The Myth of Hip Hop

I tried to work with Jay-Z on a hip hop version of Stagger Lee. I was trying to say, you know, this is a song about a guy who was killed over a $5 hat. And these are mythical folk heroes that should be mythical hip hop heroes. There's a lot of people in hip hop who talk about themselves. Most of the, is the MC talking from his own point of view. But wouldn't it be awesome if there was also mythical hip hop characters? "Stagger Lee is just waiting to be done in a hip hop style," he says.