When Jay-Z sat down with GQ senior editor Frazier Tharpe for an exclusive interview, there was a lot to unpack in the nearly four-hour interview. After deeply analyzing the extended cover interview as well as the cover video which was condensed from the longer four-hour conversation, we’ve highlighted five main points that exemplified Jay-Z’s status as one of the rap game’s biggest titans. He didn’t even need to rhyme his thoughts for his words to go viral. Here are the five biggest takeaways from the interview:
1. Jay-Z Didn’t Pick a Side in the Kendrick vs Drake Feud
As Jay-Z once famously declared, “Men lie, women lie, numbers don’t” — and when it comes to the Kendrick vs. Drake feud, the numbers tell the whole story.
GQ / Frazier Tharpe: Well, the beef even kind of extended to you, right? People made it a personal thing that you chose Kendrick for the Super Bowl, like you had chosen a side.
Jay-Z: I chose the guy that was having a monster year. I think it was the right choice. What do I care about them two guys battling? What’s that got to do with me?
The numbers don’t lie. In less than ten months since its release on May 4, 2024, and way before Kendrick Lamar even took the Super Bowl stage on February 9, 2025 — Not Like Us had surpassed one billion streams on Spotify. That number is bigger than the streaming total of all of Drake’s disses towards Kendrick combined.
2. Jay-Z Sold His Partial D’Ussé Stake for 750M in Cash
When Jay-Z said “put me anywhere on God’s green earth, I’ll triple my worth,” he wasn’t lying. He came a long way from grindin’ G-packs.
“I took 750 million [in] cash, for 25 percent of my D’Ussé stake. Meaning [that] my half is 1.5 billion. And the full enterprise was valued at 3 billion.”
You’re crazy for this one, Jay!
3. Jay-Z Confirms That He Sent J. Cole to Stargate to Make a Hit
On a release titled “Cole Summer” from his EP Truly Yours 2, J. Cole described Roc Nation trying to force out a hit with Stargate as a sort of detention.
Let me switch it now, back to Hell’s Kitchen now
Up in Hova office like he the fucking principal
Put me in with StarGate, that shit was like detention now
Just tellin’ my story so dissin’ ain’t my intention now
Here’s what Jay-Z had to say:
I was giving him a chance to take his talent and show it to the most people possible, but his way. I didn’t say, “Here’s this record from Stargate and you putting it out.” Like I forced Bleek to make “Memphis Bleek Is…”
What would result is J. Cole’s rare remix on Rihanna’s S&M which was produced by Stargate.
4. Jay-Z Talks About Watching His Daughter’s First Performance
On the first tour there was a lot of conversation around her first performance, and she worked really hard to get to that point, but she still wasn’t going for it. She still was going through the motions. And then she just started fighting back. I saw her fight maybe for the first time in her life—like, not everything is just given to her and everything is easy. She fought for it.
5. The Best is Yet to Come?
This is the first thing I’m doing, actually. It was just like, alright man, we played enough defense. 2026 is all offense.
What offense means could be anyone’s guess. New additional tour dates alongside the Yankee Stadium concerts? A new album perhaps? We’ll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, you can check out the full interview below:
Jay-Z Interview
