Jay-Z: Rap Shouldn't Be a 'Young Man's Sport'

During the web-exclusive portion of Jon Stewart's Wednesday night interview with Jay-Z on The Daily Show Stewart asked the 40-year-old MC if he saw himself making music and hitting the road when he was 65, a la rock stalwarts like the Rolling Stones.

"I'm checking my knees now — I don't know about 65, but I'll get close. In order for rap to have that sort of longevity, we have to stop viewing it as a young man's sport... We have to view it as a serious art form," he said.

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He went on to talk about how "Empire State of Mind" was a big hit in Germany, despite the obvious geographic boundaries, and how commonality helped make great music.

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"You have more longevity if you get closer to the truth, and closer to who you are," he added. "After we take the labels — black, white, male, female — we take all those labels off us, we all basically want the same things. We love the same things."

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Song Stories

“The A Team”

Ed Sheeran | 2011

This debut track from the then-20-year-old British singer-songwriter has a dark story behind it. Sheeran says he culls songwriting inspiration from "viewing other people's situations," which, for the heroine in "The A Team," involves drug addiction and prostitution that began as a teen. Sheeran paints the woman's trials with haunting imagery such as "But lately her face seems/Slowly sinking, wasting/Crumbling like pastries." "I did a gig at a homeless shelter, [and the song] is about one of the women there. It's her story," he said.

More Song Stories entries »

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