Posted: Wednesday, 22nd October 2008
Over the last six months Alan has been with Jay-Z through key moments in his career, including the media frenzy and build up to his triumphant headline gig at Glastonbury.
Jay-Z gives us an exclusive insight into his world, with backstage access to his concerts in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York, where Alan rubs shoulders with the stars and meets some of Jay-Z’s friends including Chris Martin and P.Diddy.
Alan also uncovers the source and inspiration of Jay-Z’s music, from his misspent youth hustling on the streets of Brooklyn, to his meteoric rise to success - not only has Jay-Z sold an estimated fifty million albums worldwide, he’s also become responsible for a multi-million dollar business empire, and is listed along with his partner Beyonce Knowles as one of the most powerful celebrity couples in the world.
We spend some time with Jay-Z in his recording studio in New York, where he takes us through the different layers of his music- the lyrics, the flow, the content. At what he thought was his musical peak, Jay-Z decided to temporarily retire from music in 2003 and soon after he became CEO of Def Jam records, arguably the world’s biggest hip-hop label. During his three year stint at Def Jam, Jay-Z was responsible for signing some of the most popular artists of the day such as Kanye West and Rihanna.
We reveal Jay-Z’s other passions which extend well beyond music to modern art, architecture, politics, sports and fashion. With a record label, champagne brand, sports club, clothing line and countless other business ventures under his belt, Jay-Z has become the ‘heavyweight champion’ of hip-hop by transforming his favourite things into commercial pursuits and selling the ultimate hip-hop lifestyle to an aspirational consumer base.
Uniquely we are behind the scenes with Jay-Z at Glastonbury where, in the wake of a massive media storm, he faces the biggest challenge of his career, to win over the UK's most iconic music festival.
Jay-Z: He Came, He Saw, He Conquered:
Tuesday 28th October, ´óÏó´«Ã½1, 10.35pm
