modesty, this third blueprint he has drawn up for rap music’s future generation. “I worked with a bunch of people: MGMT, Drake, Kid Cudi, Mr Hudson… I’m missing some other people… And some other people!” he laughs. Besides Rihanna and the ubiquitous Kanye West, his album also features some other prominent guests. Tonight, his iPod is his main focal point, which contains much of the tracks of The Blueprint 3 where guests abound. A keen businessman – he has his own clothing line Rocawear, and was at the helm of Def Jam, before parting ways and setting up his own label, Roc Nation – and a discoverer of talents including Rihanna, Jay-Z is a focused man. Yasiin is constantly creating, even if he isn't obediently coloring inside of the lines.Jay-Z is patiently waiting in a London studio to play us some tracks from his much anticipated The Blueprint 3, the final album in a trilogy which began in 2001 and set a precedent that most other rappers and hip hop artists have yet to achieve.Īt almost 40, the man also known as Beyoncé’s hubby is still on top of his game. In early 2021, he paid tribute to late rapper MF DOOM with a video and performed a medley of songs at fashion house Louis Vuitton's Fall/Winter 2021 runway show in Paris. ![]() Fortunately, albums aren't Yasiin's only canvas. Music label, and, by 2019, experimented with atypical release strategies, including releasing a record titled Negus that was only available to hear as part of a live art installation. A decade later, while splitting time between film, TV, and Broadway, he began reinventing himself: He legally changed his name to Yasiin Bey, signed to Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Both were crowned underground rap classics, and he and Kweli drove Rawkus to a reputation synonymous with thoughtful, authentic hip-hop. The following year, he released his solo debut album, Black on Both Sides, a fittingly titled work that interrogated the joys and despair of the Black experience with stories of racism, love, and defiant reclamations of history. The duo released their debut in 1998, building a fanbase for their dedication to pro-Black values, sociopolitical awareness, and hip-hop traditionalism at a time when some feared rap had lost its way to glitzy materialism. After guest spots on songs by Da Bush Babees and De La Soul, he signed to Rawkus Records, where he formed Black Star with Talib Kweli. Dante Smith (1973) was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, where he studied Islam while developing a career as a child actor and honing his rap skills. Mos Def was one of the foremost faces of conscious hip-hop in the '90s and 2000s, and later became one of its most enigmatic figures.
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