JAY-Z TALK BLUEPRINT3 D.O.A AND KANYE'S VERSE ON "RUN THIS TOWN"

XXL dropped some excerpts from their interview with jigga. The Octber issue of XXL will hit newsstands on september 15th.

XXL: Because you had so much time to live with this new album, do you think it’s your most thoughtful body of work?

Jay-Z: No, it’s just the approach. I don’t think it changed the music any. You can look at it both ways. The Blueprint was all natural. You could tell the the rawness of the spontaneous thoughts. Or you can have someone who plans and plots and makes sure everything is the same. Lyor [Cohen, CEO of warner music Group] asked me, after he listened to the [New] album, “ Did you mess up by putting an album out every year? Should you have taken your time and done it like this one?” And I was like, “No, it’s just process.” I don’t think the Blueprint was bad. But this album has to come out. It’s just really Cohesive. It feels really good.

XXL: what would you say is the Blueprint 3’s grand statement?

Jay-Z: I keep using this phrase “New Classic” Becuse it has classic sounds and instrumentation, like how music was recorded before. That’s why the whole album cover [Features] white instruments. Just left in the corner, no colour. It’s all about the instruments. It feels classic in that approach, but it’s new subject matter, new flows it’s not like an Amy winehouse thing: a take on what was already done. I mean, if you listen to “D.O.A.” Just the sax alone, those type of sounds. The subject matter is right now. It’s a hot-button issue right now.

XXL: it’s funny that you stress the subject matter being current one criticism “D.O.A.” Has been the topic is a year old

Jay-Z: A year past or a year early?

XXL: A year to old. Music was being saturated by Auto-Tune the most last year. So were you thinking bussiness first, like, Kanye’s coming out with 808s & Heartbreak album, so I’m going to hold off on the criticism til he’s in the clear?

Jay-Z: No, that’s not how it happened. It really just happened in the studio. We were just having a discussion about the Game and music and where everything is going. So NO ID plays this track, and kanye jumps up. Actually, Kanye gave me the idea. He jumps up and is like, “Man, this is hard. This is against everything.” I don’t know if he knew where I was going to take it, but he sparked the idea. I came back the next day and did the record.

XXL: what’s puzzling is that your own buddies, like kanye and pharrell, wear the Brightest shirts and Tightest jeans, But your clearly not going at them. You’re going after the cats that are trying to be like them, and not themselves. Correct?

Jay-Z: Yeah, once it becomes…..a trend is a trend. I follow trends. I set trends. Now, when a trend becames a gimmick, it’s time to get rid of it. As far as hip-hop. Like, when they were saying “bling bling” on CNN, it’s time to never say that word again. It was just about the aggression of everything I saw everyone, cause it was successful following one path. You turn on the radio, and that’s all you hear. I’m not saying I hate T-pain what I’m talking about is a trend that’s becoming a gimmick. And if we continue down this path, we’re going to open the door for another genre of music. Same way when rock was doing hair metal it opened the door even wider for hip-hop to come through and put rock music in trouble for 10 years and more. Right now, there are a lot of indie bands coming out, which is making rock more exciting: the MGMTs and the kings of Leons. You keep messing around, making generic music, people are going to start turning off one at a time. And if these guys [keep] makeing great music guess what? [Fans are] gonna go to them. If you look back in the histroy of music, that’s what happens all the time. I’m just saying, stay up. Be aware. Be innovative. Let keep making this shit interesting. I love Drake. I’ m not hating on young people. Like. When people say that, I’m like, what are you talking about? It’s just stupid I’m not hating on young people. I love Drake. I worked with him on the alum. Every time they ask me what I’m listening to it’s so far gone and kings of Leon. Them two act [acts] owe me money. I’m not bill russel, [sayiny]michael jordan ain’t shit. I’m saying Lil wayne and kanye are like LeBron and kobe my job as someone at the forefront of the game is to leave it in a better position than when I came in same way that Russell [simmons] left it to me. Cause this thing saved my life Literally. So I have a responsibility to it karmically. And after it’s on you. I did my part. I made “D.O.A.” I said it. I made the statement. I made the push. Here, y’all take it from here.

XXL: you’ve been getting a lot of heat about your second single “Run this Town” featuring kanye and rihanna critics and the Blog world have said ye out rapped you.

Jay-Z: I think that thing has gone a little too far. I think it’s more about that than the song now. What I’m saying is that’s just life, if [whose verse was better] was the thing, and we based [song quality] on that, after I’ve done 400 songs, I’m sure once the average of who was better on the song weights out, I’m pretty high. Some Nights [LA Lakers player] pau Gasol can score more points than kobe bryant not saying that kanye is pau Gasol, cause you have to be really clear with that– [but] as long as I’ve been in the game that’s going to happen, once or twice or even three times.

[Via http://thesoundbuzz.wordpress.com]

Media pays for kidnapping case, dirt on Sarah Palin

Jaycee Lee Dugard

Sarah Palin and Levi Johnston

The Associated Press is reporting that some news organizations are paying for interviews while covering the Jaycee Lee Dugard story. It’s a practice that is forbidden by most media outlets, but Vanity Fair magazine found a loophole around it in an upcoming issue featuring Levi Johnston—the former boyfriend of Sarah Palin’s oldest daughter, whose determined to take shots at Alaska’s former first family.

Hundreds of media outlets around the world are covering the Dugard story. Police say she was kidnapped from a school bus stop when she was 11 years old and imprisoned for 18 years by a convicted sex offender and his wife.

Phillip Garrido and his wife, Nancy, are charged in the case.

When the AP tried to interview Garrido’s father, Manuel Garrido, the man refused unless he was paid. He told the wire service that an overseas media organization paid him $2,000 for an interview, but he refused to say which one it was. The AP refused to pay him.

Vanity Fair paid Johnston for his revelations about his life with the Palin family in the upcoming October issue of the magazine. Technically, Johnston “wrote” the piece.

Actually, Johnston dished dirt on the Palin family and Vanity Fair transcribed the interviews, edited them, and put it in a piece where the teen was labeled the writer. That way the magazine could pay him for writing a story, just as it would with other journalists.

[Via http://blog.mediajobs.net]

Interview: Mr Hudson talks about working with Jay-Z & Kanye !

So how did you meet Kanye?

He heard the first album, he heard Tale of Two Cities. I’m really proud of the fact that it wasn’t me being up in his grill, it wasn’t, like, my record company hustling. It was just the album that did the talking, you know?

And then he flew you out to Hawaii to do 808s & Heartbreak?

You know how we do, yeah? Isn’t that crazy? Well, at first it was Blueprint 3, to sing on a track called “Young Forever.” We just did a little bit of that, and then he said, “Hang on, I need to make my album.” And then we did 808s & Heartbreaks in about three weeks. And luckily, they didn’t send me home. They kind of forgot to send me home. And I ended up being part of the whole process. So I sang on a track, and co-produced a track, and just helped out. I remember Kanye saying early on he just wanted people to help. He didn’t want people to get their own shine or their own take. It was just, “Help me make the record.”

What was the daily ritual like when you were working on 808s?

Just, you know, wake up in a nice hotel, have a cawfee, play some basketball, make some groundbreaking hip-hop. And then go to bed. And repeat.

Were you just playing one-on-one with Kanye?

Sometimes it was one-on-one, and he insists on playing full-court. That was some serious cardio. I was in the best shape of my life after that.

Are you any good?

For an Englishman, yeah. But no.

What about Kanye?

He’s pretty good. He’s got a mean finger roll. But we were sort of cursed — we’d always have to get injuries. I’m not quite sure how it’s my fault, but apparently it’s my fault that Kanye ran into the pole at one point, head first. That was a serious injury. We were watching a lot of violent movies at the time — Apocalypto, Robocop — and I think it was spilling over into our basketball culture. But it was fun. We would run around, and we’d be working on hooks, working on the lyrics while we were on the court, just sort of singing them at each other.

When things started happening with Kanye, were you nervous to tell people about it?

Well, you know, that’s the thing, you don’t want to tempt fate and say, “Oh, this is happening,” and then when it doesn’t, you look like an idiot. I kind of kept it quiet, but it got to the point where other people were doing the talking for me. People like Jay-Z, and DJ Semtex, and Kanye West were going, “Yoooo, Mr Hudson is on The Blueprint 3.” And I’m just sitting there like, “Yeah, I suppose I am. If you say so.”

What else can you tell us about Blueprint 3?

Do you know what? It’s been pretty locked down. I’ve heard the beats that Kanye’s made for it. And I’ve heard what I’m singing on, and that’s about it. That’s cool. I’m glad that I haven’t heard it yet. Now, when it comes out, I’m gonna be like a fan: “Gotta get that record, I gotta get that new Jay-Z album.” And I’m on it.

Are you friendly with Jay-Z as well at this point?

I met Jay-Z quite a while back, a couple of years ago now. He heard my stuff quite early on. He keeps his ear to the ground, J-Hov. But, you know, he keeps himself a little bit more … where, you know, Kanye’s sort of bouncing around. I just assume that Jay-Z is in some penthouse office or something, sipping Champagne, smoking a cigar, while Kanye will be on the basketball court, or at some store looking at luminous clothes. D’you know what I mean?

Moving on to Straight No Chaser — the story is that you were living in a storage space while you were recording this album?

I was living above a pub in north London, in a room that I had used just to store my guitars and a couple of synthesizers. When I split with my girl, I was like, right, where do I go? So I just ended up sleeping on the floor and kind of forgot to leave, ’cause I got distracted by thinking, Maybe this is the time to make my album. I said to my friend, the landlord of the pub, I said “Michael, can you sort me out with a mattress?” And I just had a sleeping bag.

So are you still finding the transition to fame surreal?

I’m kind of getting used to it. I’m kind of pleased with myself because now I’m not stupidly starstruck anymore, like I was with Béyoncé. I blushed like a 15-year-old and hid in the corner and played on my laptop. But here’s a funny story: So I’m just in my little area in northern London, just puttering about, going to shops. And these two mums with their prams … do you call them “prams”? What do you call them? You put a baby in it, you wheel it around?

Strollers.

Strollers. So these two mums with their strollers are going into the store and they’re wheeling it around. And then one just goes, “Oh, my God, you’re that man that sings that thingy with thing-a-mi-bob.” I said, “I think so, yeah.” And she ran up. And she made me sign her receipt from the supermarket. Also, talking about signing things, I signed my first mammary the other day. In fact, two. A pair of breasts. In fact, two people, so four breasts. I have signed four breasts. And they were enormous breasts.

[Via http://explosivemuzik.com]