The one time Justin Timberlake lost his cool with Jay-Z
Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z were two household names of the 2000s, and the pair have worked together numerous times. However, on one occasion, the ‘Rock Your Body’ singer got so frustrated with Jay-Z that he almost rejected a chance to work with him.
In the mid-2000s, Timberlake approached the Brooklyn legend for a verse with hopes that they could work together on a hit record. Still, Jay-Z had different plans, and in Timberlake’s eyes, Jay was being quite selfish.
The Justified creator approached Hov to appear on his multi-platinum project FutureSex/LoveSounds. Unfortunately, Jay insisted he was busy and would have to get back to Timberlake at another time. Still, this didn’t sit right with the ‘Cry Me A River’ vocalist, who wasn’t sure he could accommodate his own schedule to work with Jay-Z again.
Jay had released many albums since his breakout in 1996, and Timberlake was unsure why the rapper couldn’t even send him a verse via e-mail. In a 2011 interview with Vanity Fair, the singer detailed his exchanges with Jay and expressed how, at the time he felt hard done by.
Recalling Jay’s message to him upon his request for a feature, Timberlake told the publication, “Jay-Z has put out 11 albums, and I was talking about doing a collaboration with him, and he said, ‘I can’t do it right now, but I’ll get you on the next album!'”
After hearing Jay-Z’s resounding “No”, the singer felt as if he was having to work around the emcee. Telling Vanity Fair how unjust he thought it was, Timberlake continued, “I was like, ‘No, man, I don’t work like that. This sounded good to me for you and me to do together, and if it doesn’t work, then I totally get it. But I won’t be putting an album out next year; these aren’t a dime a dozen to me.'”
Although the vocalist was obviously hurt and annoyed at Jay’s response, the pair eventually found common ground for ‘Suit & Tie’, the lead single of Timberlake’s 2013 project The 20/20 Experience. The hit was so big that, following the release of Magna Carta Holy Grail, the pair went on a joint tour.
In an interview with the morning radio show The Breakfast Club, Timberlake unveiled what a joy it was and how much freedom Jay gave him concerning the creative design of the tour. Expressing his happiness, the singer declared, “It was unbelievable. “For him, to kind of give me real creative license to put, musically, to put the show together and to trust me with that, it obviously meant a lot… It’s the best show I’ve ever been a part of.”
‘Suit & Tie’ peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and saw Timberlake earn yet another platinum plaque for a single.