Latest Jay-Z Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• Your future is ahead of you. Imagine the notion of the past fifteen years of your life being a blip in your story.

  Jay-Z

  Past, Years, Stories

• The fans get to see you, and you can do great by your record if you have a great performance or a great night there. That's all part of the business. But at their core, awards shows are not really a sincere thing. For a lot of years, the artists had to pay to play their own set.

  Jay-Z

  Artist, Night, Awards

  Interview With Elvis Mitchell, www.interviewmagazine.com. January 11, 2010.

• No one's walking around here perfect. Everyone's gonna make mistakes. That's part of how you learn.

  Jay-Z

  Mistake, Perfect, Making Mistakes

  Interview With Elvis Mitchell, www.interviewmagazine.com. January 11, 2010.

• When I listen to great music, the first thing I wonder is what people were saying when this came out of the speakers in the studio. I want to know what happened when they played it and said, "This is the one!"

  Jay-Z

  People, Want, Firsts

  Interview With Elvis Mitchell, www.interviewmagazine.com. January 11, 2010.

• When you listen to an album, it shouldn't feel like, "That's the girl song," "That's the club song." I shouldn't know what you're thinking while you're making the song. I don't want to know what the artist is thinking.

  Jay-Z

  Girl, Song, Artist

  Interview With Elvis Mitchell, www.interviewmagazine.com. January 11, 2010.

• For me, being with Obama or having dinner with Bill Clinton... It's crazy. It's mind-blowing, because where I come from is just another world. We were just ignored by politicians, by America in general.

  Jay-Z

  Crazy, America, Mind Blowing

  Interview with Elvis Mitchell, www.interviewmagazine.com. January 11, 2010.

• For me, the challenge is just making great albums, because talent - and writing in general - is not tangible. There's no expiration date on it. At the same time, you might wake up tomorrow and be unable to write music.

  Jay-Z

  Writing, Challenges, Albums

  Interview With Elvis Mitchell, www.interviewmagazine.com. January 11, 2010.

• People who don't know you, you don't know their motives. They smile at you all day, "Oh, that's great. You've done it again! You're the greatest!" And that's not good for an artist.

  Jay-Z

  Artist, People, Done

  Interview with Elvis Mitchell, www.interviewmagazine.com. January 11, 2010.

• The reason I've been groundedand able to make albums, is because I've allowed my friends to come with me and voice an opinion. That's who keeps you grounded, the people who have known you longest.

  Jay-Z

  Voice, People, Albums

  Interview with Elvis Mitchell, www.interviewmagazine.com. January 11, 2010.

• I had success. I had a number one record. I had a number one album. I have to make this kind of record again or else I'm going to lose it all. That's how you end up making the same song over and over.

  Jay-Z

  Song, Numbers, Albums

  Interview With Elvis Mitchell, www.interviewmagazine.com. January 11, 2010.

• I really just like breaking down the barriers, whether it means doing an album with Linkin Park, an album with R. Kelly, or playing at the Brandenburg Gate with Bono.

  Jay-Z

  Mean, Albums, Parks

  Interview with Elvis Mitchell, www.interviewmagazine.com. January 11, 2010.

• When people say stuff like, "Oh, that's soft rock. I don't listen to that," I find that elitist. It's music-racist.

  Jay-Z

  Rocks, People, Racist

  Interview with Elvis Mitchell, www.interviewmagazine.com. January 11, 2010.

• All these ways we classify things as R&B and hip-hop and rock... It's bullshit. It's all music. If you put yourself in that box, then you won't be able to hear that it's all music at its soul.

  Jay-Z

  Rocks, Bullshit, Hip Hop

  Interview with Elvis Mitchell, www.interviewmagazine.com. January 11, 2010.

• Everyone who makes music is a good collaborator at their foundation because in order to make music, you have to connect to it in a way that other people can't.

  Jay-Z

  Order, People, Foundation

  Interview with Elvis Mitchell, www.interviewmagazine.com. January 11, 2010.

• I'm gonna fight, and I'm gonna make something out of nothing. That's pretty much the American dream. So, for me, the realization that I could speak to people like that came first on a small scale. Then it just started happening. I started having this vibration.

  Jay-Z

  Dream, Fighting, People

  Interview with Elvis Mitchell, www.interviewmagazine.com. January 11, 2010.

• I'm trying to tell the story in the most clear, concise, and truthful way, taking those everyday words and phrases and capturing them in a way that they become something else.

  Jay-Z

  Everyday, Trying, Phrases

  Interview with Elvis Mitchell, www.interviewmagazine.com. January 11, 2010.

• I think the consumption of music is at an all-time high. But I think the ways that record companies are trying to monetize it is just all over the place. At the end of the day, music is in the clouds. Before, you could hold it, look at it, turn it around. Now, it's just in the air.

  Jay-Z

  Thinking, Clouds, Air

  Interview with Elvis Mitchell, www.interviewmagazine.com. January 11, 2010.