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Hey, it's Elliott Wilson from rap radar. And this is The Truth, man
No it's tough love though. It's like the older brother doesn't let the younger brother beat
him in basketball.
That's because that's not good.
Because you're not gonna be prepared for the real world if you do that. Like, you know,
the day we beat my dad, my uncle, and his best friend at basketball, we ran the house.
It was a different level of respect talking back and putting chest up a little more. You
have to prepare for this world, like this ain't easy. You know, people are constantly
pushing you back and closing the door on you, the media talking about you, and if you're
not tough enough to take all that then you're not going to make it. They're gonna eat you
alive, so you have to make sure that next generation come in also have that mettle,
like they're like, I was with HOV, like YOU, that's our investigation. With the NFL, I'm
not disrespecting the NFL but you investigate me, what you gon' do? What are you gonna do
to me? Like you're not gonna let me represent players? Well, okay. You know what I'm saying,
like what's the worst you are going to do to me? I can just hear all these verses coming
back like this is real talk. Sue me? Like what's a couple dollars to me? You know what
I mean, like entitlement and having things given to you, it's not the real world.
You hate that. Like Why don't you step aside, why don't you pass the torch.
Nah, I'm not into that. That doesn't last, you know, that doesn't last. You just be a
trust fund baby.
Well do you think the new generation should have an attitude more like a clean slate,
like *** that, I'm gonna build me thing?
It has to be respect. I see Kool Herc, I see Rakim, I see Kane. You know, I have respect
for them. I'm competing with them, I'm competing with their legacy. I wanna be better than
Kool Herc, I wanna be better than Rakim, I wanna be better than Kane. That's why I'm
doing this. I'm competing with them but I respect them. Everyone knows that, it's clear
how much I respect those guys. You have to respect the person that opened the door and
laid some groundwork for you, so there's a fine line between that, but also yeah, I'm
sure Cole thinks that his album is better than mine, and I'm cool with that. He's supposed
to, you know, he's supposed to believe that.
Um, but there's a respect thing. Even Drake and I have a great relationship. I know he
feels like "I'm the next one, I'm right here." You know, we hear the lines, like, donuts
for the taking. You know, he's feeling it. It's cool, you know what I mean? It wasn't
meant with malice or disrespect, It's just meant with like, I'm coming, you know? Acknowledge
my existence, you know, I'm right there like on your shoulder.
And he's putting the numbers up with billboard charts and hits.
I mean, you know, there's a respect thing. There is a respect thing there but there's
also a competitive thing. It's done the right way.
So do you think he's your biggest competition in terms of the new school now that's going
on? The new school hip-hop.
He's definitely the guy whose raised his head, like, he's definitely the Kobe Bryant.
I understand you've always been a huge sports fan, I mean, you play like fantasy league
and all this other stuff, but now you're like bringing it into real life. You're like representing
players. You know, almost like a huge Rutger game or something like that. When did you
find that that would be more satisfying than being the owner of the Nets? What led to that
path? It seems like you took so much pride in that ownership part and now shifting it
to this.
My job was done as far as the Nets. You know, they got Brooklyn and I played my part in
that, even the look and design and the attitude of the Brooklyn Nets. If you look at the statistics
most athletes go broke in three or four years. You know, it felt like it needed, and you
know I'm not saying I'm Superman but I felt like there was a greater purpose there. And
we were always doing it. You know, like Lebron James always, like as friends though. There
was no business arrangement, just having discussions and talking about it. And we were always doing
it anyways. It was like, man, lets step in and do this the right way, and use the connections
and the power and the knowledge we have to help these guys. And I felt it was important.
Our presence to get all those agents off of their *** and let them get up and get the
work, because those guys were just signing contracts and then going home, you know like,
ten year contracts. (5:01) I'm getting paid every year. I don't have to do anything, You
know, it was like a travesty. And then just watching these guys go broke in four years.
Like you guys don't even care about their well-being. Like this is like, egregious.
This is a terrible thing going on and no one is saying anything. It's fine? It's fine that
these guys just sign you to contracts and you're going broke? They're signing 80, 90,
100 million dollar contracts and you're going broke? That's just terrible management.
I guess it's helping your friends in some sense of it, but what do you get out of it,
ultimately, by helping these guys?
I'm helping the culture. These guys are part of us as well. These guys are our cousins.
I'm helping the culture. I'm pushing the culture forward in another way. Yeah, I'm pushing
the culture forward in another way. I'm not letting these guys get taken advantage of
and I know what's going on, and I'm not gonna say anything. You know, I'm not gonna help
them. You know, I already have this influence, what am I gonna do with it? I gotta use it,
you know?
So it's almost a responsibility in a sense. I think people think that successful African
American men things are a little easier for you, but I feel like you touch on how racism
and how it affects you and you're pushing the chain on these type of things. Hip-hop
and sports you see it in a similar eye.
Yeah, I mean we come from the same neighborhood. Same thing, our dads left. You're dad left?
My dad left too. Take Lebron James as an example. You're dad left? Yeah, my dad left too. You're
mom's named Gloria? My mom's named Gloria. I mean, our story is so similar, like our
stories is the same thing. And I mean, it's part of, to me again, it's like pushing the
culture forward in another way.
Is that why like, you said in Nickels and Dimes, that even in an African American community
some Bellefonte makes a comment, and you get offended by that?
Yeah, I'm offended by that because first of all, this is gonna sound arrogant, but my
presence is charity, just like who I am. Just like Obama's is. Obama provides hope, whether
he does anything, the hope that he provides for a nation and outside of America is enough.
You know what I'm saying? Just being who he is, he's the first black president. If he
speaks on any issue or anything, he should be left alone. Shouldn't say anything about
him, I mean we should challenge him to do better but I felt like Belafonte, he just
went about it wrong and the way he went about it with the media and then he bigged up like
Bruce Springsteen, and it was like, woah. You just sent like the wrong message all the
way around. (7:37) You know what I'm saying? You bigged up, I mean, Bruce Springsteen is
a great guy, you know what I mean, you this civil rights activist and you just bigged
up the white guy against me in the white media. And I'm not saying that in a racial way, I'm
just saying what it is. The fact of what it was, and that was just like, that was just
the wrong way to go about it.
But there's always a divide, like, there's an older African American generation that
still looks down on hip-hop and only sees the negative so you accounted that. That was
kind of the dialogue that you created with Oprah to try to get her to understand. Like,
you feel like that's kind of your role to make statements, and that's why you couldn't
let a comment like Belafonte make pass. You had to address it.
Absolutely. I have to even challenge the guys that have done so much for us. I have to challenge
them to be honest and them to stay on the right path, and them to at least have the
dialogue with us to understand it. You know because, of course, you hear these buzz words,
"Hublot homie," you think that's what I'm saying, but you don't understand the message.
If you heard that song, if somebody told you the lyrics of that song, you would think it
was about a car and watches, but this song is about feeling survivors guilt and how to
deal with charity. You know, this song is totally not what you think it's about. You
know what I'm saying? So let's have that dialogue, period, and let's hold each other accountable.
Okay, you feel that that's the way to hold me accountable? Okay, here.
You talk about the guilt of giving, like you say coming out of One Oak, you give people
money but what are they gonna do with that money? And then you said, Rick Rubin said
it's out of your hands. And I know you also believe in Leo's philosophy of you know, anonymous
giving is the best giving, so how do you balance that, because obviously when you're successful
people always want to feel like, you have a certain responsibility to give back. How
do you balance that?
I balance it with my instinct. The same way I've lived my life, you know? The things that
I feel are important, you know, I help. Sometimes it's on TV, sometimes it's not, and that's
cool with me. I connect to the things I think are important and I help in my way. But you
know aside from all that, let's say I never did anything, my presence is charity. Just
this guy that came from RC projects, you know apartment 5C whose made it to these places,
you know we're playing Yankee Stadium tonight. You know, for the culture of hip-hop, for
the African American culture, and all these different things, my presence is charity.
You know how many people are inspired by my story? Like, period. Because it's actual.
It's realized. It's not hypothetical. It's not someone saying "you could do that" or
"you could be the president." With Obama, it's not like, "you could be the president."
Obama is the president. You know what I'm saying? It's realized, it's an actual fact.
Kids now growing up say, "I can do that because he did it." He from Chicago. This guy made
it out of Chicago. Do you know how crazy Chicago is right now? This guy made it out of Chicago
to become the president of the United States. The most powerful man in the world.
Today, Obama made a statement about Trayvon Martin.
Amazing. Because you know it's hard in politics to just make a statement as a human. I feel
today it was very admirable because he made a statement as a father, and as a black man,
and someone who has a compassion for the things we go through because he's been through it
before. It's certainly not normal, you know, a politician is not supposed to speak like
that.
He went out of his way to address it.
I mean no, no, not address it, he gave facts about clutching purses. We never have heard
that. We've never heard that come out of a president's mouth, right? You know, so that
was big. That was really admirable, I have another level of respect for him to be in
that position and make that stance because that's what I want to do. I want to be in
this position and still talk about what's right and wrong. You know, I'm not going to
always be right, I'm not going to always do the right thing, but I'm trying. That's my
whole goal, is to first of all maintain a sense of myself and also I want to represent
us. I want to represent us in a way that we've never been represented before, you know?
What were your thoughts on Trayvon? I know you were immersed in the case and watching
a lot of it and stuff like that. I guess you were still in London when the verdict came
and stuff like that. Tell me your emotions, just like...
I was angry. I didn't sleep for two days. I was really angry about it that, you know,
we all knew there was still a bit of racism in America, but for it to be so blatant was
like, if you just asked the questions, didn't Trayvon have the chance to stand his ground?
He was being chased. He was being chased and he fought back. You know, he may have won.
That doesn't mean he's a criminal. He won. I mean, if you chase me and you try to attack
me and I try to defend myself, how can I be in the wrong? How is that right? You know,
this guy went to get some Skittles and go back to watch the All-Star game. (12:50) He
had plans. I'm gonna get this Arizona, I'm gonna get the Skittles, I'm gonna go watch
the game. You know, he probably had this whole position. He had no intentions of robbing
anyone's home. You know, so it's a thing where it's like, a reminder that we've still got
a long way to go. And it's beautiful because this generation right now, you know, this
generation don't see color in that way. You know, they're a bit removed from those racist
feelings, because, again, it's hard to teach racism when your child is you know, our clubs
is integrated with the music we listen to... the same..
When they went to the Jay-Z / JT show
All of our feelings and our anxieties are more similar now. So you know you have hope
that this generation don't see racism that way, but you still see that that old guard,
you know the whole thing that I'm fighting against, that old guard, and their old ideas
and their stubborn ways and all their ego and all that *** is just still there.
It still exists. And you know, you just hate to believe that. Even a part of it has got
to be about business.
You know, they're funding George Zimmerman because people want to hold on to their guns
so the NRA, like you just start, well your mind can go so many places of why this verdict
went down the way it came down, and we all know it was wrong. It was wrong. You know,
this guy is not a professional. First of all, you're not a professional to profile someone.
Professionals are taught not to profile. A professional law enforcement officer is taught
not to profile. This guy is a novice. This guy is a *** mall cop. You know, you can't
assess the situation and figure out what you're going to do. That's not what you do for a
And even the law, that stand your ground law, you can have a fight with someone and if you're
running away you can shoot them and kill them and you're fine? That's not... what? Okay
and let's say... come on. Come on, man. When someone is robbing your house and their leaving
you can shoot them on the way out? They don't possess a threat to you at that point, so
how is that self-defense?
You're dedicating "Forever Young" at the shows to him and stuff like that, the Trayvon situation.
Yeah, because will live on, right. Hopefully it'll be, you know, it's horrible for his
parents that they had to lose their kid but hopefully this is the moment that changed
that law and change the way we interact with each other. And you hate that, you know, a
child had to be sacrificed for that.
When you made "F.U.T.W," you know I saw you on CNN, it was some kind of rebellion act
that you sort of kind of inspired that right?
All that, you know, the Arab spring and all that, and everybody how they're standing up
and speaking for themselves all around the world you know, Egypt, and right or wrong,
you know? People now have this platform to say we're not gonna allow your politics to
get in the way of what people feel and how the people should be represented.
It's funny because they how personal Magna Carta Holy Grail, and in a lot of ways it
is, can be called political in a lot of senses, because even that song and "Somewhereinamerica,"
you know, you can take the catch phrase of Miley Cyrus twerking and that's catchy, but
it's humoring wit with a deeper message behind it, right?
Yes, and that's one of the things, like reviews. Like, think about trying to get that line,
you hear that Miley Cyrus, you're gonna come to the wrong conclusion that you really understand
the story. You know what I'm saying? Like people are saying, "why is he saying Miley
Cyrus?" Don't you understand? It's hard to understand the intention behind it.
Like, again, you use wit and it's catchy, but the real story is about racism. The whole
song "Somewhereinamerica," you can't teach racism when your child is connected to this
culture. You know it's very hard.
It could be any white girl in middle America learning a black dance, or a hip-hop dance.
Yeah, you know.
"JAY Z BLUE," obviously, you make "Glory" after you have your child, and now it seems
like glory like the title itself is a very positive glorious thing and then you look
at "JAY Z BLUE," it's a very dark vibe to it, the "mommy dearest" sample to it. Why
did you want that kind of song to represent that?
But you think about the timing. You know, it's life. When your baby comes, it's only
joy. It's only joy, it's like, oh my God. Look at this! It's fascinating that two people
can create a life. You're like, this is real! You know, it's only glory, it's all joy. And
then, after kicks in you sit with yourself and you're like, am I gonna be a good dad?
I know I have the DNA of my dad. I know this is not just with me and my dad, this is an
ongoing problem in our entire community.
How do I get around it? So all those fears and anxieties and all those insecurities start
setting in. I mean, if you intend to do it the right way, or the correct way, you really
have to think about that. You know, those first days was glorious, they were all joy,
but now it's like, okay I really got to do the work and make sure I don't repeat that
same cycle. You know, because I do have my father's DNA and I'm sure he didn't set out
to leave because he actually married my mom.
It wasn't like he just left day one. He married my mom. I mean, he tried. You know, but life
got in the way. His brother got killed, drugs got into play, so all these things got into
play and he didn't see. He couldn't see nine years out what was going to happen in his
life. You know what I'm saying? So I'm sure he went into it with the best intentions,
the same way we all do, and it didn't work out. And I don't want that to happen. So let
me talk about it. Let me deal with these feelings, let me deal with these emotions, and let me
work on it. Let me work it out. So that's what "JAY Z BLUE" is pretty much that "my
father never taught me how to be a father, treat a mother. I don't wanna have to just
repeat another, leave another," you know? That's the story in a nutshell.
What's the statement behind putting "On the Run" on the album, "Part II (On the Run)"?
Besides it being really dope?
Again, just a showcase of, you know, there's very few relationships in hip-hop music. You
know there's a lot of, um, "I took your girl and I'm gonna take her again," you know?
The F'd your girl, yeah.
You know I don't know if it's properly... you know people are properly absorbing what
I'm doing here. You know what I mean, like in the context...
Make your marriage cool.
Just being honest about it, and putting that kind of subject matter in hip-hop records.
You know, that's not normal.
A record like "On the Run." We wouldn't of gotten that three years ago, four years ago,
or five years ago.
No, you got "Big Pimpin."
But is that pressure... the relationship, being such a high profile relationship, there
are people that feel so invested in a positive way and hate on it because of the negative,
because that's the way society is. Like, is it interesting to be at that forefront where
you have to deal with everybody else's feelings and how much they're impacted by what you're
doing and just living your life?
I tend not to thing about it. If I'm talking about it, if we're having a conversation about
it, it comes up, I think about it, but everyday when I'm walking around I don't think about
it at all. Because I know I'm living my life right. I just live my life right and go about
it the right way and everything else will sort itself out. If I'm on the side of right,
I'm good.
But "On the Run" is a celebration of it in some sense... sharing it with the public.
Yeah so I know I'm on the right so I'm cool. You know what I'm saying? But if I go wrong
just like a little bit, my karma is immediate. My karma is immediate. I know because something
will happen and I'll be like, oh, that wasn't the right *** to do.
Well I'm glad you agreed to do this, that was hopefully the right decision.
Facts only.
Man, it's a rap man. One hour went by real fast to me. Hope you enjoyed it, man. I appreciate
Mr. Carter for his candor. Make sure you subscribe to youtube.com/ JayZ's Life + Times. Hit us
up on twitter @LifeandTimes. Hit me up @ElliottWilson. Was that the best Jay-Z sit down interview?
You tell me. It's Elliott Wilson from rap radar, and that's The Truth.