(AllHipHop News) Jay-Z’s rap moniker dervies from his old nickname, “jazzy” and he plans to bring both to the score for Baz Luhrmann’s film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel, The Great Gatsby.
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After being introduced to Luhrmann by friend and The Great Gastby lead actor Leonardo DiCaprio, Jay-Z collaborated with the famedfor two director on contributing to the music for the film. In a press release, Luhrmann calls Jay-Z’s involvement “a credible and natural fit” given Fitzgerald’s love of jazz and Hip Hop’s current cultural importance:
“Fitzgerald was a pioneer, famed and controversial for using the then-new and explosive sound called jazz in his novels and short stories—not just as decoration, but to actively tell story using the immediacy of pop culture. He coined the phrase ‘the Jazz Age.’ So, 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. Not only is JAY Z a great artist, full stop, but I had heard that he was a great collaborator. Leonardo and I were lucky enough to be present in a recording session over two years ago as JAY Z was recording ‘No Church in the Wild,’ and the collaboration grew from there.”
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Mr. Carter delves into his involvement in the film’s sound:
“As soon as I spoke with Baz and Leonardo, I knew this was the right project. The Great Gatsby is that classic American story of one’s introduction to extravagance, decadence and illusion. It’s ripe for experimentation and ready to be interpreted with a modern twist. The imagination Baz brought to ‘Moulin Rouge’ made it a masterpiece, and ‘Romeo + Juliet’s’ score wasn’t just in the background; the music became a character. This film’s vision and direction has all the makings of an epic experience.”
Jay-Z will bring some of the world’s top musical artists to the soudtrack in addition to contributing original music for the soundtrack. The soudntrack will be released through Interscope Records.
The Great Gatsby will be in theaters May 10th, 2013
Check out the trailer for The Great Gatsby featuring Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Frank Ocean-assisted “No Church In The Wild”:
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