Why Jay-Z Didn’t Make Berner’s New Album

Berner’s latest release Gotti dropped on December 3. The album boasts appearances from Nas, Rick Ross, Future, Jadakiss, Styles P, Conway The Machine, Benny The Butcher, Rod Wave and Mozzy. But there was another legend who didn’t make the cut: JAY-Z.

Berner even got his hands on previously unheard audio recordings from the late John Gotti himself. He utilized his assets to add cinematic authenticity to the Mafia-inspired project. The Bay Area based rapper recently had an interview with music journalist Gary Suarez for his Cabbages newsletter. There he revealed the Jay-Z story.

“I even reached out to JAY-Z to get on the album. He didn’t get on the album, but he heard the record, it was put in front of him. And there was a rollercoaster for like a week where we thought he was going to do a verse to the project.”

Berner believes that his tight deadlines didn’t allow the JAY-Z collaboration.

“I put time limits on everything. Maybe that’s part of the reason why JAY-Z didn’t do the verse. I sent him an incredible record and I told him I needed by this day. And my boy was joking with me, like, ‘Did you just try to on-demand JAY-Z?’ I only have X amount of time to work on the music, like with Cookies being what it is, with the clothing, the apparel side of the business, being what it is, I don’t have much time to work on music.”

Berner also spoke about his cancer in the newsletter. He was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. Berner revealed plans to release a deluxe edition of Gotti, but also admitted that his chances of securing JAY-Z are slim.

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Quotes via HipHopDx.