4. Jay Z
I wasn’t massively into hip hop in the 90s – all that gangsta rap, I couldn’t relate to. I didn’t want to shoot people. In the West Midlands, I wasn’t west or east coast, I was in the middle. But I loved when hip hop became a more soulful vessel. The Black Album was the first hip hop album I loved. And I love this song, because I think it’s a celebration of imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is always seen as a bad thing. Like, ‘oh, my God, I don’t feel like I belong’. And I felt like that almost my whole life in journalism. And I actually think it’s driven me and it can be a good thing. Every time I do something, I feel like it’s my first thing and I feel like I’m gonna fail and be found out. And obviously, there’s a negative aspect of that. But also it means I’m focussed, and I work really hard to make it good. This song is also about remembering where you came from. Yeah, I think those are really useful things as a creative person.
