Jay-Z’s record label Roc Nation has responded to a rumour circulating suggesting the rap legend has a new album out this year.
The ‘Encore’ hitmaker, 54, is said to have been on set with director Hidji World, who posted a picture of a clapperboard with “JAY Z -2024 ALBUM” listed as the production they were allegedly working on over on his Instagram Story this past Sunday (28.01.24).
However, the entertainment company – which the mogul founded in 2008 – appears to have shot down the rumour claiming Jay is releasing a follow-up to 2017’s ‘4:44’ this year.
The Roc Nation account posted to X alongside the NFR Podcast’s post about the gossip: “That’s news to us.”
Jay previously admitted that he only wants to make music if it truly means something to him.
He told Gayle King last year: “I’ll say I wanna make music, but it has to be something important.
I don’t wanna just make a bunch of tunes. That’s not gonna serve me. It won’t feed me, first of all. I have to be saying something important. It has to mean something, you know? It has to mean something to a larger society.
“Like 4:44, for example, was a personal story, but the amount of vulnerability in there allowed for a lot of people to explore the space.”
The music mogul – who has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide and won a total of 24 Grammy Awards – also previously insisted that he never wants to officially quit the music business because his career is a “gift”.
He told Kevin Hart on ‘Hart to Heart’ in 2022: “I don’t know what happens next. 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. You know, it’s a gift. And who am I to shut it off? You know what I mean?”
The ‘Dead Presidents’ hitmaker – who is married to fellow superstar Beyonce, 42, and has daughter Blue Ivy, 12, and six-year-old twins Rumi and Sir with her – went on to explain that any new project may come in more of a “different form” from his usual style, but insisted he has “no idea” what is coming next.
He added: “[My music] 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, you know, gonna leave it open.”