Jay-Z has a very specific creative process when he gets in the studio, and Pharrell has spoken about it in a new article.
Speaking to GQ, Skateboard P went into detail about how Hov doesn’t write down his lyrics — an approach he called "incredibly disciplined."
"When Jay is working, he’s often looking in a direction — sometimes down, sometimes forward, sometimes off to the side — almost like he’s trying to listen to what he’s thinking. There can be a lot going on in the room, but he’s not distracted. If anything, he’s completely in a zone. He’s in what you would call a flow state."
Pharrell told the publication that Hov has the ability to simultaneously think "about what he wants to say, while also workshopping." He continued: "You’ll hear him mumbling. That’s really a lyrical exercise. He’s familiarizing himself with the track so he can flow."
At that point, when Jay gets into the booth, "he’s already recorded the verse in his mind a hundred times," according to Pharrell. "He’ll say one line, at the same time he’s figuring out the second. Then he says one and two together while thinking about the third. Then it becomes one, two, three, while he searches for four. He keeps stacking it like that — running the whole sequence every time."
Pharrell chalked it up to Jay having a "different" set of "computational skills."
"And then he goes into the studio, and he’s done it so many times that it allows him to be what we used to call 'one-take Hov,' because he could literally walk in and do the whole thing in one take," Pharrell added. "That’s the magic of Jay-Z."
This week, Jay sat down with GQ for a rare interview, where he discussed everything from his "uncontrollable anger" when he was named in a sexual assault lawsuit alongside Diddy and his thoughts on Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s beef, to fans demonizing his billionaire status, Blue Ivy dancing on tour with Beyoncé, and more.
This year also marks the 30th anniversary of Jay-Z’s critically acclaimed debut album, Reasonable Doubt.
