Music

Courtney Love gave Jay-Z permission to use lyrics from "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on his new album

by Aaron Zorgel

photo via Consequence Of Sound

So, we know a few things about Jay-Z’s forthcoming record, Magna Carta Holy Grail. We know that he’s changing the game when it comes to distribution, by pre-selling a million copies to electronics giant Samsung, so they can give the record away to people who own Galaxy mobile devices. We now know that despite his boasting that the album has already gone platinum, Billboard won’t be counting the Samsung deal towards his official album sales figures. Now, thanks to an interview with Courtney Love, we know that Jay-Z will be using lyrics written by Kurt Cobain (from “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana) on Magna Carta Holy Grail.

Love didn’t specify how Jay-Z will be using the lyrics exactly, but she noted that “they [used it] without asking, which is kind of nervy, but the business side has been taken care of so it’s fine.”

In Pharrell Williams’ 2012 book Places And Spaces I’ve Been, Jay-Z made it known that he has respect for the music of Nirvana, citing the grunge movement as a creative force that delayed hip-hop’s rise to the mainstream: “Hip-hop was becoming this force, then grunge music stopped it for one second, ya know? Those ‘hair bands’ were too easy for us to take out; when Kurt Cobain came with that statement it was like, ‘We got to wait awhile.’”

It doesn’t look like Jay-Z will be attempting a cover of the song. The tracklist for Magna Carta Holy Grail was revealed via social media over the weekend, and “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is nowhere to be found. This might come as a relief to some people — remember the last time Jay-Z covered an iconic rock song?