Your Favorite White Boy

On the eve (sort of) of The Blueprint 3, I thought another Jigga article was in order.   I’ve always been fascinated by the dichotomy that is Jay-Z vs Shawn Carter.  We all know what a typical Jay-Z interview looks like: dude is cold as ice, pretty laid back and always professional.  Case in point, his interview with MySpace that was released last week (click to watch):

All black everything, speaking in almost hushed tones.  Cool as a fan.  That’ s studio Jay. Video Hov.  Freestyle Jigga.  But most observers of all things S. Dot have known that Jay-Z, like Keyzer Soze, was always a cloak, a mask, hiding the dude underneath.  A persona that would inspire respect and maybe a little bit of fear.

But Shawn Carter is fairly elusive.  You hear snippets about him in Jay-Z’s rhymes, but its like multiple personality disorder – one identity can’t exist when the other is present.  So, we usually see Jay-Z.   However, every once in a while – usually in a context we’re not used to – we get to see Shawn Carter fully revealed.  Last week, we got a full interview with Mr. Carter when he sat down with Bill Mahar:

Quite a change there.  No Jay-Z in sight.  That night, it was all about Shawn Carter the businessman (he’s a business, man), Shawn Carter the mogul.   While I thought it was kinda dope to see Jay Shawn put his guard down and talk like a regular dude (well, a regular dude worth $300 M, but still) away from the studio.

I respect the brain behind the mic.  Its clear that Shawn Carter is an intelligent, savvy entrepreneur.  In fact, I almost find Carter more interesting than Hova.  Less hip-hop in the purest sense, for sure, but definitely worth more exposure than that side of him currently enjoys.

Tags: Bill Mahar, Jay-Z, MySpace