Jay-Z‘s Roc Nation has partnered with Long Island University in Brooklyn to create a school on the college campus that is focused on educating students that aspire to careers in entertainment. The partnership was announced earlier this week. LIU president Kimberly Cline commented on the new venture.
“We look forward to joining with Roc Nation to offer an unprecedented educational resource that opens up the entertainment and sports world to a new and eager generation.”
Jay-Z is a native of Brooklyn and he’s been helping the community for decades. His Sean Carter Foundation was established in 2002 and has since helped numerous students with scholarships and other forms of support. The school will open for the 2021 school year.
Just Blaze revealed this during a 2010 interview with Hip Hop Chronicle saying: “Beanie Sigel and Freeway passed on Pump It Up, Jay also passed on Pump It Up and then went back and re did it. ”
Jay-Z later jumped on the remix to “Pump It Up.” The song was featured in a couple movies; 2 Fast 2 Furious, You Got Served, and the trailer for Meet the Blacks. The song peaked at No. 38 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Nas and Jay-Z both passed on the beat for Jadakiss’ “We Gonna Make It” ft. Styles of the Lox.
During an interview on A Waste of Time podcast with ItsTheReal, Alchemist revealed Nas passed on Jadakiss’ “We Gonna Make It” beat. Alchemist also revealed Jay Z also turned down the “We Gonna Make It” beat. “I had the beat, I knew it was dope. I played it for Nas. He and Horse said it’s gonna be a solo song,” The Alchemist told ItsTheReal.
Two weeks later, The Alchemist found out Nas gave the beat to Millennium Thug, Alchemist declined the collaboration and he was introduced to Jadakiss by a friend and “We Gonna Make It” beat eventually landed in the hands of Jadakiss and Styles P.
The beat for “Blue Magic” the first single from Jay-Z’s tenth studio album, American Gangster was originally produced by Pharrell for Yung Joc but he passed on it.
Yung Joc revealed during an interview with Vlad TV, he was booked in the studio with Pharrell in Miami. Skateboard P played the “Blue Magic” beat and gave him a “Rakim flow”, but Yung Joc wasn’t feeling it. “I was like, I don’t know if that’s me,’ Yung Joc tells Vlad TV. Later Diddy and Jay-Z walk into the studio and when Pharrell played the beat Jay-Z was instantly feeling it and told Yung Joc if he didn’t take it he would.
Yung Joc sure enough gave the Blue Magic beat to Jay-Z and after came “Blue Magic.” with Pharrell on the hook. Jay-Z even mentioned Rakim in the song.
Jay-Z helped The Roots’ clear the Radiohead Sample they used on “Atonement” at the last minute for their 2006 album Game Theory.
During a 2011 interview with Spin, Questlove revealed The Roots had sampled Radiohead’s “You and Whose Army?” for “Atonement,” but they had troubles clearing the sample for release because Radiohead’s lawyers wouldn’t clear the sample. Questlove asked for Jay-Z’s help
“I was like, “Can you get me on the phone with those guys in five minutes?” He was like, “Yeah.” I said, “Do you know those guys?” He said, “No.” I was confused. So I asked, “Well, how are you going to get through to those guys?” He said, “Watch.” Sure enough, in five minutes I was jogging on the treadmill talking to the Radiohead guys. Lawyers can’t make it work, but Jay-Z can.“ – Questlove told Spin
Ath the time Jay-Z was the president of Def Jam and he made the call and the sample was cleared.
Jay-Z recorded a diss record for 2Pac in 1996, and it was about to be released then Tupac passed away. Jay held on to the diss record as a sign of respect for 2Pac.
According to Jay-Z’s longtime producer DJ Clark Kent, Jay-Z actually recorded a 2Pac diss and he even performed it once at The Apollo.
DJ Clark Kent revealed this during an interview with A Waste of Time with ItsTheReal saying: “Jay did a record going at Pac but right as it was about to go out, son died. We performed it once. We was at the Apollo. the chip on Jay’s shoulder is so crazy that he had to perform it. It was…scathing. Crowds was like, oh shit.
“It was super hard. It was super hard. If he was alive, there would have been no coming back…This was so tough. To me, it probably was one of the hardest dis records I’ve ever heard.” DJ Clark Kent added.
During the beef, Pac stood at the frontline going in on everybody he thought was an enemy to Death Row Records. Didn’t matter if it was Nas, Dre, Biggie – if he suspected you were against him, he had no problems calling you out.
Listen to the full interview with DJ Clark Kent below:
Jay-Z released his album The Blueprint on September 11th, 2001, the beat for the album’s fourth cut “Girls Girls Girls” was originally for made for Ghostface Killah but he Wu-Tang rapper turned down the beat.
The song’s producer, Just Blaze revealed the “Girls Girls Girls” beat was originally intended for Ghostface Killah during a discussing with Young Guru. “The only joint that pre-existed was Girls Girls Girls which i had been holding for Ghostface. The pro tools session was called ‘Ghostface’” Just Blaze says on the beat. Watch Just Blaze explain from 11:00.
Ghostface Killah ended up rapping on the beat. He freestyled 16 bars over the “Girls Girls Girls” beat for AOL’s freestyle series.
Why does Jay-Zcall himself Hov, Hova & Jigga? Where did Jay-Z’s nicknames come from?
Shawn Corey Carter—famously known as—Jay-Z has been referring to himself as Hov or Hova since 2001. Hov or Hova, is short for Jay-Hova, and it’s a shortened version/play of the word Jehovah, the Hebrew word for God. Jay-Z has called himself the “god” of rap.
In his Marcy Projects neighbourhood, Shawn was known as “Jazzy”, a nickname that eventually developed into his well known artist name, “Jay-Z” which is also pays respect to his mentor Jaz-O.
Jay-Z released Izzo (H.O.V.A.) on his sixth studio album The Blueprint. The line “H to the Izz-O, V to the Izz-A” is a slang method of spelling out H.O.V.A. On A Million and One Questions (Remix), Jay-Z raps “They call me J-Hova cause the flow is religious.”
“Young Hova, the name Hova it derived from… I would tell people like ‘yo i can make these songs…..I don’t even write songs down, i can make these songs in 5 to 7 minutes’ and that’s just like a gift so they started calling me Jay-Hova. and that’s just how that whole thing started. I don’t wanna offend too many people for saying Jay-Hova, I dont want them to think im saying i’m “god”. I know way better than that. Young Hova… To recognize that gift that i had.”
Jigga came from Jay Z rapping too fast “Jigga to Jay-Z, thats where that came from”
Jay-Z has also referred to himself as Jiggaman, S-dot, Young Hov, Jazzy, and Iceberg Slim.
