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Page 1
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Just when things were going great, Jay gets caught up in a tragedy, a beef and a scandal ...
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Page 2
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Jay still has love for R. Kelly but doesn't want to be nosy, Scarface gets intimidated, and Jigga and Beyoncé need an 'event' ...
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Page 3
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Jay's beef with Tupac, his dealings with Suge, and is he or isn't he with Beyoncé? ... ...
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Jay-Z Photo Album
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Take a look at highlights throughout Hova's career
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Jay-Z: What More Can I Say
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Browse Bands by Name
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Or enter a band name below to search:
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 Bands Main
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"I was not concerned for my career as an artist," Jay clarified about how the promotions for the album abruptly ceased. "I wasn't there, I know that I had nothing to do with [Kelly's] alleged incident. When I think about the album, [I see it as] a blown opportunity. We were in the process of touring, we were putting together like a two-hour show. It would have been something so creative.
"The whole reason the album came together was we said, 'Let's do something creative that nobody's really done before,' " he continued. " 'Let's bring these two genres of music together and make something really crazy and let's go on tour and make history.' We'd probably be in Europe right now. It would have probably had four tour legs together, it would have been a beast."
While Jay hasn't been in constant contact with his friend, he still wishes him the best.
"He is getting calls from everywhere and everybody," Jay, who said he spoke to Kelly a couple of times since the scandal broke, explained. "Some people are concerned and some people just want to be nosy, they want to know what's going on in the guy's life and I don't want to be a person like that. I got love for the dude. If he's guilty, I hope and I pray that he gets help. If he is not, I hope that everybody embraces him."
Starting November 12, Jay is hoping that all the fans who embraced its predecessor will do the same with Blueprint 2, and set him back on the upswing.
"I recorded all the songs for a double album in a little over a month," Jay explained. He worked with a diverse array of characters ranging from Outkast's Big Boi to Snoop Dogg's protégé Latoiya Williams.
"Our studio session was more or less like a big joke," Scarface, who performs on "Somehow, Someway" with Jay and Beanie Sigel, said of working with the Roc. "You go in there and see Jay shooting pool. You see Beans on the sofa asleep. Jay always plays sh-- for me, torturing me, playing the new Blueprint. I think he does that to fire me up. Then he'll play the song he wants me to get on. I'm like, 'How can you do this to me, man? You play all this heat and you want me to compete with the heat?' "
"That is exactly what I did," Jay explained about sequestering himself in the studio. "I did not want to be influenced by the outside. The Blueprint 2, I wanted it to be about my thoughts and where I am in my life, what's going on, what I see in the future. With this album I wanted to go different places and use different types of songs and music. You go from Lenny Kravitz to Dr. Dre to Young Chris."
Sitting in Baseline studios early this fall, it looked like Jiggaman was losing it after he made a call to "stop the music!" In actuality, he and producer Kanye West found it. Inspiration, that is.
It had been weeks since Jay-Z put the call into Kanye, asking one of the new Roc-A-Fella recording artists and producer of such Jigga hits as "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)," "The Takeover" and "Never Change" for a smash. Obviously the duo make beautiful music together, but this time had to be a little different, it had to be "next level" special. Jay wanted Kanye to produce the first single from his Blueprint 2: The Gift and the Curse LP, which just so happened to have a slot for guest star and Jigga gal pal Beyoncé Knowles, or "B" as he refers to her. It had to be an event.
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Photo: Roc-A-Fella
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