Jay’s not ready to rap up

It’s a gift, and who am I to shut it off? I’m just gonna leave it open

Jay-Z has shut down talk that he’s retired from the music

game after being quiet for five years. But the New York rapper and entrepreneur admits that his businesses are his priority rather than knocking out another album.

He found that taking on too many responsibilities back in the 1990s and early Noughties changed his outlook on the work-life balance.

Jay, 52, says: “I’m not actively making music or making an album or have plans to make an album.

“But I never want to say I’m retired… It’s a gift, and who am I to shut it off? It’s open to whatever. It may have a different form, a different interpretation. Maybe it’s not an album. Maybe it is. I have no idea, but I’m just gonna leave it open.”

The father of three’s last solo album, 4:44, was back in 2017. Everything Is Love, a collaborataion with wife Beyoncé, came out in 2018, and they co-headlined the On the Run II tour.

He told the Hart to Heart series on streaming service Peacock that his children are his priority.

He adds: “Time is all you have. That’s the only thing we control, is how you spend your time.”

Couldn’t agree more.