Nas Speaks on Absence From The Scene And Other Interesting Facts

The Punchbowl Blog interviewed Nas at the Orange Rock Corps concert in the U.K. They touch on his new album with Damien Marley and other projects in the making. When she asks him about “Empire State of Mind”, he tells her to move on to the next question. He adds Only Bult 4 Cuban Linx 2 and Blueprint 3 are two of his favorite albums right now. He comments a little on Kanye, status with Kelis and being offered the Def Jam presidency. To conclude, he mentions Drake, Lil Wayne and Asher Roth as “new” artists that he respects…. yes, “new”.

NAS | LIVE FROM LONDON @ THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL from Roy Thomas on Vimeo.

Jay-Z on German TVTotal

Case you didn’t know, STILL #1, his best run ever with this album.

(6:40) [Are you flexible like Eminem?]
No-ope.

The Making Of BP3’s Artwork

Related: BP3 First Week: 465,448

Says photographer Dan Tobin Smith to ItsNiceThat.com:

Greg Burke, the creative director on the project at Atlantic Records had seen the Letter ‘E’ I had shot with the set designer Nicola Yeoman and I guess he had it in the back of his mind when he was thinking of ideas for Jay-Z’s new artwork for Blueprint 3. I think Greg and Jay-Z had lots of ideas about what the album meant and it seemed to be about taking it back to the source, in terms of the music itself and then subsequently the artwork. For the album and the idea was it was very much about the music and all the things that make music. The 3 is represented by 3 bars which is of course the old way of writing ‘3’ so that seemed to work really nicely with the idea behind the album and the set design that evolved. We all liked the idea that the installation was almost machine like, like all these things were interlinked. That’s why everything is packed and jumbled together. Like it had kind of grown out of this corner.

I think it was a brave approach for Jay-Z as all his previous albums have had him on them. I love still life, and the way I shoot is quite old school. It took 3 days to shoot, was all shot on 10×8 inch film, so the quality in the whites is fantastic, so much subtle tone. We worked long and hard on the colour work on the post and even in a single page mag advert I can see that effort. You could blow the image up to the size of a building and it would still hold up. It seems the album is about that old school crafted production so its nice that that same method went into the shoot.

The reaction has been really good. Kanye put it on his blog which was nice. I’m sure some people want to see Jay-Z on the cover but at least they will talk about it. I love the idea of this kind of still life photography being so looked at. When they see the rest of the shoot for the singles I think it will grow on some of the people who were maybe less enamoured with it. There has obviously been comparisons to the letter E, some people not realising it was me who shot it! It was great that we shot it and the whole experience was great, everybody worked together really well.

Spotted @ NahRight

Jay-Z on David Letterman

Funny interview, kind of pissed Latterman passed my boy Conan in ratings, but hey, its life. BP3 going to be bigger than I thought… WAY BIGGER… you better have it playing right now!!

Jay-Z – Blueprint 3 Booklet Scans

I’m analyzing every pixel of this right now… just noticed “Executive Producers: Shawn Carter and Kanye West.”

Fellow rap nerds connoisseurs, rejoice!

Big props to Illionaire @ UHTN for scanning it.

September 11th!

Spotted @ NahRight

Jay-Z Speaks On Jay-Z

Exclusive Myspace interview with Jay-Z, speaks on his childhood, coming up. Touches on his lunchroom battles with Biggie and Busta. And of course… Reasonable Doubt had to come up, but it was good, because he spoke on ‘In My Lifetime’ and made very interesting points.

Jay-Z – Venus vs. Mars (No Tags)

This is what happens when my arm is twisted, y’all beg me for the Jay-Z leaks. Here is the final I believe… (notice all the leaks are produced by Timbo…HMMMMM?!?!)

Jay-Z – Venus vs. Mars (No Tags) | zSHARE

Bonus:

T.I. ft. Kanye West, Lil Wayne & – Swagger Like Us (Original) | zSHARE

Jay-Z Covers XXL (October ‘09)

Already know I’ll be getting this issue, though I kind of stop buying magazines (everything’s on the net these days). October’s issue includes stories on The Making of The Blueprint, the current state of lyricism in hip-hop, Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II, and more. The mag hits newsstands September 15

HIS STANDING IN THE GAME:

“But when I say I’m the best, I don’t say that outta my ass. I say that with all my stats behind me. I put that against anybody. I mean anybody. I really believe that… I believe in a lot of things. 
I believe that ‘SportsCenter’ is the best thing on TV. I shouldn’t have to prove it. But I do have these stats to prove it. I’m talking about real run. I’m not talking about years off. I’m talking about straight—boom, boom, boom—back to back. We’re not talking about heritage acts either. We’re not talking about respect what I’ve done. I’m talking No. 1 [albums] 10 times. The Beatles is the only one [to have more 
No. 1 albums]. They got 19, and if I get a surge of creativity, I could make nine albums next year.”

Bill O’Reilly Responds To “Off That”

Billy Goat and FOX News being as racists as they can legally be. Responding to a Jay-Z track as if he’s some type of rapper… thanks for the promo fag boy.

Jay-Z – Reminder (Produced by Timbaland)

“All bloggers with comments, please, I come in peace…”

Jay-Z – Reminder (Produced by Timbaland)

Jay-Z to Rap for Charity Jay-Z  is expected to announce on Monday that he will give a benefit concert at Madison Square Garden on Sept. 11 for the New York Police and Fire Widows’ and Children’s Benefit Fund, a charity created in 1985 to support the families of police officers and firefighters who have died in the line of duty. The concert, which comes on the day his new album, “The Blueprint 3,” will be released, will also be broadcast by Fuse, the cable music channel. Ticket information has not been announced. [via NYTimes]