Jay-Z is working on new music, says longtime collaborator
Jay-Z is reportedly working on new music. His longtime friend and collaborator, Memphis Bleek, made the claim during a recent podcast appearance.
Hov hasn’t released a solo album since 2017’s 4:44 album, but if Bleek’s comments are correct, we could be hearing something sooner rather than later.
“I just was with him in [Las] Vegas. He just came out on the show, like, yo, my n*gga, they went stupid,” Bleek said on Drink Champs, referencing Jay’s appearance on Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter Tour. “I said, ‘Listen, I know you working. Save me a verse.’ He’s like, ‘Alright, I got you.’ So if it happens, it happens.”
Bleek has collaborated with Jay several times in his career, featuring on ‘Coming of Age’ from his debut album, Reasonable Doubt, in 1996. He’s also appeared on songs across 1998’s Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life and 2000’s The Dynasty: Roc La Familia.
Jay’s last project, Everything Is Love, dropped in 2018. The release was a collaborative album with Beyoncé as The Carters, which debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart with 123,000 units in its first week.
Bleek and Jay’s relationship dates back to the Marcy Projects in Brooklyn, with Bleek going on to become Hov’s protege after signing a deal with Roc-A-Fella Records.
During his appearance on The Combat Jack Show, Bleek recalled featuring on Hov’s classic ‘Coming of Age’ song. “See a lot of people didn’t understand, Jay gave me the sheet of paper for ‘Coming of Age’ part one,” he said. “Mind you, I was 15, he had me spitting rhymes I didn’t even understand until I turned about 16, 17.
“I didn’t even understand the record until it came out. [When the cheque came in], it was nice, man. High school stunting, big wheels. I was at every high school in Brooklyn.”