Music: In His Next Lifetime

• Share

(2 of 2)

This is a remarkable statement, no less so because it's true. Hip-hop has oozed into so many areas of culture that rapping is now like a mail-room job at CAA, the first rung on a potentially prodigious financial ladder. In this light, Jay-Z's retirement is the ultimate act of conspicuous consumption. He has climbed high enough that he can afford to stop.

While a retiring rapper seems like a particularly absurd joke ("Most rappers get up at 5 p.m. anyway," laughs Jay-Z) and the marketing tie-ins surrounding The Black Album would make George Lucas blush, Jay-Z is taking his departing moment seriously, in part because it was brought on by a serious moment. In 1999 he was arrested for stabbing Lance Rivera, a rival producer, in a crowded New York City nightclub. Jay-Z's friends claim that Rivera was bootlegging some of the rapper's music. All Jay-Z will say is that "it was the dumbest thing I ever did." (He pleaded guilty and received three years' probation.) "That was the turning point for me," he recalls. "It was like, O.K., this can all go away fast. You work hard for years, and it can all go away in a night. Slow down, big boy. Think."

Last summer Jay-Z took the first vacation of his life. "Went to the south of France, Sardinia, Corsica, Monte Carlo. For a month I didn't do anything," he says. "We saw some things. We lived life. And that pretty much sealed the retirement." The use of we is as close as Jay-Z comes to talking about his relationship with Beyonce, but he says he sees a future in which he has kids ("the biggest thing missing in my life"), runs Roc-A-Fella and maybe even takes over as president of his corporate music parent, Universal Records. "I really want to make music that lasts. People in the business are chasing hot records, but a hot record is only hot for six months," he says. "Sing me the lyrics to The Thong Song," he challenges.

The problem is that Jay-Z may not be able to outrun his legacy. He begins any criticism of the state of rap with "You know, I love hip-hop ..." but he believes that the numerous rappers behind him on the ladder lack his style and have turned rap into a much crasser art form. Jay-Z has always had fairly catholic tastes, but he now finds himself listening more to John Mayer and Coldplay than to rap. "There's not a bunch of hip-hop artists that you can relate to once you hit 30," he says. "I think, unfortunately, rap music is made to destroy itself. You have to be fresh and sell to an audience that's 16 to 25. They demand that you 'keep it hood,' 'keep it real.'" He says this sadly, but he can't deny responsibility. Today's records show: rap artists are doing it his way.