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

“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

More Song Stories entries »

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