The Scene

Jay-Z Going Retro for 'Great Gatsby' Score

Published on Wednesday, January 02 2013
Written by Katie Marzullo
 
He got 99 problems, but composin’ ain’t one.
 
Assuming that joke has not been used in every other editorial covering this piece of news, let’s move on accordingly.
 
Last Spring, when the first trailer for Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of The Great Gatsby was released, I, for one, was intrigued by the juxtaposition of period-appropriate settings and art design mixed with Baz’s unique filming techniques and a decidedly anachronistic soundtrack – namely, some throbbing beats care of Jay-Z and Kanye West’s hit collabo “No Church In The Wild”. Well, looks like the producers are taking this convention a step further by hiring Jay-Z to produce the film’s score!
 
But before we all get excited about the possibility of Daisy and Jay doing the Charleston to “Jigga My N****”, it’s not 100% clear at this point how much input Hova will have on the composition itself – the official composer on this project is Craig Armstrong, so Jay-Z’s contributions may be confined to the studio mixing board only.
 
Even so, you don’t hire Jay-Z if you’re looking for a traditional, classical film score, so it’ll be interesting to see how he influences the sound of this picture. We will (finally) get to find out when the film (finally) opens on May 10!
 
 
- Katie Marzullo, YH Staff Editor