Jay-Z's at a point in his career where he doesn't only have to do hip-hop to get love from his vast array of fans. The rapper is foraying into jazz territory as a producer for the upcoming flick "The Great Gatsby," directed by Baz Luuhrmann.
Apparently Hov was introduced to Luuhrman by, who else, but Leonardo DiCaprio. The introduction resulted in the music mogul becoming an executive producer on the upcoming adaptation of Scott F. Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby." As an executive producer of the film, Hova will be bringing a "modern Jazz Age energy" to the highly anticipated movie. The rapper is reportedly going to mesh together both period and contemporary music with jazz and hip-hop, for what is sure to be a unique sound.
Jay-Z's musical contribution will be woven into a score from composer Craig Armstrong throughout the film, in an attempt to contrast the age and feeling of Fitzgerald's book with our current age.
Luuhrman said of Jay-Z's contribution, "The question for me in approaching "Gatsby" was how to elicit from our audience the same level of excitement and pop cultural immediacy toward the world that Fitzgerald did for his audience? And in our age, the energy of jazz is caught in the energy of hip-hop."
Hov's interest was immediately piqued when he spoke to Luuhrman about the project. "As soon as I spoke with Baz and Leonardo, I knew this was the right project."
The film debuts in theatres on May 10th, and the trailer utilizes The Throne's "No Church In The Wild." Peep the trailer for the film below.
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[Update: Beyonce and Andre 3000 to Cover Amy Winehouse For The Soundtrack]
It has now been confirmed that one of the songs on the soundtrack will feature Jay's wife, Beyonce and Andre 3000 covering the late Amy Winehouse's "Back To Black". A record company source indicates that the song will be quite a departure from the original recording, reporting that, "It's a very different take on 'Back to Black,'". This will not be the first time Bey and 3 Stacks have hit the studio together, previously collaborating on the Kanye produced track "Party" for the R&B singer's most recent album 4.