The reason Jay-Z stopped rapping, according to Memphis Bleek
Jay-Z hasn’t released an album since 2017’s 4:44. His longtime collaborator, Memphis Bleek, has explained why he’s not so busy as a rapper these days.
Bleek’s relationship with Hov dates back to the Marcy Projects in Brooklyn, collaborating on songs from Reasonable Doubt, Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life, and The Dynasty: Roc La Familia.
During his appearance on Club Shay Shay, Bleek revealed that for Jay to rap, he needs to feel like he’s being challenged.
“So now I feel it’s to a point Jay needs to be challenged to do music,” he explained. “Not saying that somebody need to diss him or competition. He just feels like there’s no one on his level.”
He continued, “When Eminem was making music, Pun was making music, Biggie, Tupac [Shakur], those guys, he had competition to be like, ‘Oh, I got to be number one.’ It’s no competition for Jay now.”
Bleek referenced Jay talking about retiring during his early days. Still, he made it to 13 solo albums and became one of the greatest of all time.
“If you go back to his first album, second album around that time, he always was talking about retiring after his first album,” Bleek said. “Then he was like, I’ma retire after the second album. He never wanted to do this and be this glamorous superstar. He wanted to be the biggest businessman.”
The 47-year-old added, “So that’s why, if you see, music is the backbone, but his business is his personality. That’s who he is, the businessman. And that’s what overshadows the music.”
Despite his comments, Bleek recently claimed that Jay was working on new music after seeing him in Las Vegas.