JAŸ-Z in 8: Inside the Series

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

Jay-Z in 8 Streaming this weekend on HBO in North America and on Mubi everywhere else.

Rick Rubin (0:34)

There are so many Beatles documentaries, so many McCartney documentaries, and almost all of them seem to be about the same thing, either Beatlemania or songwriting, both of which great topics. But there's a whole other world, and I was interested in the musicianship aspect of it. And I couldn't find books or films about the Beatles as musicians, so that was the focus of 321 Having that experience, thinking, who's a popular artist who may not be seen as they actually are?

And I thought about Jay, because people think about Jay as a great businessman, executive, billionaire, married to Beyonce. I just thought it would be really beautiful to show that artistry, because without the artistry, none of the other stuff happens. And I'm so happy he decided to do it.

Ayishat Akanbi (1:24)

Yeah, especially because he doesn't really do many interviews. I don't feel like watching it, it occurred to me that I don't think I've ever heard him speak at such length before.

Rick Rubin (1:33)

I remember hearing that you wanted your first album to be your only album.

JAY-Z (1:38)

Yeah.

Rick Rubin (1:39)

That was your original plan.

JAY-Z (1:40)

Yeah.

Rick Rubin (1:40)

Tell me about that.

JAY-Z (1:41)

I don't know where that thought came from, but it was serious for me.

I had these goals. I have one record, it'll go, go.

Rick Rubin (1:48)

I see.

JAY-Z (1:49)

And that'll be it. And then I'll have this company. I've always thought like a businessman. It was like I was fighting the artist. I didn't love being an artist. I didn't like shooting videos. I didn't like interviews. I didn't like speaking. I was pretty much an introvert. This was the way I spoke. I would never talk like that if you were sitting around me. People that sat around me was like, go look it up. Everyone says, he was so quiet. He never said anything, blah, blah, blah. I would never talk like in those days. I would never have a conversation.

And it was part of my job. You're not talking to people, keep yourself saying, stay in the shadows. You're a hustler. You're going to be on TV. That goes against everything. Who are you? There's no early footage of me.

I would never let any cameras come around me. Film me? Oh no, we're going to have a fight. Like there's going to be a problem filming me. So everything I was doing was counterintuitive to how I lived.

And I didn't like the music business. I wanted to do it because I had a dream and I had a talent to do it, but I didn't want to be in it.

Rick Rubin (3:08)

You didn't aspire to be an artist.

JAY-Z (3:10)

I didn't aspire to be an artist.

Yeah. So I was like, I'm going to do this and then I'll have a company.

Ayishat Akanbi (3:19)

Daniel, to some people, you and Rick linking up is a bit of an unlikely pair. And so I wonder what was it about your conversations and the things that you share in common that made you think that you guys should actually work together?

Daniel Kaluuya (3:32)

Then we happened to be hanging out. And then he said, I want to show you something. And then he showed it to me. And I was like, I like it.

These are my thoughts. And then he mentioned Jay-Z thing. And I was like, oh, cool. He said it's eight hours long. So I was ready for eight hours. Then by like three and a half, it was so dense. It was hard. It was like steep. But then I wrote some thoughts that I had about it. I was like, oh, this and that and this and that and this. Remember, he said the bait and he was like, he said, I don't know what you're talking about. I think you do that. So why don't you do it?

And then I was like, what's your name?

He said, you do it. And I was like, all right, cool. And I did it. What's mad is that I just, I love music and I get bored of modern music. There's no feeling in it. There's money in it. And then like, I just finished listening to Jay-Z chronologically, just randomly. I was just like, just going to my favorite artists and listening chronologically. So yeah, it wasn't like, oh, let's work. It was just that kind of like, yeah, this idea. And I had thoughts about it. Then I just was invested.

Ayishat Akanbi (4:37)