Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter is a recording artist, businessman, and philanthropist. The Brooklyn-raised emcee is also a playlist curator for the Tidal platform.
In March, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey announced his Square company bought a majority ownership stake in Tidal. The deal was worth a reported $297 million.
Jack Dorsey tweeted, “It comes down to a simple idea: finding new ways for artists to support their work. New ideas are found at the intersections, and we believe there’s a compelling one between music and the economy. Making the economy work for artists is similar to what Square has done for sellers.”
This week, Tidal and Twitter Spaces presented “Talk: A Conversation with Jack Dorsey and JAY-Z.” The streaming service posted a 150-second snippet from the discussion to its Twitter account.
At one point, Jay-Z talked about curating special playlists for Tidal. For example, the Roc Nation boss created the 18-track “March 4” collection which includes songs by acts like Nipsey Hussle, Beyoncé, Kanye West, Rihanna, and Drake.
“I found so many songs. My playlist game is A++. I challenge anyone out there,” joked Jay-Z. The 4:44 album creator added, “I’m definitely in the top tier of playlist creators.”
“Talk: A Conversation with Jack Dorsey and JAY-Z” also featured the two billionaires discussing the future of Tidal. In addition, Jay-Z told the listeners that the streamer is combining AI with IRL elements in order to offer a good product.
“In the beginning, there was a lot of content we were pushing. We did a lot of work with the engineers and now the algorithms have caught up to what we were doing. But we’ll always maintain a human element because that’s where it comes from. You can’t duplicate the heart and spirit,” said Jay-Z.
Tidal also hosts other Jay-Z-curated playlists such as “JAY-Z: Songs for Survival 2,” “JAY-Z: Vibes,” and “JAY-Z: F*ck the Summer Up.” The 2021 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class member organizess his “Year End Picks” lists as well.