With a new book to pitch, rap mogul Jay-Z has recently been making his rounds with the press corps. While the big story is his assertion that Bush really doesn’t care about black people (read here), Hov also had some intriguing thoughts on President Obama, as well as the cavalcade of hip-hop stars going to prison. –djr
Why did you decide on this kind of book rather than a traditional autobiography?
I wanted to tell the story of a generation. Through my story, I’m telling the story of a generation of kids, and we grew up in one of the worst eras ever. … [I wanted] to tell the story of my generation through music, and through that [to] give a deeper understanding to rap lyrics and to make the case that rap is poetry. … Maybe there [are] other layers and meanings and things to be decoded in songs.
You discuss the assault charge you faced early in your career (he received probation). What are your thoughts on stars like Lil Wayne and T.I. who have fallen into those situations?
The same sort of thing almost happened to me, and I pride myself on being a disciplined person. I was looking out for that sort of thing. I was trying to avoid it, and it still happened to me, so it just goes to show how difficult it is. Once you become a so-called celebrity, your life or your decisions don’t stop. You have to make smarter decisions, because you’ve grown up living your life a certain way. Most people grow up and just smoke weed. … You just smoke weed and think, ‘OK, I’ll keep weed in my pocket.’ Now that you’re a celebrity it’s a whole different sort of thing. … Celebrities need to be conscious and know who they are, because the same choices they made as a civilian will cost them years as a celebrity.
What do you make of President Obama’s recent struggles?
I believe the same thing about Barack that I believed [on] day one. What he represents is bigger than any political agenda that he can pass across the House, Senate or whatever. I think that right now he’s going through a difficult period because people are putting the last eight years on his table and they’re judging him by it. You can’t expect a man to clean up eight years of mess in two years; it’s just bad math. It’s impossible.
