In an interview with Vlad TV, Jay-Z’s mentor Jaz-O recounted the time he gave Jay a gun that eventually used to shoot his older brother. The incident was outlined on Jay-Z’s song “You Must Love Me” and was confirmed by the Brooklyn Rapper.
Jaz-O said, “And it was my gun. He didn’t have the gun so he could go and shoot his brother. It was a thing back then. You got some arms, you got guns or got a gun, that was a sign of brotherhood with the street.”
The shooting is re-enacted in the video for “You Must Love Me” featuring Kelly Price. He goes into detail about a time he got into an argument with his drug addict older brother and things escalated, leading to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame rapper shooting him in the shoulder.
We used to fight every night but I never would suffer
Jay-Z “You Must Love Me”
Just smile my big brother’s tryna make me tougher
As we grew, fussing and fighting continued
As I plundered through ya stuff and snuck your clothes to school
Got intense, real intense as we got older
Never believed it would lead to me poppin’ one in your shoulder
Where my rings? Knew you had it ’cause you took too long
As Mickey, Annie, and the girl that bought it looked on
Huffin’ and puffin’ gun in my hand told you step outside
Hoping you said no but you hurt my pride
Made our way down the steps
Maybe you thought it was just a threat
Or maybe your life was just that crazy
And you was beggin’ for death
Try to justify this in my young mind
But the adrenaline and my ego hurt combined
Drove me berserk, saw the devil in your eyes
High off more than weed
Confused, I just closed my young eyes and squeezed
What a sound, opened my eyes just in time
To see you stumbling to the ground
Damn what the fuck I done now?
Runnin’ around in a circle thinking I’m assed out
Hot gun burnin’ my waist, ran straight to Jaz’ house
Like a strange, r damn I just shot my nigga
“In the song, ‘You Must Love Me’, he talked about how he ran to my crib. He ran to my crib because you bust a gun, I don’t care who you are, you get nervous,” Jaz shares in the interview. “You get nervous and you need somewhere to run to, so I guess he was like, ‘Let me run over to this n***a’s house and drop this shit off for worst-case scenario.’ So he came up there and dropped it off and everything.”
