What more can Jay-Z do?

By Steve Jones
USA Today

Grammy-winning rapper Jay-Z bows out after the release of his latest CD, "The Black Album." Gannett News Service

With the just-released "The Black Album," he's ready to move on after a seven-year run of hit singles, platinum albums and sold-out tours.

"It's always been on my mind," says Jay-Z (born Shawn Carter), 33. "Right now I just feel it's time to do something else. I've done everything I can do in rap. What more can I accomplish?"

Pop stars retire and un-retire all the time, but few have a diverse, multimillion-dollar business empire to run when the music stops. Jay-Z says that while he may still occasionally show up on soundtracks or collaborations, he's done as a solo artist and will spend at least the next year focusing on his business ventures. And he's still finishing "The Black Book," an autobiography.

The "Black Album" is a crowning achievement, on which he works with many of hip-hop's most important producers: Rick Rubin, Eminem, Timbaland, Just Blaze and The Neptunes, in charge of the first single, "Change Clothes." He calls it the most introspective album of his career and even includes comments from his mother and recollections of his childhood. It embodies the spirit of his earlier work, when he was still hungry as an artist.

"I was writing the book at the same time I was doing the album, so it really took me back there," says Jay-Z. "There were things that I was finding out from speaking to my mom that I didn't know growing up."

He is retiring at a time when hip-hop is the most lucrative and culturally influential music, but he thinks it is creatively stagnant.

"Commercially, it is as big as it's ever been," he says. "You've got all of these Fortune 500 companies wanting to be involved with hip-hop artists. Creatively, I think we are getting too caught up in making the hot single instead of making albums. I've always tried to make a good album, but people right now think that all they have to do is to make the club single or the girl song or the thug record."

He'll leave any improvements to others. As he says of his departure on "The Black Album" song "What More Can I Say," "We'll see what happens when I no longer exist."

Jay-Z's musical legacy includes 12 albums (nine platinum) in seven years with 20 million records sold. He has won two Grammys and numerous other awards, sold out several tours, and made countless collaborations and soundtrack appearances.

He has name-dropped some of the world's most expensive luxury items while never losing sight of the streets that raised him.

He has survived his share of controversy, too. In 2001, he received three years' probation after pleading guilty for stabbing producer Lance "Un" Rivera in 1999. And for about two years, he and Nas engaged in one of the most monumental wars of words in hip-hop history.

Kim Osorio, editor in chief of The Source magazine, says Jay-Z will be missed, but based on his history, it's unlikely he'll have a change of heart any time soon.

"For the most part, Jay-Z has stuck to his word," Osorio says. "When he has said he was going to do something, he's done it. He's always a step ahead of everybody. Now, without him in the game, who is everybody going to try to keep up with?"

Jay-Z's longtime business partner Damon Dash says the rapper is setting an example by going out while he is still on top.

"He's showing that you can have a successful hip-hop career and leave the game, at your convenience, with money," Dash says.

Jay-Z had hoped to make a clean getaway, reserving Nov. 28 for a special release date that would have coincided with the release of the black version of his

S. Carter signature sneaker from Reebok, now out tomorrow. But bootleggers and Internet pirates, who have plagued him throughout his career, scuttled his plans again. The entire "Black Album" showed up online three weeks ahead of schedule, and pirates inadvertently gave him unexpected competition from super-hot 50 Cent's G-Unit crew, whose similarly pirated "Beg for Mercy" album also was moved up.

But that's to be expected, considering the fanfare surrounding his departure, formally announced in September at a Madison Square Garden news conference to promote a Nov. 25 concert there. The show sets up a promotional tour Jay-Z calls his "victory lap." It sold out in one day.

After the new album's release, Jay-Z will stay busy. He'll continue to help develop the artists at his and Dash's Roc-A-Fella Records. And his fashion interests also will be a priority.