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Releases
Releasing Jay-Z’s Manga Carta Holy Grail on vinyl a “good idea”, says Third Man man
By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 15 July 2013
The head of production at Jack White’s Third Man label, Ben Blackwell, has told Billboard that the design of the vinyl version of Jay-Z’s new ‘Magna Carta Holy Grail’ album, which is being released through the label, is his “annual good idea”.
Blackwell was unable to provide much details on the release though, only that it is currently in production. He said: “How many of the limited version, I’m not exactly sure – but the idea is there will be two different versions. I like to think I get one good idea a year, and this might be my good idea for the year – without being too specific”.
Jay-Z himself has been a little more specific though, revealing last week that the LP will come with a ‘playable letter’ featuring ‘Open Letter’, a track not featured on the digital release of the album. Speaking to Hot 97, he said: “It’s in a letter … You can play the letter. It’s amazing. You open the letter and you can actually play the card like a vinyl”.
As for how the Jay-Z/Third Man deal to release the new record (and the vinyl version of the Jay-coordinated ‘Great Gatsby’ OST) came about, Blackwell said: “Jack and Jay-Z are friends. That’s how we did the ‘Great Gatsby’ vinyl and that’s how this came about as well. I don’t ask too many questions – if someone hands me a Jay-Z album and says put it out, I’m going to go put it out”.
