Jay-Z Explains Why He Didn’t Do “We Are The World 25″
At Jay-Z & LeBron’s 4th annual All-Star weekend “Two Kings” dinner, MTV asked Jay why he (wisely) chose not to participate in the We Are The World remake.
I have a interesting take on that. I know everybody is gonna take this wrong: “We Are the World,” I love it, and I understand the point and think it’s great. But I think “We Are the World” is like “Thriller” to me. I don’t ever wanna see it touched. I’m a fan of music. I know the plight and everything that’s going on in Haiti. I applaud the efforts. Like 1 out of 2 Americans donated through text to Haiti. That’s amazing. So I appreciate the efforts and everything, but “We are the World” is untouchable like “Thriller” is untouchable. Some things are just untouchable. It was a valiant effort, but for me, it’s gonna be untouchable.
Jay said he felt that a new song should have been written instead:
I would have loved that idea better. I have tremendous respect for Quincy Jones. Of course, I think he’s genius, as everyone else does. But I think it’s time for us to make a new song, our take on it… I tried to do that with “Stranded” [the song Jay, Rihanna and U2’s Bono and The Edge premiered at the ‘Hope for Haiti Now’ telethon.]
Nipsey Hussle mentioned to XXL that he heard Jay-Z & Eminem had gone to the recording before he got there, so it seems like they gave it a chance before turning it down.
Hit the jump for photos from the Two Kings dinner. Guests included Diddy, Russell Simmons, Drake, Cortez Bryant, Dwayne Wade, Chris Paul, Steve Stoute, Gayle King, Michael Eric Dyson, Terrell Owens, Jason Kidd, Regina King, and more.
