In an interview with MTV News last week, Jay-Z let it be known that he has ''"inspired a generation of bad writers.''" He was joking, of course, but the Def Jam president does think that he has set a bad example by not writing down his lyrics before recording, something he hasn'''t done since ''"Can I Live,''" off of his 1996 debut, Reasonable Doubt.
And he though he has tried, he just seem to shake the habit:
''"In my mind, I said, 'OK, I'm gonna sit down and I'mma just write it and really do this thing a certain way.' But your natural process is your process. It's difficult to go back to what you was doing when you was 15, 16 years old.''"
Although he can no longer return to his old pen-to-paper ways, Jay-Z has these wise words for aspiring MCs, like his nephew (and for all of us, really):
''"Why I tell him to write every day is because it's like anything else: [You have to] practice. Basketball players play basketball their whole life, they practice every day. It only makes sense. You can only get better. The repetition. The more you do it, the better you do." [MTV]