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Jay-Z

Jay-Z

Date: Nov 02 2009

Themes: Music

Grammar: Present Perfect Tense

Intro

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If Elvis Presley is the king of rock ‘n’ roll, then Jay-Z must be the king of hip-hop. He’s put out more number one albums than any artist in the U.S., including Elvis. Plus, he owns an NBA team, a record company, and a clothing company, making him one of the wealthiest businessmen in America. And as if all that weren’t enough, he’s married to Beyonce.

Jay-Z wasn’t always so successful. He grew up in the projects, was abandoned by his father at age 12, and never finished high school. But music was always a big part of his life, and he started recording rap songs in the 1980s. His new album, The Blueprint 3, is his 11th studio album and his 11th album to hit number one. Find out if Jason and Ella think he deserves all his success.

Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Jason

Jason

Ella

Ella

Jason:  I’m not usually a huge hip-hop fanatic, but I just saw this new video with Jay Z and Rihanna.

Ella:  Yeah?

Jason:  Absolutely amazing.

Ella:  You’ve converted.

Jason:  Yeah.

Ella:  My favorite song has gotta be “Venus vs. Mars.” “On to the Next One”...All the beats are really individual and you can tell he put a lot of time into each of the songs.

Jason:  Wow. What do you think of all the collaborations, like all the teamwork on that album?

Ella:  It’s pretty neat. You don’t see that too often. You only see the one person on the one side. But he has a lot of different collaborations with everyone, and you can see their styles in his songs too.

Jason:  Yeah, it seems like hip-hop used to be more about egos and now people are kind of working together.

Ella:  It’s a blending.

Jason:  I guess that’s why he’s sold more number one albums, or made more number one albums than anyone else.

Ella:  That’s quite impressive, isn’t it?

Jason:  He just beat Elvis, did you know that?

Ella:  Yeah. I’m gonna be going to his concert and he’s donating all the money to charity.

Jason:  Really?

Ella:  Yeah!

 

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Discussion

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Jason doesn’t normally like hip-hop, but he loves the new song “Run This Town” by Jay-Z and Rihanna. Ella loves Jay-Z and two of the songs off his new album, The BluePrint 3, are some of her favorite songs.

Jason mentions that Jay-Z has done a lot of collaborations. In addition to Rihanna, he’s worked with artists like Kanye West, Alicia Keys, and of course his lovely wife, Beyonce. Ella thinks Jay-Z must be more humble than some other rap artists since he’s willing to share the spotlight with his fellow musicians. But he must be pretty generous, since he’s donating all the money from one of his upcoming concerts to charity.

Are you a fan of Jay-Z? Which famous musician would you most like to collaborate with?

 

Comments

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flylover

flylover

Georgia

I like his collaborations with rihanna and kanye west)))

11:37 AM Nov 06 2009 |

flylover

flylover

Georgia

I like his collaborations with rihanna and kanye west)))

11:37 AM Nov 06 2009 |

flylover

flylover

Georgia

I like his collaborations with rihanna and kanye west)))

11:37 AM Nov 06 2009 |

kukuka

kukuka

Ukraine

I'd like to colleborate with Madonna. She isn't fresh but still cool and cute, so that's not serious, of course, no. The thing is that IMHO all the colleborations have the same aim. The more popular singer helps the less popular artist to get some more popularity. Do you remeber Eminem and a blonde girl sining together about Stan? It didn't help her, though. To be honest I can't give an example of collaboration that I find interesting and worthwhile. Maybe you  could offer me one?

10:40 AM Nov 06 2009 |

mr reed11

Bolivia

if it is exactly like we hear all the time lots of noise i dono how on earth we give such songs any rating .but at least there is sth good 4 charity.

11:14 PM Nov 05 2009 |

linguis

El Salvador

I was not realy familiar with this kind of music. Ihave always admired the A/american singers for their blues, soul and gospel. They are the poit of reference for the latest music styles.

10:02 PM Nov 05 2009 |

kukuka

kukuka

Ukraine

exactly!I was also confused.

09:11 AM Nov 05 2009 |

mickee85

mickee85

Philippines

I'm not Jay-z fanatic, but I like some of his songs. He and Beyonce are so cute couple.

08:09 AM Nov 04 2009 |

Ca_Brazil

Ca_Brazil

Brazil

im not a huge fan of him. but i recognize he is good when it comes about hip hop. i think for people like him that gets a lot of money, its not a big deal to donate to charity, though its a good thing the world needs more people willing to help. 

11:08 PM Nov 03 2009 |

ユウタ☆

ユウタ☆

United States

Maybe it's just me, but…

Preferably, it should be housing projects instead of simply "projects". Avoid confusion. I've never seen the term used by itself.

 

06:49 AM Nov 03 2009 |

Amesmile

Cote D'Ivoire

I know jay-z but I don't like his songs 

10:17 PM Nov 02 2009 |

Amesmile

Cote D'Ivoire

I know jaz but I son't his songs

 

10:16 PM Nov 02 2009 |

lamlu007

Viet Nam

I love this website. It really hepls my english alot.

09:12 PM Nov 02 2009 |

nana615

nana615

United Kingdom

Jay-Z's music always cheer me up.

08:52 PM Nov 02 2009 |

DigitalStorm

Mexico

i'm not a big of Jay-Z though..but he's a good singer.

05:33 PM Nov 02 2009 |

koxa

koxa

Ukraine

I'm not a fan of Jay-Z but I've heard a few of his songs and I can say strongly they are really hip. I have even one favourite song,it's '99 problems').I respect him as a singer as well as good businessman.

04:47 PM Nov 02 2009 |

noguti

noguti

Brazil

well. actually I'm not keen on hip-hop. But I do appreciate his generous atitudes :)

03:51 PM Nov 02 2009 |

agaciuniaaa1

Germany

Yepp … I must agree with Salinger :) Rihanna is very good singer :D I like her very much :O but  her relationship with Chris Brown was lame . Regards :)

03:43 PM Nov 02 2009 |

iwori

iwori

Japan

I've never known Jay-Z, and I like rocks better than hip-hop music.

I have difficult time emphasizing rap music because of too busy melody.

Anyway, I'm a big fan of B'z, they're magnificient musicians!

03:21 PM Nov 02 2009 |

salinger

Germany

i dont like jay z but i like rihanna ,her latest song'' te amo'' is really amazing.she surpass herself in every new album…

02:30 PM Nov 02 2009 |

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