Trivia / Jay-Z

• All-Star Cast:
  • The Blueprint 3 involved Rihanna, Kanye West, Young Jeezy, Drake, J. Cole, Alicia Keys and Kid Cudi.
  • The track "BBC" from Magna Carta Holy Grail. Featuring Nas, Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé, Pharrell Williams, and Timbaland.
• Breakthrough Hit: He was a big name in the hip hop community from the first album, Reasonable Doubt, but his third album Vol 2... Hard Knock Life brought him into mainstream stardom.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Jay considers Kingdom Come to be his worst album, considering how he ranked his albums◊ by stacking them up, with Kingdom Come being at the bottom. He briefly makes an apologetic mention of how it was his first major effort after a highly-publicized three-year retirement.
  • Despite being regarded as one of his best songs, Jay feels this way about Big Pimpin' because of its misogynistic lyrics. He describes the song's protagonist as a "boor" and has stated, "Some [lyrics] become really profound when you see them in writing. Not "Big Pimpin." That's the exception. It was like, I can't believe I said that. And kept saying it. What kind of animal would say this sort of thing? Reading it is really harsh."
• Distanced from Current Events: "A Dream" (his tribute to The Notorious B.I.G.) includes a sampled verse from Biggie's classic "Juicy," but the line "Blow up like the World Trade" (referencing the 1993 attack) is edited out. However, this doesn't stop people who know and love the original from keeping the line in when singing along.
• Dueling-Stars Movie: The Best of Both Worlds with R.Kelly and Watch The Throne with Kanye West.
• He Also Did: Wrote the song Buggin for the Space Jam soundtrack.
• Production Posse: Kanye West, Beyonce, Rihanna, Justin Timberlake, & Pharrell are among Jay's usual guests.
• Reclusive Artist: He’s always been enigmatic and private but has become increasingly so since becoming a father. He rarely gives interviews (usually for business endeavors) and only has one official social media account on Twitter which is very, very rarely updated. He and Beyonce are also relentlessly protective of their kids and work very hard to keep them out of the spotlight. You won’t see them unless they want you to. As Blue has gotten older, she’s started coming to more events with them and is pictured with them fairly often but the twins have never been photographed in public and their faces have only been publicly shown a handful of times on their terms.
• Referenced by...: One of Jay-Z's best known songs is "99 Problems" (I've got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one!). YouTube channel The Great War sells a T-shirt with the slogan "I've got 99 problems. I'm an Austro-Hungarian soldier in 1915."
• Romance on the Set: First met Beyonce when he invited her to duet on "'03 Bonnie and Clyde" and they fell in love shortly after.
• What Could Have Been: As one might imagine, someone who has been in the game as long as Jay-Z has quite a few of them:
  • "Pop Pop The Burner" was cut from The Black Album, and all that anyone has heard of it is this 30 second clip from the Fade to Black DVD.
  • "Bring It On" was originally going to feature Nas and AZ, but they kept no-showing the recording sessions, so Jaz-O and Sauce Money took their spots.
• The pro wrestler Diamond Dallas Page tried to sue Jay-Z for ripping off his trademarked "Diamond Cutter" handsign, though he ultimately dropped it for an undisclosed amount of money. In truth, the sign is a case of Older Than They Think. The first time many people would have seen it would have been when Mr. Spock did a version of it on Star Trek, where it was said to be the Vulcan sign for "Live Long and Prosper." Leonard Nimoy took it from the way kohanim (Jewish high priests) would hold their hands while giving blessings. Nimoy figured that it looked alien-enough that most people wouldn't recognize it.