Jay-Z Rapping At Gatsby's Party?

Mar Yepez
19th of February, 2016

It doesn't sound appropriate, a rapper in charge of the soundtrack of a movie so classy like The Great Gatsby, but, was it really a bad decision?

Although the soundtrack got some negative feedback arguing that the songs selected weren't the right style, Director Baz Luhrmann highly praised the rapper on his work. And he is right! Jay-Z did make a good job!

"He totally nailed that the book was aspirational, that the book was really about, if you've got a cause, you can move towards a green light. That you don't reach it isn't the point; that you aspire is." said Luhrmann, director of 'The Great Gatsby'.

http://www.enstarz.com/articles/14670/20130315/the-great-gatsby-soundtrack-jay-z-produces-performs-trailer-release-date.htm

They couldn't have chosen a better person for the job. Jay-z earned his life the hard way, he was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Marcy Houses, he work his way to the top just like Jay Gatsby did. With his personal experience, who would understand the struggles of the though life better than him?

It's clearly shown in the songs included what Jay-Z felt was important about 'The Great Gatsby". The most recurrent one is "Young and Beautiful" by Lana del Rey. 

Although the beat of the original song was adapted and changed for the movie, we can clearly see that it was chosen for its lyrics. Doomed love, money, parties, and beauty are the topics discussed in the song and in the film. 

The tracks included by Jay-Z in the soundtrack were strongly linked to the mood. "The Great Gatsby" has an overall dark and heavy atmosphere full of toxic love and thirst for success. Songs like "Love is Blindness" by Jack White, "Into the Past" by Nero, "Kill and Run" by Sia, "A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got)" by Fergie, reflect the meaning of the film. No wonder why the soundtrack got so high up in the charts!