Jay-Z‘s record label Roc Nation has responded to a rumor circulating suggesting the rap legend has a new album out this year.
The “Encore” hitmaker is said to have been on set with director Hidji World, who posted a picture of a clapperboard with “JAY Z -2024 ALBUM” listed as the production they were allegedly working on over on his Instagram Story on Jan. 28.
However, the entertainment company, which the mogul founded in 2008, appears to have shot down the rumor claiming Jay-Z is releasing a follow-up to 2017’s 4:44 this year.
“That’s news to us,” the Roc Nation account posted to X alongside the “NFR Podcast”‘s post about the gossip.
Jay-Z previously admitted that he only wants to make music if it truly means something to him.
“I’ll say I wanna make music, but it has to be something important. I don’t wanna just make a bunch of tunes. That’s not gonna serve me. It won’t feed me, first of all. I have to be saying something important. It has to mean something, you know? It has to mean something to a larger society,” he told Gayle King last year.
“Like 4:44, for example, was a personal story, but the amount of vulnerability in there allowed for a lot of people to explore the space,” he added.
The music mogul — who has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide and won a total of 24 Grammy Awards — also previously insisted that he never wants to officially quit the music business because his career is a “gift.”
“I don’t know what happens next. I’m not actively making music or making an album or have plans to make an album, but I never want to say I’m retired. You know, it’s a gift. And who am I to shut it off? You know what I mean?” he told Kevin Hart on “Hart to Heart” in 2022.
The “Dead Presidents” hitmaker — who is married to fellow superstar Beyoncé and has daughter Blue Ivy and twins Rumi and Sir with her — went on to explain that any new project may come in more of a “different form” from his usual style, but insisted he has “no idea” what is coming next.
“[My music] may have a different form, a different interpretation. Maybe it’s not an album. Maybe it is! I have no idea. But [I’m] just, you know, gonna leave it open,” he added.
