Jay Z Covers Interview Magazine, Defends Kanye

Platinum recording artist Jay Z is on the cover of the February 2010 issue of Interview magazine, discussing many topics, such as his love for music and how it has grown and changed since his debut album Reasonable Doubt was released 14 years ago, and the Kanye West/Taylor Swift incident at the 2009 VMAs.

Touching lightly on the latter, the rapper defends his friend West’s claim that Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” video ‘was one of the greatest videos of all time’ and should have won the show’s “Best Female Video”, since it won “Video of the Year”.

Although Beyonce is his wife, the rapper defends his claims stating that he isn’t biased towards her but it simply didn’t make any sense. He says, [Kanye] believed that “Single Ladies” was a better video. I believed that. I think a lot of people believed that. You can’t give someone Video of the Year if they don’t win Best Female Video. I thought Best Female Video was something you won on the way to Video of the Year.”

Aside from the VMAs debacle, he also comes to West’s defense, as he has always been criticized for his blunt statements, “But he’s an extraordinary person. He has these ideas and these things that he wants to do and places he wants to go, and he’s really passionate about them. He’s very sincere.” When told that sometimes West’s passion ruins him, he replied, Yeah, which is great. I like that, man! I really do. I mean, no one’s walking around here perfect. Everyone’s gonna make mistakes. That’s part of how you learn.”

As for himself, the 40-year-old says that he’s changed a lot over the years, both personally and musically. Well, when I did my first album, I was 26, so I was a little more mature than a lot of other guys—you know, to a lot of the rappers’ credit, they’re making albums when they’re 17. I can’t imagine [the things] I would’ve said when I was 17. I can’t even tell you how reckless my thinking was at that age… [My mom] allowed me to search. She gave me a long leash, like, “All right. It’s tough out there. Go ahead.” So I grew up really early and I’ve always been aware of these things. My awareness of them just intensifies with every year.

The issue is on stands now.