Jay-Z has spent three decades letting the music speak for itself. This fall, he’s finally letting the words speak too.
HBO has officially announced JAY-Z IN 8, an eight-part documentary series directed by legendary producer Rick Rubin, set to debut this fall on HBO and stream on Max. The series centers on an extended, intimate conversation between the two, covering Jay-Z’s music, lyrics, life experiences, and creative process in a way fans have rarely been given access to.
Rubin, best known for producing “99 Problems” off The Black Album, is no stranger to the format. He brought a similar one-on-one approach to McCartney 3,2,1 with Paul McCartney back in 2021. Now he’s turning that lens on one of rap’s most guarded and celebrated figures.
The project is executive produced by Shawn Carter himself, alongside Rubin and actor Daniel Kaluuya, under the HBO Documentary Films and Tetragrammaton banners.
In a teaser released by HBO, Jay-Z offered a glimpse at the kind of introspection viewers can expect. “Everyone had this same experience, except I was the one that could stand on the soapbox and articulate what we were going through,” he says. In another moment, he reflects on using pain as fuel: “The pain, you don’t say it’s necessary, you don’t say you need it, but if it’s there, you use it.”
The announcement arrives at a milestone moment for the Brooklyn icon. He’s currently celebrating the 30th and 25th anniversaries of Reasonable Doubt and The Blueprint, with a run of Yankee Stadium concerts, global activations, and an upcoming pair of “Jay-Z 30” shows in Paris and Los Angeles this fall.
Eight episodes. Thirty years of stories. The timing couldn’t be more right.
