Jay Z Covers New York Magazine's "Annual Yesteryear Issue"
by Andres Tardio
posted March 24, 2014 at 2:05PM EDT | 16 comments
Rick Rubin says Jay Z is an "incredibly inspiring lyricist" and that Chris Rock had the idea for the chorus on "99 Problems."
Jay Z appears on New York Magazine's "The Annual Yesteryear Issue" in its "The Encyclopedia of New York Pop Music" article.
New York Magazine posted the cover on Twitter with a link to the article on Vulture, which features Rick Rubin writing about Jay Z.
"Jay Z asked me to work on a song with him," Rick Rubin writes in the
article. "He was retiring, and he was making what he thought was his
last album. He wanted one song from each of his favorite producers and
asked if I would do it. That was my first Hip Hopsong since the early
days, and that was '99 Problems.' It was really fun. He was incredibly
inspiring as a lyricist. We worked on a lot of ideas, and then he honed
in on the track that felt most exciting to him. Actually, Chris Rock had
the idea for the chorus. It’s based on an Ice-T song called '99
Problems,' and he said, 'Ice-T has this song, and maybe there’s a way to
flip it around and do a new version of that.' And I told Jay Z the idea
and he liked it. The Ice-T song is about 'got 99 problems and a bitch
ain’t one,' and then it’s a list of him talking about his girls and what
a great pimp he is. And our idea was to use that same hook concept, and
instead of it being about the girls that are not his problem, instead
of being a bragging song, it’s more about the problems. Like this is
about the other side of that story."
Diddy, Nicki Minaj and The Notorious B.I.G. are also among rappers featured in the article. The Jay Z cover is below.
Jay
Z asked me to work on a song with him,” Rick Rubin writes in the
article. “He was retiring, and he was making what he thought was his
last album. He wanted one song from each of his favorite producers and
asked if I would do it. That was my first Hip Hopsong since the early
days, and that was ’99 Problems.’ It was really fun. He was incredibly
inspiring as a lyricist. We worked on a lot of ideas, and then he honed
in on the track that felt most exciting to him. Actually, Chris Rock had
the idea for the chorus. It’s based on an Ice-T song called ’99
Problems,’ and he said, ‘Ice-T has this song, and maybe there’s a way to
flip it around and do a new version of that.’ And I told Jay Z the idea
and he liked it. The Ice-T song is about ‘got 99 problems and a bitch
ain’t one,’ and then it’s a list of him talking about his girls and what
a great pimp he is. And our idea was to use that same hook concept, and
instead of it being about the girls that are not his problem, instead
of being a bragging song, it’s more about the problems. Like this is
about the other side of that story. - See more at:
http://verbnyc.com/2014/03/jayz-covers-newyorkmagazine-annual-yesteryear-issue/#sthash.uHgomu9G.dpuf
The
New York magazine presence it’s “YesterYear” issue featuring a 1997
picture of the Roc Nation CEO. In the interview who other would give the
best interview but the old friend of Hip-Hop’s Rick Ruben. Diddy,
Nicki Minaj and The Notorious B.I.G. are also among rappers featured in
the article. - See more at:
http://verbnyc.com/2014/03/jayz-covers-newyorkmagazine-annual-yesteryear-issue/#sthash.ql6YLYI5.dpuf
“Jay
Z asked me to work on a song with him,” Rick Rubin writes in the
article. “He was retiring, and he was making what he thought was his
last album. He wanted one song from each of his favorite producers and
asked if I would do it. That was my first Hip Hopsong since the early
days, and that was ’99 Problems.’ It was really fun. He was incredibly
inspiring as a lyricist. We worked on a lot of ideas, and then he honed
in on the track that felt most exciting to him. Actually, Chris Rock had
the idea for the chorus. It’s based on an Ice-T song called ’99
Problems,’ and he said, ‘Ice-T has this song, and maybe there’s a way to
flip it around and do a new version of that.’ And I told Jay Z the idea
and he liked it. The Ice-T song is about ‘got 99 problems and a bitch
ain’t one,’ and then it’s a list of him talking about his girls and what
a great pimp he is. And our idea was to use that same hook concept, and
instead of it being about the girls that are not his problem, instead
of being a bragging song, it’s more about the problems. Like this is
about the other side of that story.” - See more at:
http://verbnyc.com/2014/03/jayz-covers-newyorkmagazine-annual-yesteryear-issue/#sthash.uHgomu9G.dpuf
“Jay
Z asked me to work on a song with him,” Rick Rubin writes in the
article. “He was retiring, and he was making what he thought was his
last album. He wanted one song from each of his favorite producers and
asked if I would do it. That was my first Hip Hopsong since the early
days, and that was ’99 Problems.’ It was really fun. He was incredibly
inspiring as a lyricist. We worked on a lot of ideas, and then he honed
in on the track that felt most exciting to him. Actually, Chris Rock had
the idea for the chorus. It’s based on an Ice-T song called ’99
Problems,’ and he said, ‘Ice-T has this song, and maybe there’s a way to
flip it around and do a new version of that.’ And I told Jay Z the idea
and he liked it. The Ice-T song is about ‘got 99 problems and a bitch
ain’t one,’ and then it’s a list of him talking about his girls and what
a great pimp he is. And our idea was to use that same hook concept, and
instead of it being about the girls that are not his problem, instead
of being a bragging song, it’s more about the problems. Like this is
about the other side of that story.” - See more at:
http://verbnyc.com/2014/03/jayz-covers-newyorkmagazine-annual-yesteryear-issue/#sthash.uHgomu9G.dpuf
The
New York magazine presence it’s “YesterYear” issue featuring a 1997
picture of the Roc Nation CEO. In the interview who other would give the
best interview but the old friend of Hip-Hop’s Rick Ruben. Diddy,
Nicki Minaj and The Notorious B.I.G. are also among rappers featured in
the article. - See more at:
http://verbnyc.com/2014/03/jayz-covers-newyorkmagazine-annual-yesteryear-issue/#sthash.uHgomu9G.dpuf
The
New York magazine presence it’s “YesterYear” issue featuring a 1997
picture of the Roc Nation CEO. In the interview who other would give the
best interview but the old friend of Hip-Hop’s Rick Ruben. Diddy,
Nicki Minaj and The Notorious B.I.G. are also among rappers featured in
the article.
- See more at: http://verbnyc.com/2014/03/jayz-covers-newyorkmagazine-annual-yesteryear-issue/#sthash.uHgomu9G.dpuf
The
New York magazine presence it’s “YesterYear” issue featuring a 1997
picture of the Roc Nation CEO. In the interview who other would give the
best interview but the old friend of Hip-Hop’s Rick Ruben. Diddy,
Nicki Minaj and The Notorious B.I.G. are also among rappers featured in
the article.
- See more at: http://verbnyc.com/2014/03/jayz-covers-newyorkmagazine-annual-yesteryear-issue/#sthash.uHgomu9G.dpuf
The
New York magazine presence it’s “YesterYear” issue featuring a 1997
picture of the Roc Nation CEO. In the interview who other would give the
best interview but the old friend of Hip-Hop’s Rick Ruben. Diddy,
Nicki Minaj and The Notorious B.I.G. are also among rappers featured in
the article.
- See more at: http://verbnyc.com/2014/03/jayz-covers-newyorkmagazine-annual-yesteryear-issue/#sthash.uHgomu9G.dpuf
