JAY-Z rarely does interviews but when he does they are gold. The rapper, mogul, and businessman recently sat down with Kevin Hart for the comedian’s Heart To Hart series on Peakcock where the two spoke on a variety of topics, including how much Hov charges for features.
You would think with JAY-Z being one of the greatest rappers of all time, that an artist would spend their whole advance on a feature from him. Well think again. In fact, the cost for a JAY-Z feature is low. Very low in fact.
During the interview, Hart asked Jay if he charges for features or does them based on relationships.
“Yeah. Mostly relationships…It’s actually always been mostly relationships. Sometimes it’s talent.” Hov went on to say that he never asks to be on songs and doesn’t charge for a feature. “Pretty much every song that I’m on, I’m asked to be on. I don’t ask people to be on their songs. I never charge,” he said.
Hov also admitted that as far as turning down features, there’s “way more no’s than yes’s.”
“I try to be straight up,” he said. “Sometimes it slips through the cracks. Sometimes I want to do it, and my life is in a certain place, and I’m moving and I can’t do it. But I typically try to be straight up with people.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Hov spoke on whether or not he’s retired, saying “I’m just going to leave it open.”
“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 that I’m retired. It’s a gift, so who am I to shut it off? And it may have a different form or interpretation. Maybe it’s not an album, maybe it is. I have no idea, but I’m just going to leave it open.”
