The one rule Jay-Z has for studio sessions: “He was dead serious about it”
Jay-Z cares a lot about his craft. When it comes to working in the studio, Hov has strict rules that collaborators also need to abide by. The Brooklyn artist takes pride in his ability as a lyricist, and he made sure Louisville rapper EST Gee was also on the same wavelength before getting in the recording booth together.
The 30-year-old, signed to Yo Gotti’s CMG label, once opened up about having phone calls with Jay-Z and touched on his comedic nature. Before linking up in person, Gee revealed that Jay told him not to bring a ghostwriter to the studio. While he was joking about Gee having someone write for him, the actual guideline was legit.
“Jay-Z a street n*gga, he just got a billion,” he told Complex. “He just on some cool shit, but he ain’t on no weird shit. Jay-Z ain’t weird at all. And I’ve done met some rappers who be weird bruh, and they supposed to be more younger, gangsta, whatever. You know, Jay-Z kinda old, he been in rap for a long time and he ain’t weird. He’s a regular n*gga, you feel me?
“He gon’ shoot a joke at you and everything. He told me, ‘Let me bring you down to the Super Bowl with me so we can kick it, man.’ He’s like, ‘We get in the studio, make sure you don’t bring your ghostwriter with you.’ I’m like, ‘Damn.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah man, they told you have somebody write that shit for you.’ He was dead serious about it. That’s how I know he’s a street n*gga who made it down to the big level.”
Despite Jay-Z being against ghostwriters, Consequence once claimed he wrote 2003’s ‘Encore’. “One record in particular I was happy about to be a part of was Jay-Z’s ‘Encore’,” he told Power 106. “When me and Kanye was on the phone and we actually kinda came up with the chorus back and forth.”
Gee previously discussed what it was like to meet Jay-Z, claiming they think in similar ways. “It was something, but shit, I don’t know. It was regular,” he told Billboard. “It’s enough for us and them. Make sure your people are straight. You just gotta remember who you are. I respected it, he’s a street n*gga. He’s got a billion dollars. I can tell he don’t even think about it like that, ‘Man, I’m Jay-Z.’”
He continued, “He just be like, ‘I can’t believe they let me do it like that.’ That’s how I think, ‘How they let me get right here?’ A lot of shit be going on but it be whatever. It’s nothing they could do. It’s gone so far and you gotta know where I’m from. N*ggas trade everything for this shit. I know they watch my Instagram like, ‘What the fuck?’ I know it bothers n*ggas, and there’s hate with the love.”
Gee carried his experience with Jay into his debut album, I Never Felt Nun, which was released in 2022 and peaked at number eight on the Billboard 200. It featured Jeezy, Future, Jack Harlow, Machine Gun Kelly and Bryson Tiller.