Michael Abernethy - The Homegrown Snob

Here’s an unlikely pairing: Bill Maher — the egocentric host of HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher” — and Jay-Z — the greatest hip-hop/rap star of the last 15 years — in a half-hour long interview.

I caught the episode late one night this weekend while recovering from a stomach flu and was reasonably impressed with the results. Maher is often too arrogant and impressed with himself for his own good, but this quieter, one-on-one format suits him fairly well.

Needless to say I’m not a huge Jay-Z fan (rap, mostly, ain’t my thing) but I do admire him for injecting a certain amount of artfulness and wit into his music. Say what you like about rap in general, but Jay-Z’s output is consistently high-grade and there’s no one of his generation within spitting distance of him.

ANYWAY, here’s the clips, pilfered from YouTube. Mind the naughty language.

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