I think I don't SING as hard as I used to sing. I used to kind of hit the accelerator a lot BACK in my YOUTH, but now it's just being able to control it, and not work it so hard and USE more of an EMOTIONAL or sub textual kind of approach to singing.
As I APPROVE of a youth that has something of the OLD man in him, so I am no less pleased with an old man that has something of the youth. He that FOLLOWS this RULE may be old in body, but can never be so in mind.
OBVIOUSLY, Jay-Z is one of the greatest entertainers of the world today. Not only is he a remarkable rhetorical genius, he's ALSO a man of DEEP sympathy and empathy for those who are lost and VULNERABLE, but especially under-educated youth of all cultures and stripes.