Beyonce's hubby is on the cover of the December issue of GQ. And for the first time he was comfy being personal. He chats about his upcoming fatherhood, working with Kanye in the studio, and having his kids listen to Nas' first album. Grown man shit!!
Jay-Z on Kanye’s perfectionism during the recording of the album:
“I think he just can’t help himself,” Jay says. “He puts so much into everything, and he’s like, ‘You have to treat it like I treat it.’ It drives you crazy sometimes—like when you’ve put seventy-five versions of a snare on one song and he’s like, ‘No!’ and you’re like, ‘Come on, man.’ ”
..On Fatherhood and influeincing his kid's musical tastes
"Providing—that’s not love,” he says. “Being there—that’s more important. I mean, we see that. We see that with all these rich socialites. They’re crying out for attention; they’re hurting for love. I’m not being judgmental—I’m just making an observation. They’re crying out for the love that maybe they didn’t get at home, and they got everything. All the material things that they need and want. So we know that’s not the key.”
The Isley Brothers’ “Between the Sheets”—the epochal quiet-storm jam that Sean Combs built Biggie’s equally epochal “Big Poppa” around—comes on the restaurant’s speakers. Jay tunes out for a minute. “I grew up listening to this,” he says with a smile. That’s art workin’. I ask if little Bey-Z will grow up listening to his catalog, and Jay says of course—when the time comes, he’ll start with Reasonable Doubt, go from there. “There will be a lot of that,” he says. “And a lot of other records, all pivotal, important records. There’ll be Ready to Die, there’ll be Illmatic.”
...On Niggas In Paris
"It’s not, like, ‘We’re here! We’re balling harder than everybody,’ ” he says. “It’s like, ‘I’m shocked that we’re here.’ Still being amazed, still not being jaded. Having so much fun and then stopping and saying, ‘What are we doing here? How did we get here?’ “
The key line, Jay says, is the one that goes If you escaped what I escaped, you’d be in Paris getting f***ed up too.
“I’ve known so many people that didn’t make it,” he says. “Most people can look at a picture of the kids they grew up with and it’s like, ‘Oh yeah—Adam went away to Harvard.’ This is a whole different conversation.”
Get the full story at GQ
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