Jay-Z and Rick Rubin sit down for eight episodes of conversation in Jaÿ-Z in 8, a documentary series HBO releases this fall. Rubin interviews the rapper about his music, lyrics, life, and creative process. "Without the pain you wouldn't have done the work," Rubin says in the teaser. Jay-Z answers: "So the pain, you don't say it's necessary, you don't say you need it, but if it's there, you use it."
The pair have worked together before, on "99 Problems," which Rubin produced for 2003's The Black Album.Jaÿ-Z in 8 comes from Tetragrammaton, with Shawn Carter, Daniel Kaluuya, and Rubin as executive producers and Leila Mattimore and David Rohde among the producers. Rubin built a comparable project in 2021, the Hulu series McCartney 3,2,1.
The series lands during a year of anniversary celebrations, with Jay-Z marking 30 years of Reasonable Doubt and 25 of The Blueprint. He returned to the stage in May as a headliner at Philadelphia's Roots Picnic, his first solo headlining set in more than five years, with guests including Beanie Sigel, Freeway, Memphis Bleek, Jazmine Sullivan, Bilal, and Young Gunz.
Next month he performs at Yankee Stadium for three nights. July 10 goes to Reasonable Doubt, July 11 to The Blueprint, and July 12 closes the weekend as an "Extra Innings" set built around the hits. Two more "Jay-Z 30" shows follow in the fall, Paris on September 10 and Los Angeles on October 23.
