Jay Z defends the integrity of Samsung album app deal

Jay Z says criticism of his deal with Samsung shouldn't overshadow the music on Magna Carta Holy Grail.

The rapper teamed up with the electronics firm to offer one million people the album for free, with Samsung paying £3.2m for the rights.

When asked if he was worried about fans remembering the download instead of his music, he said: "I'm not really concerned with noise.

"It's everyone's overreaction to everything."

Magna Carta Holy Grail is his 11th studio album and became Jay Z's first number one album in the UK.

None of the digital sales of the record, released on 4 July, counted towards figures for America's Billboard 200 album chart.

Samsung has denied claims that the app invaded the privacy of customers who used the free downloaded.

Cloned versions of the app were created by hackers. Available via unofficial sites, they contained code that unlocked anti-Barack Obama messages.

Business decisions

In the interview posted on his Life and Times website, the American rapper defends the amount of work that went into the album.

"I put a lot of my life into what I'm doing right now," he said. "I didn't just have a hit record and get lucky.

"I'm looking 10 years down the line. Then we'll be able to see the album for what it is."

The rapper also talked about how having confidence and making good business decisions helped his music last.

"Shakespeare was a man who wrote poetry," he said. "I'm a man who writes poetry. Why not compare yourself to the best? I'm not here to be second best.

"If other people are cool with not selling or putting themselves in that light then that's their personal preference. If you want to be second that's cool."

Jay Z, who officially dropped the hyphen from his name last week, is now on his Legends of Summer tour with Justin Timberlake in North America.

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