Russell Simmons Skit

[Spoken: Russell Simmons]

First thing that comes to my mind when you say "Jay-Z" is poetry. I mean, his whole—it's his attitude, aside from his words. What's heartfelt about him is, like—it's—you know, it's like—moving words, you know? It's really—it's—it's not just like when you think of rappers, and you think of—you know, um, those are poets. But his—his main... The good thing about Jay is that his integrity is what sells. What crosses over is his honesty. So he's never been untrue to himself—his self, and, uh... I think, see—as much as he seems to be a mainstream artist and has sold mainstream numbers, he's always spoken to the heart of his—his, uh—his environment. Other words: as he's traveled, he's seen new things, but through the eyes of someone who—who, um—obviously didn't have all the access. You know, he came from a place of struggle. And he sees the world as a person who's come from struggle. And so that honesty and that integrity that's always inherent in his music is what gives him his range. People buy him from places... People who are from places that are far removed from where, uh, Jay-Z came from, and the worlds that he's described, and even the kind of viewpoint that he has as a result of his history. Those people love him for his integrity and his honesty. Jay-Z reminds us that the truth sells. Uh, a lot of rappers—uh, uh—become more commercial. I mean, as the world—you know—more commercial aspirations for record companies that really, you know, pushed—put pressure on artists, kind of giving them these—these guidelines, and uh—these high numbers that have to sell to kind of live in this rap world. They kinda—some are inspired by that, and some write songs that sound like they're compromised by that. Jay-Z has contributed, um, uh, another honest blow to the integrity of hip-hop

[Spoken: Interviewer]

Talk about Jay-Z, the rapper, for a second. We always hear how he's one of the best lyricists—

[Spoken: Russell Simmons]

Cats sucking his dick by saying that. Bruh, it's ridiculous...