Jay-Z recently sat down to talk about his thoughts on retiring and how he would like to approach music moving forward in life.
Musical legend Jay-Z recently sat down with Kevin Hart on his Hart to Heart podcast that the actor hosts on Peacock. Jay was able to open up to Kevin about his future in music and how he wants to approach things moving forward.
“I don’t know what happens next. I’m not actively making music or making an album or have plans to make an album, but I never want to say I’m retired. You know, it’s a gift. And who am I to shut it off? You know what I mean?”
Jay-Z went on to add that he could see his artform evolving into many different expressions and that it doesn’t necessarily have to come in album form, “[My music] may have a different form, a different interpretation. Maybe it’s not an album. Maybe it is! I have no idea. But [I’m] just, you know, gonna leave it open.”
It sounds like he is trying out a different mode of life— one that lies between the hustle of pumping out albums year after year, and the complete turning off of the faucet, as he famously attempted to do in 2003 after announcing his retirement following the release of his The Black Album. That retirement, of course, did not last, as Jay was soon back at it with his release of Kingdom Come in 2006.
The musical genius really has nothing left to prove to us with 24 Grammy wins under his belt. Now, he’s starting to figure out that he doesn’t have to have this crazy output and he also doesn’t have to say he’s outright retiring.
“I tried that [retirement]. I’m terrible at that. I just needed a break. But I really thought that I was really burned out at the time,” the rapper explained. “I was releasing an album every year — ’97, ’98 — and then in between that, soundtracks, other people’s album, ROC-A-FELLA, touring back to back … and I had just looked up one day and I was like … ‘I’m tired.’”
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I’ve been waitin to tell you all about this for a long long time. This year im directing my first feature film “Teddy” at Netflix which I wrote and will also be starring. This is a story I started writing in 2013 because I always wanted to write my own movie, so I said fuck it and started doing it. (MESSAGE!) The road has been long, from it being a tv show for years to finally being a film. So it means so fuckin much to finally be able to bring it to the screen next year, and I cant wait for u all to meet Teddy, his friends, his family and take a walk in his world for a bit. If I could sum up what the movie is about in one sentence, id say this: It’s as if I took the song “Pursuit of Happiness” and wrote a movie about it. I added a lot of my own personal struggles and experiences in it, so this film is very close to my heart. I know, that deep down, this movie will help people in the same ways my music has. Im continuing my mission. Now this is a comedy, but It wouldn’t be me if I didn’t sprinkle some real shit in there. Its trippy, its fun, its sad, its life. The film is produced by the almighty Jeymes Samuel, Shawn “Jay Z” Carter, James Lassiter, MAD SOLAR and BRON. Special shout out to the homie Tendo Nagenda and Netflix for seeing the vision!! 
The next chapter begins…”
