Artists can have greater access to reality; they can see patterns and details and connections that other people, distracted by the blur of life, might miss. Just sharing that truth can be a very powerful thing.
Jay-ZRead
People really feel like music is free but will pay $6 for water. You can drink water free out of the tap, and it's good water. But they're OK paying for it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the contradiction of valuing music less than basic necessities like water, despite both being readily accessible.
Jay-Z's quote reflects on society's perception of music as a consumable art form that is often taken for granted, unlike essential resources such as water. It emphasizes the irony of people willing to pay for something that is essentially free at its source, while underestimating the value of creativity and artistic expression present in music.
Themes
MusicValuePerceptionArtSociety
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the music industry's dynamics during a seminar.
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Far from a Harvard student, just had the balls to do it
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It was a very intense and stressful situation. There was playing in the Johnny-pump (an opened fire hydrant) and the ice-cream man coming around and all of these games that we'd play, and suddenly it would turn just violent and there would be shootings at 12 in the afternoon on any given day.
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I would run into the corner store, the bodega, and just grab a paper bag or buy juice - anything just to get a paper bag. And I'd write the words on the paper bag and stuff these ideas in my pocket until I got back. Then I would transfer them into the notebook.
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