Why do cats like Jay Z still make commercial pop singles?

[Tom]

I could understand if he was a starving artist and needed bread, but at this point Jay Z can pretty much make any type of music he wants to. Yet he still puts out music as if he needs a big commercial pop hit to keep the lights on.

Nas on the other hand, while certainly very successful and wealthy still doesn't have the capital that Jay possesses yet acts as if he doesn't give a fukk if his album sells one copy based on the singles he routinely releases.


Jay needs to just release another American Gangster type record with no pop songs. Just street gutter tracks with a few semi conscious joints like "Shiny Suit theory" that he did with Jay Electronica

 

[Real]

He's still relevant..obviously he knows what he's doing.

 

[Never Broke Again]

Because it sells

 

[NvrCMyNut]

Because he's still hitting new heights with his career. BP3 was his biggest album.

 

[Tom]

he doesn't need the money tho, rap money is baby money to JAY at this point

 

[Real]

he doesn't need the money tho, rap money is baby money to JAY at this point

He's been following the same blueprint since volume 3

 

[Capitol]

Because he's still hitting new heights with his career. BP3 was his biggest album.

how you figure?

 

[CapitalOne]

Because he's still hitting new heights with his career. BP3 was his biggest album.

 

[JustCKing]

Well, American Gangster didn't have commercial Pop single and it just reached the 1 million mark. Then he came w/ Blueprint 3 which had "Run This Town" and "Empire State of Mind" and nearly sold double that.

I don't think it's a matter of him "having to", but more so him just wanting to expand his fanbase. Still, his commercial "Pop" records weren't too far left that it alienated too many of his fans. It was smart to put out "Run This Town" and "Empire State of Mind" before releasing "Young Forever".

 

[Tom]

I just feel like at this point Jay has no real reason to cater to that crowd anymore unless he's a diva type fakkit who actually loves pop rap records or someone who just wants attention




why a 43 yr old nikka still worried about being popular amongst 15 yr old teenagers who watch MTV 24/7?


Jay Z could drop a dud (sales wise) with strictly quality tracks for the rest of his life and still be richer than every rapper in the game

 

[Harry B]

I would guess that he likes the attention like Nas said back when.
Besides that he probably enjoys producing songs like ESOM that became the unofficial Anthem of New York or songs like nikkas in Paris that are played in every club all over the world and he likes Arena Music playing in front of 100k and everyone knowing your song and singing along.

The thing is that Jay is probably thinking the opposite of how you are thinking.
First he gained respect, put out the dope music and all that. He already got the streets, now he's x:ing out shyt in his bucket list like the biggest festivals and all that. Which was the intention of BP3. And since you compared with Nas, I firmly doubt that Jay would drop a song like Summer On Smash or the song with chris brown and shyt like that those are label tailored pop songs. Also Nas would probably sell less if he tried what Jay is doing ask his Queens native Nicki Minaj, changing your style to sell more records doesn't always work out. And then we can go on with The Don and other singles he's dropped lately. If you gonna compare to someone, do it right like Raekwon would be someone who doesn't drop commercial pop songs.

There is also this little thing, Jay-z is dope at making commercial pop songs. Forever Young was probably the first weak single since Idk when.

 

[Artificial Intelligence]

how you figure?

NYSOM was his biggest single.

 

[Bean]

because when he makes songs like that ya'll hail him as the greatest writer of the 21st century and when he makes thought provokin shyt ya'll question whether he's fallin off.

 

[RajWatts]

I don't think Jays trying to make pop singles, but he's definitely trying to make timeless songs that everyone can relate to and not just hip hop. If you look at ESOM, its considered an NY anthem for the entire city and itll probably continue getting played in commercials and at NY sporting events for decades

 

[bertyr]

the most successful dudes are usually the ones never satisfied. They're empty inside and need power, fame, money, sex, etc. to make them feel better but once they reach a level they think they'll be happy with, it doesn't satisfy them cause the whole point of the chase was a way to ignore the reasons why they're empty, so they go for more.

basically Jay Z is hustling hard to avoid an emotional breakdown. He looks at "regular" cats and is frightened of becoming one again so he needs to do more and more so he can increase and solidify being viewed as special and unique by more people