With Rick Rubin riding shotgun, Jay-Z continues looking in the rearview mirror, unpacking past songs, real-life adventures, and little-known fun facts. And he’s bringing fans along for the trip down memory lane.
The 56-year-old artist has been rolling out JAŸ-Z in 8 every Friday since earlier this month, two chapters at a time. The eight-part documentary reflects on his life and times by deconstructing his lyrics, à la his 2010 memoir, Decoded, authored by journalist and filmmaker dream hampton. Famed producer and Def Jam co-founder Rubin serves as director and moderator of the docuseries, which pores over Hov’s rhymes to teleport him (and viewers) back to when they were created and the incidents that inspired them.
While the first four episodes of JAŸ-Z in 8 focused on Hov’s family bonds, past traumas, and connections to Scarface, Biggie, and Beyoncé, the fifth and sixth chapters shift focus to street codes, unreleased music, drama with a peer and an institution, and a rare moment when Jay admits he fell short of his own artistic standard.
This week’s pair of episodes, airing Friday (Oct. 2), dive into “U Don’t Know,” “Politics As Usual,” “Regrets,” “Ignorant Shit,” “Hovi Baby,” “Kill Jay-Z,” “99 Problems,” “Threat,” “Dead Presidents II,” “Public Service Announcement (Interlude),” and the Kanye West collaboration “Jail.”
VIBE got an early look at the upcoming JAŸ-Z in 8 drop. Here are the major revelations.
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A Classic Goodfellas Scene Inspired “Threat”
On The Black Album’s “Threat,” Jay-Z spends a bulk of the runtime rattling off a series of increasingly clever and extreme acts of violence. He talked through the 9th Wonder-produced track with Rubin, revealing that the 1990 mob film Goodfellas inspired his tough talk.
Jay cites the scene in which Tommy DeVito (played by Joe Pesci) threatens Billy Batts (Frank Vincent) with increasingly outrageous acts of violence, turning the mobster’s menace into dark comedy.
“It was just such a great scene, and [‘Threat’] was based on that,” he says with a laugh.
Hov namechecks Pesci — and one of his memorable threats — in the final verse of the song, which features comedian Cedric the Entertainer.
“Gangsters are hilarious,” Jay says. “The way they see life is really funny. People think a gangster is this brute who doesn’t speak or doesn’t know how to speak… To create a business like the ones that have been created, you have to be intelligent. You just use your intelligence in a different way.”
Jay-Z Is Not Satisfied With His Performance on “Young Forever”
The final track on The Blueprint 3 is a meditation on legacy that has become a staple of Jay-Z’s live show since its 2009 release. But Hov still feels he didn’t quite nail his delivery.
He tells Rick Rubin he enjoys the juxtaposition of Kanye West’s drum programming and the iconic sample of Alphaville’s “Forever Young,” but doesn’t feel his approach to the track measured up.
“I knew what I wanted to say, but I wanted to find a special way to… with my performance,” Jay says, his thoughts drifting. “I never cracked it. Still, to this day, when I hear that song, I’m like, ugh.”
There’s an Unreleased Jay-Z and Rick Rubin Song in the Stash
While deconstructing his Reasonable Doubt track “Politics As Usual” in episode five, Jay-Z covers the unspoken rules of the Brooklyn blocks that raised him. He insists that his rhymes don’t glorify violence or materialism; they merely describe his past environment as he sees it.
Without skipping a beat, Jay references an entirely different unreleased track he says he did with Rubin. He describes it as a “strong” verse, and proceeds to rap several lines from the song.
“I got so much trouble on my mind / Refuse to lose, and my nephews need new shoes / And I chew food like it’s going out of style / So blaow! Take that / Fall way back / I’m always strapped / Like Nike Airs / Right here / Under the belt, with one in the air,” Hov rhymes.
Rubin watches with a smile, saying he’s impressed at Jay’s memory.
“Anybody out there know anybody realer?” Jay continues rapping. “Any amount of hunger make any nigga a dealer / That’s why in any hood they feel us / I don’t walk around with a gun cause it’s in style / I walk around with one because I ain’t trying to miss my child.”
The song’s title, recording date, and release plans remain unknown. But Jay circles back to his point about “Politics As Usual.”
“This is the reality that we’re in,” he says. “And this is what we’re doing.”
Jay-Z Says He Was Temporarily Blackballed by Hometown Hip-Hop Radio Giant Hot 97
In the late ’90s and early 2000s, Jay-Z had a close relationship with the DJs at Hot 97, one of the biggest radio stations in the New York metropolitan area. But in the lead-up to The Black Album, he says that relationship soured after he began supporting rival station Power 105.
“At that time, you’ve become the premier artist in the city — everyone’s trying to squeeze you,” he says. “The radio stations are like, ‘If you go to our competitor across the street, we’re not gonna play your record.’ And I would never play those politics.”
Jay mentions his early support of the then-rising hip-hop and R&B station “pissed Hot 97 off.” He says the station was too invested in playing his music to cut him off completely, so its DJs played his older records instead of his newer releases.
“That didn’t last long, ’cause I stood my ground,” Jay adds.
He rapped about the ordeal in the first verse of “99 Problems,” which was produced by Rubin: “Got beef with radio if I don’t play they show / They don’t play my hits / Well, I don’t give a shit, so.”
“I was like, I’m not having it… I don’t know if they was used to dealing with that kind of personality.”
Ye and Jay-Z Argued Over His Feature Verse on “Jail”
Jay-Z and Kanye West broke a years-long collaboration drought in 2021, when they reunited for “Jail” off Ye’s Donda album. The team-up followed public tension between the two stars. But it also sparked a new dispute.
On the track, Jay alludes to his Throne partner’s political allegiance to Donald Trump, rapping, “Stop all of that red cap, we goin’ home.” Jay says they argued over the line two weeks after he recorded it, with Ye saying the lyric made him uncomfortable.
“I was like, ‘Sorry, I ain’t gonna change it. It’s how I feel,’” he tells Rubin, who recalled being present when Jay sent his verse over and observing Kanye’s excitement. Jay called the MAGA hat reference “a blanket of protection” for Ye — and for himself — adding that if the roles were reversed, he believes Kanye would also stand by his artistry.
“You should probably take the verse off if you feel strongly enough about it,” Jay recalls saying. “This is your project… everything on it should be the way you want it to be.”
Kanye ultimately kept the verse, and the track went on to win Best Rap Song honors at the 2022 Grammys. But he did share his frustrations on social media in 2025, offering a similar account of the behind-the-scenes disagreement.
That clash was hardly the first time Jay-Z had been struck by Kanye’s force of personality. Jay also remembered the start of their relationship, when he expressed a desire to meet the man who made the beats for songs like “This Can’t Be Life” and “Heart of the City (Ain’t No Love).”
“He stands on the table, and he starts rapping. And I’m like, ‘Is this the producer?’” Jay remembers. “That’s why I say he’s exactly like himself. Not as polished; the words aren’t as great. But he’s exactly like, ‘I’m the savior of Chicago. I’m gonna be the best of all time.’ And I’m like, ‘Get down from the table, bro, and help me cut these songs.’… The relationship grew from there.”
Despite his hot-and-cold friendship with Kanye over the years, Jay acknowledges his greatness, calling him “one of the most brilliant creators we’re gonna see.”