MTV News Interviews Jay-Z
On writing lyrics, Jay-Z says, do as I say, not as I do.
Jay-Z also says he stopped writing at Reasonable Doubt. Interestingly enough, all the hardcore Jay-Z fans I know and respect seriously wish for something else at that level. Could there be a connection?
Given that context, for Jay-Z/Def Jam to withold American Gangster from iTunes and then present it as an artistic choice is a bit ridiculous, though plenty are willing to buy in.
Jermaine Dupri does a nice job of revealing how he thinks on the matter and he’s got some good points that are totally undermined by objective reality.
For example:
Back in the day when people were excited about a record coming out we’d put out a single to get the ball going and if we sold a lot of singles that was an indication we’d sell a lot of albums. But we’d cut the single off a few weeks before the album came out to get people to wait and let the excitement build. When I put out Kris Kross we did that. We sold two million singles, then we stopped. Eventually we sold eight million albums!
Did consumers complain? Maybe so. But at what point does any business care when a consumer complains about the money? Why do people not care how we – the people who make music – eat? If they just want the single, they gotta get the album. That was how life was.
That was how life was and now it’s not. Doh!
Even back in the 80s, when albums were still supposed to be somewhat album-like, the most common complaint I heard and personally expressed was that most of the time when one bought an album because of a great single, odds were that the album would suck.
But we were stuck. That’s how life was. Now it’s not.
Hip hop has become a singles sport and the music industry has exploited that to the max. But trying to save the album by restricting singles sales rather than bothering to write down your lyrics so maybe they can get a little deeper isn’t gonna work when everybody can see this isn’t about art, it’s about commerce, and such moves are holding actions so folks like Jermaine Dupri and Jay-Z can skim as much cream as possible before the ship sinks.
Hey, maybe the real problem is that Jay-Z doesn’t put out great singles anymore?
But his timing remains awesome. If he had released American Gangster a week earlier and gotten the same sales, he’d have debuted at no. 2 with 425,000 sold behind the Eagles no. 1 with 711,000 sold.
But he’d still beat Britney Spears!
