{"id":5974,"date":"2026-03-24T18:17:49","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T18:17:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/2026\/03\/jay-z-gq-cover-story-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T18:17:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T18:17:49","slug":"jay-z-gq-cover-story-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/2026\/03\/jay-z-gq-cover-story-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"JA\u0178-Z Talks Capitalist Critiques, Kendrick Vs. Drake & Super Bowl Strategy In Rare \u2018GQ\u2019 Cover Story"},"content":{"rendered":"
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JA\u0178-Z<\/a> has entered a new era, and he\u2019s kicking it off with a glossy cover moment while sounding off on critics, Kendrick vs. Drake, and Roc Nation\u2019s Super Bowl reign.<\/p>\n

\"JA\u0178-Z
Source: Rashid Johnson courtesy of GQ <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Brooklyn mogul is the cover star of the latest issue of\u00a0GQ\u00a0<\/a><\/em>magazine.<\/p>\n

Roc Nation and the fashion mag made the announcement by sharing the cover on their social channels.<\/p>\n

The cover story of the mag\u2019s April 2026 issue is online. And before you ask, Hova sat down with\u00a0GQ<\/em>\u00a0editor Frazier Tharpe for a couple of 2-hour interviews that also included follow-ups over email and text.<\/p>\n

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The thoroughness was necessary considering that when it comes to the Jigga Man<\/a>, everyone has an opinion, good and bad, and usually to the extreme. Add to that the fact that his interviews have become unicorns, it\u2019s rare that the\u00a0Reasonable Doubt<\/em>\u00a0rapper actually addresses his criticism.<\/p>\n

Case in point, while discussing his last project, 2020\u2019s\u00a0A Written Testimony<\/em>\u00a0with Jay Electronica, he spoke on the chatter of him being deemed a capitalist in the worst sense of the word.<\/p>\n

Reports\u00a0GQ:<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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On \u201cUniversal Soldier,\u201d you say, \u201cYou ain\u2019t keep the same energy for the Du Ponts and Carnegies.\u201d You\u2019re engaging with the pushback that you get sometimes\u2014people throw \u201ccapitalist\u201d at you in a derogatory sense.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The only thing I heard coming up was the American dream. You could make it, if you pull yourself up by the bootstraps. I heard that my entire life\u2014until we started being successful. Then it was like: You\u2019re selling out because you\u2019re making money. People had this allure for the \u201cstruggling artist\u201d\u2014that\u2019s a mind game, what we would call, back in the day, \u201ctricknology.\u201d I\u2019m not going for that. I make art first and then I make sure that I\u2019m compensated for my art. I didn\u2019t get here by taking advantage of people or taking advantage of the loopholes in the system, or some wrinkle in a capitalist structure. That structure exists; I just see the world for what it is, not for what I want it to be. I\u2019m a realist. It\u2019s not idealistic. People speak about the world how they want to see it. You\u2019re never going to win like that.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Anotherparticular moment that will get the people talking is JA\u0178\u2019s take on the Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef.<\/p>\n

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As a spectator, what did you think of the 2024 back-and-forth between Kendrick and Drake?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to have an answer you\u2019re not going to like. Well, I don\u2019t know if you\u2019re going to like it. That\u2019s presumptuous. There are four pillars of hip-hop. There\u2019s breakdancing, graffiti, there\u2019s DJ\u2019ing and battling. Breakdance is not at the forefront of rap anymore. It\u2019s actually an Olympic sport. So that\u2019s dead [laughs<\/em>]. Graffiti, beautiful in certain places. It\u2019s not part of hip-hop. The DJ was in the forefront. It was\u00a0Jazzy Jeff<\/em>\u00a0and the Fresh Prince.\u00a0Eric B.<\/em>\u00a0and Rakim. You don\u2019t even know the DJ for half of the artists anymore. And the last pillar is battling. We love the excitement and I love the sparring, but in this day and age there\u2019s so much negative stuff that comes with it that you almost wish it didn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n

Really?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, people that like Kendrick hate Drake, no matter what he makes. It\u2019s like an attack on his character. I don\u2019t know if I love that. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s helpful to our growth where the fallout lands, especially on social media.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Worth noting, Jigga was self-aware of how his criticism comes across, adding, \u201cI sound like the old guy wagging his finger,\u201d after saying bringing in kids was \u201ctoo far.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Oh yeah, you can\u2019t talk Hova without bring up the Super Bowl. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think everyone should experience music in its totality,\u201d said JA\u0178-Z when asked about the famed halftime show he curates for the NFL. \u201cAnd for a lot of years, it was only one side of music that was being represented. We got the opportunity to create a more balanced idea of what popular music is today. I\u2019m not going out on a limb. These are the most famous people in the world. I didn\u2019t pick the indie artist that I really like from Portland. The number one streamed artist in the\u00a0world.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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See more of what umlaut JA\u0178-Z had to say\u00a0over at\u00a0GQ<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The post JA\u0178-Z Talks Capitalist Critiques, Kendrick Vs. Drake & Super Bowl Strategy In Rare \u2018GQ\u2019 Cover Story<\/a> appeared first on Bossip<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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