Archive for September 3rd, 2009

Here is the album cover for Wale’s first release titled “Attention Defecit.”

Check the rest of the interview after the jump! Courtesy of Lloyd, spotted at RapRadar.
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XXL: Understood, but you’re one of the few rappers whose movement is still followed by artists old and young. How conscious are you of that position?

Jay-Z: …Like I said, if the genre needs the game to be stretched out, ‘cause you have those guys who are 35 years old trying to make smiley face or whatever, competing with Soulja Boy.

XXL: Ha! That’s a Trey Songz record with Soulja Boy on it. It’s hot. They’re clearly aiming at the young kids with that track.

Jay-Z: It’s not funny though. [Laughs] I mean, like Jim Jones, for example. And I don’t mean this because we never see eye to eye. He made “Na Na Nana Na.” [Laughs] What’s the difference between “Smiley Face” and “Na Na Nana Na”? Na Na Nana Na” could’ve been called “Smiley Face” [Sings] I got the smiley face, na na nana na na.

Courtesy of Karen Civil.

“Good Morning!” is the latest from Chamillionaire. It is rumored to be the first single off of his upcoming album. Courtesy of X.

Download: Chamillionaire – Good Morning

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Courtesy of RapRadar. Watch the rest of the show after the jump!
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Courtesy of Crack Distributors Radio.

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Spotted at X, courtesy of BandwagonMobile.

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 weighs out, I’m pretty high. Some nights [L.A. 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.

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 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?

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