On Friday, HBO’s The Shop: Uninterrupted returns for its fourth season, complete with a new episode featuring 2021 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Jay-Z.
In a brief teaser clip released Wednesday, Jay is seen reflecting on instances from the past during which his lyrics simply slipped his mind mid-performance.
“In the beginning, I used to get on the stage and just forget all my lyrics,” Jay said when asked by LeBron James if he had ever been “so zoned out” during a performance that he didn’t even notice the audience.
The new Shop installment also sees LeBron James and Maverick Carter being joined by Bad Bunny, Nneka Ogwumike, and Paul Rivera. Look for the full episode to drop May 28 on HBO and HBO Max.
Of course, forgetting lyrics is to be expected of any performer, especially those with a decades-strong back catalog that’s stacked with verbose hits. An artist’s momentary lapse in memory is easily understandable when considering the challenges of any linguistic art form. At any rate, Jay also made headlines back in 2013 for appearing to forget a few lines from the Watch the Throne cut “No Church in the Wild” during a Magna Carta Holy Grail-era show in Manchester back in 2013, so it all makes sense.
Needless to say, Jay’s pen-less writing method has been marveled at by fans for years. As he explained in a 2003 interview, the last time he could remember (at the time) writing down a verse was on “Can I Live” off Reasonable Doubt.
“I think about what I’m going to say,” Jay said noting that his approach is not full-blown spontaneity. “I think about what I’m going to do but it’s just never pen to paper. I think it through.”
On Wednesday, Jay announced the return of Made in America, which will once again bring two days of music to Philadelphia in September.
“This year will be like no other, as Made In America celebrates 10 years of music history-making moments,” Jay promised in a press release.
