JAY-Z Says He’s ‘Not Actively’ Making Music but Will ‘Never’ Say He’s Retired: ‘Open to Whatever’

JAY-Z famously announced his retirement in 2003, but returned with a new album three years later

JAY-Z may not currently be in the studio, but he hasn’t shut the door on releasing new music someday.

The hip-hop star and mogul, 52, sat down with Kevin Hart on a new episode of the comedian’s Peacock talk show Hart to Heart and revealed that his future plans are up in the air, but he’s steering clear of the word “retired.”

“I don’t know what happens next. I’m not actively making music or making an album or have plans to make an album,” he said. “But I never want to say I’m retired… It’s a gift, and who am I to shut it off? It’s open to whatever.”

He continued: “It may have a different form, a different interpretation. Maybe it’s not an album. Maybe it is. I have no idea, but I’m just gonna leave it open.”

The “Empire State of Mind” rapper’s most recent album, 4:44, was released in 2017. He also put out the collaborative album Everything Is Love with wife Beyoncé a year later, and the power couple hit the road together on the co-headlining On the Run II tour.

Still, he’s flirted with saying goodbye to recording in the past, and famously declared his retirement in 2003 with a blowout party at Madison Square Garden.

Though he continued to collaborate with various artists, including Linkin Park, in subsequent years, JAY-Z officially ended his retirement in 2006 with the album Kingdom Come, which he followed with American Gangster one year later.

The star (born Shawn Carter) told Hart, 43, that he was “terrible” at retirement, but “just needed a break” when he decided to call it quits in 2003.

“I was really burnt out that time. I was releasing an album every year — ’96, ’97, ’98. And then in between that, soundtracks, other people’s albums, Roc-A-Fella, touring back-to-back,” he recalled. “And you know, I just looked up one day and I was like, ‘I’m tired.’ I had never been on a vacation until like, I want to say 2000. Like my whole life. And I was just really burnt out at that moment.”

Whether he’s making music or not, JAY-Z has stayed busy over the years with various entrepreneurial endeavors. The father of three was crowned hip-hop’s first billionaire by Forbes in 2019, and his assets range from the entertainment company Roc Nation, which he founded in 2008, to his Armand de Brignac champagne and D’Ussé cognac.