''It wasn't like a defining moment,'' he says of his decision to make another album. ''Something, when you love it, is always tugging at you and itching at you, and I was putting it off and putting it off. I started fumbling around to see if it felt good.''
It did. Later this evening Jay-Z plans to meet up with hit-machine producer Timbaland to work on tracks ''till we're exhausted.'' That explains why the noted clothes fanatic is attired in nothing fancier than a rumpled white T-shirt and dreck-smeared sweatpants (offset, in a style open only to those with a reported $320 million net worth, by his watch, a $70,000 limited-edition Audemars Piguet). The album's still a work in progress, and the mogul in him doesn't want to divulge too much. But soon his obvious enthusiasm for the project overwhelms his better judgment.
''It's more in the vein of The Black Album than The Blueprint,'' he says. ''I've been experimenting with things, different types of music.'' In addition to Timbaland, Jay-Z has called on the production skills of Kanye West and Dr. Dre. He also hopes to reteam with Rick Rubin. ''Oh, and actually, Chris Martin produced a track on there,'' he adds casually. Yes, Coldplay's Chris Martin. ''We met at a charity dinner and just really kept in touch. He sent me these beautiful chords for this song called 'Beach Chair.' I had Dre put some drums on it. It's really, really incredible.''
Kingdom's lyrics, too, come from a wide variety of sources. A track called ''Most Kings'' is inspired by a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting (which he owns). ''Lost Ones'' finds the man who once rapped about his inability to shed tears dealing with the car-crash death of a beloved relative. ''One of the most crushing things that ever happened to me was losing my nephew,'' he says. ''As you mature you realize that being vulnerable isn't weak. You realize that a man is himself.''
He doesn't yet know who will guest-perform on the CD (''I take care of that at the end''). But one candidate is Eminem. The only rapper who can claim more success than Jay-Z over the past decade did produce a track, ''Moment of Clarity,'' on The Black Album. But Eminem has kept an almost invisible profile since a spell in rehab and his short-lived remarriage to Kim Mathers. ''I speak to him from time to time,'' says Jay-Z. ''He's holding up. You know, he went through a tough time. He's getting stronger.'' Another possible guest, of course, is his frequent collaborator Beyoncé, who has also been his girlfriend since…Well, it's hard to pinpoint when they did get together, given that both parties decline to even admit that they are a couple, despite the massive evidence to the contrary. To cite just one example, on the recent Beyoncé single ''Deja Vu,'' Jay-Z raps that ''We used to bag girls like Birkin bags/Now I bag B''; the accompanying clip features the rapper being suggestively pawed by the former Destiny's Child frontwoman.
Yet Jay-Z could not be more emphatic in his denial that the track represented any kind of official ''coming out'' for the couple. ''No. No. No. No,'' he says. '''Bag' is not having sex. To 'bag' someone is to court them. I don't mean having sex.'' But the rapper does concede that those who watch the clip and think ''Damn, it's good to be Jay,'' would not be wrong. ''At times, man,'' he laughs. ''At times! Ha!''
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