Thirty years after his debut album Reasonable Doubt changed rap forever, Jay-Z is ready to talk about all of it. HBO has dropped the official trailer for Jay-Z in 8, an eight-part documentary series featuring an intimate, career-spanning conversation between Jay-Z and legendary producer and director Rick Rubin, premiering September 18.
The series marks Rubin’s directorial documentary debut and unfolds over many hours of candid dialogue between two of music’s most towering creative forces. Together, they revisit Jay-Z’s catalog spanning three decades, dissecting his writing process and tracing how his words reflect his childhood, the experiences that shaped him and the evolving world he navigated as his career grew. The trailer opens with Jay-Z reciting one of his most famous lines: “Allow me to reintroduce myself, my name is Hov.”
From there, he goes back to the beginning. “Writing, writing, just writing, everyday,” he says of catching the bug at age nine before reflecting on hip-hop’s enduring appeal. “The reason why rap is so loved, that feeling of that underdog. That’s why people were listening, that’s why it hit them somewhere.”
The series covers Jay-Z’s entire body of work, from early classics like “Can’t Knock the Hustle” and “Brooklyn’s Finest” off Reasonable Doubt and its era, to landmark tracks like “99 Problems,” “Dead Presidents II,” “Can I Live,” “No Church in the Wild,” “The Story of O.J.” and “4:44,” pulling from albums across his entire career. The discussions in each episode center around a handful of songs selected by Rubin, offering a deeply revealing portrait of the artist and his work, exploring the influences and inspiration that shaped both the man and his music.
The series is part of Jay-Z’s year-long celebration of the 30th anniversary of Reasonable Doubt, which has also included shows in New York City and upcoming dates in Los Angeles, Paris and London, pop-up events and a run of commemorative library cards with the Brooklyn Public Library.
The first two episodes premiere September 18 on HBO, with two new episodes dropping every Friday through October 9. Here is the full episode breakdown:
Chapter One — September 18, 8:00 p.m. ET/PT Features “Intro,” “Meet the Parents,” “Can’t Knock the Hustle” and “What More Can I Say”
Chapter Two — September 18, 8:45 p.m. ET/PT Features “Brooklyn’s Finest,” “I Love the Dough” and “What More Can I Say”
Chapter Three — September 25, 8:00 p.m. ET/PT Features “Lyrical Exercise,” “This Can’t Be Life,” “You Must Love Me” and “4:44”
Chapter Four — September 25, 8:50 p.m. ET/PT Features “Where Have You Been,” “Allure,” “Where I’m From,” “Can I Live” and “Don’t You Know”
Chapter Five — October 2, 8:00 p.m. ET/PT Features “U Don’t Know,” “Politics As Usual” and “Regrets”
Chapter Six — October 2, 8:45 p.m. ET/PT Features “Jail,” “Ignorant Shit,” “Hovi Baby,” “Kill Jay-Z,” “99 Problems,” “Threat,” “Dead Presidents II” and “Public Service Announcement (Interlude)”
Chapter Seven — October 9, 8:00 p.m. ET/PT
Chapter Eight — October 9, 8:47 p.m. ET/PT Features “New York (Concept de Paris),” “The Story of O.J.,” “No Church in the Wild,” “Family Feud” and “Legacy”
Jay-Z in 8 is executive produced by Shawn Carter, Daniel Kaluuya and Rick Rubin, with Bradford Young serving as director of photography. Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller and Sara Rodriguez executive produce for HBO.
Jay-Z in 8 premieres September 18 on HBO and Max.