Key Takeaways
- John Legend says hip-hop has shaped his music and career, recalling Jay-Z's praise: "You’re our voice."
- He values hearing rappers reinterpret and embrace his work, from Tony Sunshine and Termanology's "Desert Eagle" remix to BigXthaPlug singing "Ordinary People" to him.
- Legend believes that connection inspired Pharrell to produce his new album, Muse, which features Clipse on "Bodies on the Floor."
John Legend has shared some high praise he once received from Jay-Z and how it relates to his standing within the hip-hop community.
Speaking to Complex, the singer-songwriter, who released his new album Muse on Friday (October 23), discussed the impact hip-hop has had on both his life and career, and expressed how thankful he is that so many artists are inspired by his work.
The conversation began after Legend was asked about Tony Sunshine and Termanology's "Desert Eagle," a firearm-inspired remix of his Grammy-winning 2005 hit "Ordinary People." "I’m trying to remember when I first heard it," Legend said of the DJ Khaled-produced mixtape cut.
Turning his attention to other versions of the hit song that he's heard, it's then that he reflected on his relationship with hip-hop. "I've heard "Ordinary Negros" as like a joke. I've heard a bunch of different takes on that song," he recalled. "I have really loved my relationship with hip-hop over the years.
"I've been so involved in making great hip-hop records. I've had such a great conversation with hip-hop as a genre. It's been part of the DNA of all the music that I've made. I've worked with a lot of great hip-hop producers, and I just love my musical connection and spiritual connection with hip-hop, even though that's not my original genre that I grew up making."
Acknowledging how hip-hop has "been such an important part of [his] career," Legend, who got his start in the industry working alongside Kanye West, said he loves when rappers and other artists are inspired by his music. "I literally just met BigXthaPlug today," he recalled, "and the first song he sang to me was, 'We're just ordinary people.' He literally sang it to my face today."
However, probably one of the biggest compliments he's ever received from a member of the hip-hop community came from Jay-Z — who besides collaborating with him on a number of tracks over the years, including DJ Khaled's "GOD DID," Legend also just performed with Jay in L.A., making a cameo on the first night of the rapper's SoFi Stadium shows.
"I love the relationship my music has to hip-hop culture and how much it's been a part of my music and what it means to so many hip-hop artists," he said. "JAY-Z once told me, he was like, 'You're our voice.'"
Legend believes that the sentiments shared by Jay-Z are why Pharrell Williams wanted to work with him on his new album, Muse, which is produced entirely by Pharrell. The LP also features Clipse on the song "Bodies on the Floor" — a follow-up collaboration to the one they did on Pusha T and Malice's comeback album, Let God Sort Em Out.
"I feel like there's all this connection between my voice and hip-hop, and in some ways that explains why Pharrell wanted to do this album with me because of what we did with Clipse, and it led to us making this whole album together," he concluded.
