Jay-Z: It's like a ticker-tape parade. We're just celebrating, like we're up for reelection. ... In rap everything moves so fast. You can be on top of your game and next year you're not. I just want to let them know I'm still right there. I'm right here on top.

MTV: It seems like the Roc-A-Fella albums have titles with meaning, or concepts, in them. Your Dynasty album, Beanie's was The Reason and [Memphis] Bleek's The Understanding. Is there an overall concept?

Jay-Z: You can't just go in and make an album all over the place. You won't have any focus, 'cause then the songs start sounding like, "What you trying to do?" Like, "This is my West Coast song. This is my song for the girls. This is my crossover, big pop song." If you don't have no foundation, no structure to what you want to talk about, then it just comes out all over the place.

MTV: What's the concept behind The Blueprint?

Jay-Z: The Blueprint is two different things. It's the blueprint of my life, the things that made me the way I am, [that] shaped me. [It's] all my beliefs and ideas to date. There's also a blueprint for rappers in this business. The songs are like a person in that situation. How would they deal? Coming off the streets, you got Reasonable Doubt. That album was just carefree. Then, the next album [Vol. 1 ... In My Lifetime] was about dealing with the transition from being in the streets to being in the music business.

MTV: Would you say this is one of the most personal albums you've ever made?

Jay-Z: I'd say all of them were personal and had something to do with my life. That's the inspiration for my music. I have a song called "The Blueprint." It's [about how] my momma loves me, it says my sister's real name. ... It's really accurate about my life from the beginning to right now. ... With vocabularies so vast, I could make you a whole album full of stories. The challenge for me is to make it close to what I've seen and still rhyme.

MTV: In "Song Cry" you're referring to a woman, and it sounds pretty serious.

Jay-Z: It's like a grown-up "Ain't No N---a." It's basically dealing with the same thing: a street guy. He's got a woman, a good girl, and she's there for him. But once you're on the streets, your focus is not there. You're running around with all types of girls, just being reckless and unfocused.

MTV: You also have Eminem on the album on the song "Renegade." How did that happen?

Jay-Z: Me and Em always do interviews, and we always say we're gonna do something together. It just came up. No one else is on the album. I was just like, "I respect the dude as a lyricist, he's dope." I got even a further respect for him after doing this song.

MTV: A few months ago at the BET Awards, it seemed like your performance was to test the waters for the new single. Did you expect some feedback, and what did you do with it?

Jay-Z: When I first made the record, I was like, "This is it, it's done." I was calling everybody. That's what I do when I feel like I got the record [finished], I start calling everybody [and saying], "Come to the studio, you've got to hear this." ... I just wanted to put it out there like that. My friends are very opinionated, they argue for days over my records. [They say], "Don't put that one out there, trust me. You got to put out this one." [Laughs]

MTV: Do you take their feedback so seriously that you might kill a song you like?

Jay-Z: I've lost records, definitely.

MTV: Was the idea to go back to the essence of your sound for this one, like you did on Reasonable Doubt?

Jay-Z: Growing up, my mom and pops played a lot of soul music. If I was gonna do "the blueprint," it had to be [the right] music in the background. So I used a lot of soul samples, [because] that's what I grew up on. I used a lot of that to give it that feel from back then, so those emotions and all those thoughts can come up easier. It's like [snaps his fingers].

MTV: Something else that's going on that I'm sure fueled making this album was that a lot of rappers have targeted you in their lyrics. Do all the disses push you to make more albums? Or does it take you out of focus?

Jay-Z: Nah, it's always been like that. Rappers don't really like each other, they never did. It's just so competitive. You have to be a really strong person and be secure about yourself not to feel envy. Rap is a competitive sport. That's how it was built. ... When you add money to the equation, a lot of feelings [come up]. I've watched the game. Every person that was on top went through it. I don't know if they ever went through it to this degree. It's cool.