Jack White says unreleased music with Jay-Z could “see the light of day”

Jack White has revealed that he has been working with Jay-Z and unreleased music with the rapper could soon “see the light of day”.

The former White Stripes frontman, who releases his new album ‘Fear Of The Dawn’ tomorrow (April 8), was speaking with Apple Music‘s Zane Lowe about his unfinished work and recent team up with the rapper.

When asked whether the pair had been working together, White replied: “Yeah. That’s true, but it’s not me who doesn’t finish stuff. So it’s, uh…I’m not that guy. No, I’m just teasing. But I’m more the personality, like, I’ll be there tomorrow, you know. So it’s different working styles. So some of that stuff I think will see the light of day when those guys aren’t busy with other projects and stuff.”

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When asked if it was “fun” to work with Jay-Z, he added: “Yeah, it was. It’s so different, you know, because when I went into the studio with him, there was just one microphone which is, I kind of was [like] ‘Whoa, what? Where are the other microphones?’”

“But I was like, ‘Oh, wow, OK. Yeah, I guess why would you need another microphone?’ So yeah, it’s different worlds. And so Jay was learning about the way I did it and I was learning about the way he did it. That’s like seeing anybody use a method. And if you see anyone using any method, it’s really, really interesting.”

It comes after White previously opened up on how his 2018 album ‘Boarding House Reach’ was influenced by the hip-hop sound of Jay-Z and Kanye West.

“I really wanted to find musicians who played with hip-hop artists onstage – who backed up Kendrick or Jay-Z or Kanye or something,” he said at the time.

“I thought that was a special musician that can [take] what’s on a hip-hop track, where it’s a sample or a drum machine, but replicate it live with real drums and real bass.”

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White also previously discussed how the track ‘Over And Over And Over’ was originally recorded during a collaborative studio session with Jay-Z in 2009 but it never saw the light of day.

“I played a drumbeat and then I played a bass line,” White said at the time. “I played guitar and then he rapped over it.”

But White’s collaboration with Beyoncé – ‘Don’t Hurt Yourself’, ended up appearing on the singer’s ‘Lemonade’ album.






Meanwhile, White is set to perform the US national anthem in his hometown for the Detroit Tigers on their opening game of the baseball season tomorrow and kick off his extensive run of headline shows, dubbed ‘The Supply Chain Issue Tour’.

Tickets for the US shows are available here and you can get tickets for the UK and European shows here.