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Jay-Z Says Kanye Inspired 'D.O.A.'

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by Mariel Concepcion, N.Y.  |   July 16, 2009 12:44 EDT
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Who would've guessed that Kanye West, who used Auto-Tune on his most recent album, "808s and Heartbreak," was who inspired Jay-Z's latest single, "D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-tune)," off his upcoming album, "The Blueprint 3."

"He actually sparked the idea," Jay-Z told Billboard.com about the single. "When he heard the beat he said, 'Man, this is just so hard! This has to be against everything -- no auto-tune, none of that type of stuff!' He didn't know what I was going to do or where I was going to take it, but it was actually his fault."

Jay-Z says that the two recorded one track with Auto-Tune previously for "The Blueprint 3," but once "D.O.A." came about, they decided to scrap it. "After we made the 'D.O.A.' record about a month ago, we were like, 'if it's got to go, it's got to go.'"

As per his criticism of the egregious overuse of the Pro Tools plug-in, Jay-Z says it's simply part of the hip-hop culture to be out with the old and in with the new. "In hip-hop, our job is once a trend becomes a gimmick, to get rid of it. We've done that since the beginning of time," he explains. "Now people are using Auto-tune even in Wendy's commercials, and it's like, 'Oh no! That's has to go!' It's become part of main culture. It's the same thing like when the old lady in Oregon starts saying, 'bling, bling.' It's like, 'I'm never saying that again.'"

"The Blueprint 3" will be in stores September 11th on Roc Nation with distribution via Atlantic Records.
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