Jay-Z was conspicuously absent from the legion of superstars who participated in the “We Are the World” remake because he disagreed with the premise of the whole event.
For the first time since Lionel Richie and Quincy Jones sent out the invitations to record “We are the World 25 for Haiti,” the Jigga Man publicly stated that he believes the song is like a priceless artifact that cannot and should not be replicated under any circumstances.
“I have a interesting take on that. I know everybody is gonna take this wrong: ‘We Are the World,’ I love it, and I understand the point and think it’s great. But I think ‘We Are the World’ is like ‘Thriller’ to me. I don’t ever wanna see it touched,” Jay-Z told MTV.
This is an interesting perspective from an artist whose biggest hits were created by sampling classic songs and spitting his distinctive raps over them.
In Jay-Z’s place were the likes of LL Cool J, Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne and will.i.am. Hov’s wife Beyoncé was also a noticeable no-show for the 25th anniversary of the original song that was performed by all of the era’s biggest American stars, with the exception of Prince.
Despite understanding the rationale behind rerecording the song, Jay-Z would have preferred if the current crop of movie and music stars recorded an original joint, sort like Jay did when he recorded “Stranded” with Bono of U2.
“I know the plight and everything that’s going on in Haiti. I applaud the efforts. Like 1 out of 2 Americans donated through text to Haiti. That’s amazing. So I appreciate the efforts and everything, but … some things are just untouchable.”
Do you agree with Jay-Z? Or do you believe he is being blatantly hypocritical since the Jigga Man is a prolific sampler of classic songs?
–terry shropshire
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