Let's face it: as much as we all know and love about music, everyone has at least some blind spots. In our new series, "How To Be Smarter About…" Soundcheck aims to help you become a more impressive conversation partner at cocktail parties and around the water cooler.
When Mario Correa, host of Sirius XM’s Entertainment Weekly Radio, moved to New York in 2009, he and practically everyone around him was listening to Jay Z’s super hit with Alicia Keys, “Empire State Of Mind.” In an email to Soundcheck, Correra wrote: “He’s married to Beyoncé and he did 'Empire State of Mind,' a song I love. There you have the entirety of my Jay Z knowledge. Oh wait -- he’s one of the owners of Barclay’s Center. That, too.”
Surely, there’s way more to say about the 19 Grammy-winning, “greatest MC of all time?” As it turns out, Correa’s even wrong about that last bit. Jay Z forfeited his share of the Brooklyn arena last year.
At the behest of Correa, he and Soundcheck host John Schaefer talk all things Jay Z with Brian “B Dot” Miller, content director at Rap Radar.com and a professed Jay Z enthusiast. Miller educates Correa on Jay Z's rise to fame, his essential tracks and albums and the truth behind some popular misconceptions.
How did Jay Z become the “greatest MC”?
“When Biggie died [in 1997], Jay just kind of filled that void and ran with it," says Miller. “He became this cultural phenomenon. He had a song called ‘Ain't No Nigga,’ and it was really popular at the time. When his first album, Reasonable Doubt, came out it didn't do too well. His second album, In My Lifetime, Vol 1., did a bit better. It was his third album, Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life that really ascended him into the guy we know now.”
Who is Jay Z, the businessman?
In some of his songs, Jay Z raps about his pre-fame days -- dealing drugs and selling his CDs out of the trunk of a Lexus, which Miller confirms to be true. "Jay Z always had a business acumen," he says. "He kind of parlayed his street-savviness into the music industry and it paid off for him." Jay Z's long list of business successes includes co-founding Roc-A-Fella Records and his clothing company Rocawear, and becoming the former president of Def Jam Records.
What's the one Jay Z record I need to hear?
Miller’s favorite album is Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life, but he says The Blueprint is “a classic album that everybody unanimously agrees on. It cemented Jay Z as ‘the guy.’”
What should I call him?
Born Shawn Carter, the rapper has taken many nicknames over his 26-year career: “Iceberg,” “William H. Holla,” “Jay-Hova,” the “God MC.” According to Miller, when Jay Z was starting out he even put umlauts over his name. With the release of his newest record, Magna Carta Holy Grail, Jay defiantly scrapped the hyphen in “Jay-Z” to become simply “Jay Z.”
Where does the name “Jay Z” originate from?
Many believe he took the name from the J/Z subway line running from lower Manhattan to Jamaica, Queens. Miller says this is likely an urban legend, but does point out that “there’s a J/Z station right next to the building where he grew up. It may actually come from his mentor, Jaz-O.”
What makes Jay Z's rhymes so great?
"The beauty about Jay Z is that his flow is very conversational," explains Miller. "He's also very witty. I always say that he could teach high school English if he weren't a successful rapper. I think his tone, the way he delivers his rhymes, his metaphors, and his similes is real slick, real clever: 'She saw my necklace, she started relaxin' / And that's what the f*** I call a chain-reaction.'"
Is Jay Z really involved with the Illuminati?
Miller says no, and believes there’s a racial undertone to this rumor: “There's some taboo that a successful black man can't be successful and black at the same time -- there has to be some kind of trickery.” Don't expect to see a Dan Brown novel with Jay Z in it anytime soon.