After taking a lengthy hiatus from the rap game and public life altogether, it seems like JAŸ-Z is slowly coming out of hibernation and reintroducing himself to pop culture. From randomly throwing up his “Dead Presidents” single posters all over New York City just last month to announcing a two-day (now three-day) concert in Yankee Stadium in July, JAŸ-Z is making it known that he’s coming back for the throne. Truth be told, we say it’s about damn time.
Now making the media rounds, JAŸ-Z gave GQ an exclusive interview in which he reflects on his life, the music that made him an icon, and his take on the Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle of 2024.
When asked about how he would “rate” his 2025, JAŸ-Z admitted that the lawsuit he was hit with alleging that he had sexually assaulted a woman “took a lot” out of him and led to him being in a state of “uncontrollable anger” that he hadn’t been in a long time.“You had to be super sure before you put those kind of things on a person. Especially a person like me,” he said, according to GQ. “Even when we were doing the worst things, we had those kind of rules. There was a line: no women, no kids. You hear those sayings, but those are the things that I took from the street. We lived and died by that. So it’s strict for me, like it meant a lot to me.”
The “Success” Of Reasonable Doubt
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While JAŸ-Z’s debut album Reasonable Doubt basically bricked on a commercial level, it did wonders for his career on a street level as he proved himself to be one of the best up-and-coming rappers in the game during Hip-Hop’s golden era. Debuting to a paltry 43,000 units sold, he felt that it was a huge success for him in the wild. “On the streets we were platinum. Anywhere you was going to go, you was going to hear Reasonable Doubt, he said.” He’s damn right about that one.
Failure Leads To Wins
While most people tend to give up on their dreams when they’ve taken enough L’s, he knew that labels shunning him and passing on signing him to a record deal led him to greatness and learned that rejection is indeed redirection to greater things.
“I had to not get a deal in order to become who I am today. I had to not get a deal. But if you told me at that time, it didn’t feel like the greatest blessing of all. It was the greatest blessing that I didn’t get a deal. So again, everything in your life, it’s not happening to you, it’s happening for you.”
Small Circle
Touching on how the Diddy-related lawsuit had him deep in his anger, JAŸ admitted that such situations would lead to him airing out his grievances in the booth, but since he wasn’t making music at the time, it was his inner circle that kept him grounded and helped him get through that trying time.
“I’ve built this circle that’s really safe for me of people that really love me, are not using me, and really care for my best interests. So I was able to have that in the most crucial time for me.”
He Won’t Settle For Anything
While many other celebrities might’ve went the easy route and simply settled with their accuser to get such a situation over with and move on with their life, he said he couldn’t bring himself to fold so easily, especially since he knew he was innocent. “I called my guy from LVMH: ‘Hey, man, this is coming and I can’t get rid of it.’ I can’t take a settlement—it ain’t in my DNA. First of all, first I had to tell my wife. Let’s back up. I know the weight that this is going to bring on our family. I can’t do it. I would die.”
Fatherhood
When asked about how being a parent is treating him these days, JAŸ-Z had no problem expressing his love of fatherhood and what comes with it saying, “It gives everything meaning, everything. I’ll go cross-country, do what I have to do, and I’m back on the plane that night. I love taking them to school. I love picking them up. Everything means so much more.”
Fear Of 4:44
Talking about his last album 4:44, JAŸ-Z admitted that he “can’t even really listen to 4:44” as it was the album he was “afraid to make.” As the album was riddled with his most “pure and vulnerable, the real interior thoughts,” it seems like the rapper has a hard time reliving whatever went into making those songs as it’s been his most soul-baring project to date.
Refusing To Add More Fuel To A World On Fire
JAŸ-Z admitted that one of the reasons he hasn’t released any new music lately is because he was in an angry place emotionally. With the way things are nowadays he didn’t want to contribute any negativity to an already gloom-ridden reality.
“I’m not sure with the amount of negativity in the world that people needed me to add to that with my feelings—because it would have been harsh, and it would have been harsh on everybody. I don’t know how to make music that’s not reflective of how I’m feeling at the moment.”
No Clipse Feature
Addressing the word on the street that he fronted on hopping on the new classic Clipse album Let God Sort ‘Em Out, Hov admitted he was “close” to doing it but he ultimately decided against it because “I don’t want to be so rigid. But at that moment, I was like, ‘Yeah, I want to do something.’”
Drake vs. Kendrick
Weighing in on the classic battle of 2024 that saw Kendrick Lamar dismantle Drake’s career and popularity, he admitted that while battling is a classic part of the rap game, it’s something entirely different in today’s day and age of social media.
“We love the excitement and I love the sparring, but in this day and age there’s so much negative stuff that comes with it that you almost wish it didn’t happen.” Explaining why he felt that way, he added, “Now, people that like Kendrick hate Drake, no matter what he makes. It’s like an attack on his character. I don’t know if I love that. I don’t know if it’s helpful to our growth where the fallout lands, especially on social media.”
Nas
While on the subject of Drake vs. Kendrick, JAŸ-Z took the time to reflect on his own classic battle with Nas in the early 2000s and admitted he “regretted” it because “I really like Nas. He’s a really nice guy.”
He later told the interviewer: “I realize it’s a bit hypocritical because of how many battles I’ve been in, and given the nature of ‘Super Ugly.’ It takes growth to arrive at this place, because I’ve done the bullsh-t too!”
