There were rumors that JAY-Z charged a pretty penny for a feature. But the Brooklyn emcee revealed that he doesn’t accept money for guest appearances on songs. He sat down with Kevin Hart for the season two premiere of the Peacock series, “Hart to Heart,” on Thursday (July 14).
Hov said he doesn’t make feature requests. “It’s mostly relationships. It’s actually always been mostly relationships,” he said. “Sometimes it’s talent and sometimes someone asks me to be on something. Pretty much every song that I’m on I’m asked to be on. I don’t ask people to be on their songs. I never charge.”
A 16 from the likes of JAY-Z is a dream for any artist in the game, but he’s not greenlighting every feature. “Way more nos than yeses,” the 4:44 artist confirmed in the conversation. Jigga only appeared on one track this year: Pusha-T’s “Neck and Wrist.”
But Jay did confirm that he’s not retired from rapping and reflected on the moment he announced The Black Album would be his last offering in 2003. “I really thought, you know, I was really burned out that time. I was releasing an album every year … and in between that, soundtracks, other people’s albums, Roc-a-Fella, touring, like back-to-back. I just looked up one day and was tired,” he explained before revealing that he took his first-ever vacation in 2000.
JAY-Z’s “retirement” lasted for three years before he released American Gangster. It’s unclear what’s next for him, but he’s not ruling out the possibility of new music in the future. “I’m not actively making music or making an album or have plans to make an album, but I never want to say that I’m retired,” he admitted. “It’s a gift, so who am I to shut it off? And it may have a different form or interpretation. Maybe it’s not an album, maybe it is. I have no idea, but I’m just going to leave it open.”