Gwyneth Interviews Jay-Z:

Q: Life + Times is incredible—aesthetically, culturally … When did you get the idea to start it and how long have you been working on it?

A: I started working on it in its various incarnations over a year ago. I’ve thought about it forever. You know how it works, seeing other sites and being either inspired or saying, “That’s shit. I would do it like …”

Q: I love seeing everything through your filter, how do you decide what you are going to cover? How personal is this?

A: Well there is a basic metric for what we cover but, more importantly, I believe it’s how we cover it. The DNA is to basically let the subject speak for itself. We don’t want to tell you what to think. As far as how personal? I would say it has to pique my interest.

Q: As someone who has walked through museums with you, eaten with you, heard music with you, I know firsthand how creativity in all areas lifts your consciousness. Do you feel that as a cultural figure of importance it is part of your responsibility to share what inspires you?

A: I think it’s every human’s job to inspire others, to feed one another’s senses. Inspiration begets inspiration times infinity. Imagine if the person that was inspired to create the phonograph didn’t share it with the world.

Q: In one word answers, name someone or something in food, music, art and design, style, and sports that inspires you today and your favorite spot to be leisurely.

A:

  • Food: Batali (he’s like a rock star)
  • Music: MARLEY (the perfect blend of love and gangster)
  • Art: BASQUIAT (where music and art met and fell in love)
  • Style: MARC JACOBS (he takes the Bronx experience like 40 below boots and bubble gooses and puts it on the runway)
  • *Disclaimer: I know it’s one goose 2 geese..
  • Sports: Muhammad ALI (enough said)
  • And my favorite spot to be leisurely is wherever family, friends, good food and wine are.

Q: You are the coolest man on Earth, how the f did you get like that?

A: I’m around great women, starting with my mom. Women keep men cool. The hotter the chick the cooler the guy … that sounds like a really bad rap line!

Jay-Z interviews Gwyneth:

Oscar-winning actress and my sister Gwyneth Paltrow emailed me and said, “I love your new site. Can I ask you five questions about it?” I said, “I’ll show you mine if you let me see yours.” Here are mine. Go see hers at. It’s fresh.

Shawn Carter: The public at large is discovering your ability to sing. When did you first discover you had that talent?

Gwyneth Paltrow: I kind of always sang. My mother has a great voice and was always singing jazz around the house and I think she passed on her musicality to my brother and myself. I sang in an a capella singing group and I always thought that somewhere down the line I would dust off my pipes and use them but I didn’t know I would be so old when it happened. When I sang with you one night at the Royal Albert Hall a few years ago, it was so terrifying. I thought that would be the end of it. This has been a surprise to me as much as anybody else. But I love it.

SC: Personally I was very surprised at your extensive knowledge of hip-hop songs. Particularly how you can sing ’90s hip-hip songs word for word. I can’t even do that! How does a girl from Spence discover hip-hop?

GP: I first was exposed to hip-hop when I was about 16 (1988) by some boys who went to collegiate. The Beastie Boys were sort of the way in for us preppie kids. We were into Public Enemy, Run-DMC and LL Cool J. But then I went to LA the summer between my junior and senior year of high school and I discovered N.W.A which became my obsession. I was fascinated by lyrics as rhythm and how Dre had a such different cadence and perspective from say, Eazy-E, who I thought was one of the most ironic and brilliant voices hip-hop has ever had. It was an accident that I learned every word of Straight Outta Compton and to love something that a.) I had no real understanding of in terms of the culture that it was emanating from and b.) to love something that my parents literally could not grasp. But I was hooked. I can’t remember what I ate for dinner last night but I could sing to you every single word of N.W.A’s “Fuck Tha Police” or [Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock’s] “It Takes Two.” Go figure.

SC: Does that extend to pop and rock music as well? Did you do the whole lace gloves circa Madonna and flannel shirts in the ’90s circa Kurt?

GP: I was never super into ’80s or ’90s pop. Aside from hip-hop I loved, I was very into alternative stuff like New Order (which did become pretty mainstream) and The Cure and bands like Yaz and Book of Love. But when Nirvana came out, my mind was kind of blown. I remember sitting around a record player playing Nevermind for days in a row with my college friends really mesmerized by that record, as everybody was at the time. I couldn’t believe my ears.

SC: Speed round: Miles or Coltrane?

GP: Miles

SC: The Beatles or The Rolling Stones?

GP: Beatles

SC: Patsy Cline or Billie Holiday?

GP: Billie H

SC: Biggie or PAC?

GP: Biggie by miles

SC:Michael or Prince?

GP: Prince!

SC: And finally, would you ever make a solo album?

GP: Would I ever make a solo album? Should I? Never say never.