Jay Z is set to appear on the cover of November’s issue of Vanity Fair. During his interview, the rapper details the impact that drugs have had on his life.
“I know about budgets,” Jay Z says in the magazine. “I was a drug dealer. To be in a drug deal, you need to know what you can spend, what you need to re-up. Or if you want to start some sort of barbershop or car wash—those were the businesses back then—things you can get in easily to get out of [that] life. At some point, you have to have an exit strategy, because your window is very small; you’re going to get locked up or you’re going to die.”
Continuing to discuss the influence that drugs played in his life, Jay Z also detailed the prominence that drugs played in his daily endeavors.
“Crack was everywhere,” Jay Z says in the article. “It was inescapable. There wasn’t any place you could go for isolation or a break. You go in the hallway; [there are] crackheads in the hallway. You look out in the puddles on the curbs—crack vials are littered in the side of the curbs. You could smell it in the hallways, that putrid smell; I can’t explain it, but it’s still in my mind when I think about it.”
In the article, Jay Z is asked if he felt guilt due to the impact of his dealing drugs.
“Not until later, when I realized the effects on the community,” Jay Z says. “I started looking at the community on the whole, but in the beginning, no. I was thinking about surviving. I was thinking about improving my situation. I was thinking about buying clothes.”
While drugs surrounded him, Jay Z praises his mother for helping his family endure the struggle.
“We were living in a tough situation, but my mother managed,” Jay Z says. “She juggled. Sometimes we’d pay the light bill, sometimes we paid the phone, sometimes the gas went off. We weren’t starving—we were eating, we were OK. But it was things like you didn’t want to be embarrassed when you went to school. You didn’t want to have dirty sneakers or wear the same clothes over again.”
Jay Z Discusses Beyonce & Their Daughter, Blue Ivy
In the article, Jay is also asked to speak about his family. He’s specifically asked about rumors surrounding his wife Beyonce, which claim that she did not give birth to the couple’s daughter, Blue Ivy.
“I don’t even know how to answer that,” Jay Z says in the magazine. “It’s just so stupid. You know, I felt dismissive about it, but you’ve got to feel for her. I mean, we’ve got a really charmed life, so how can we complain? But when you think about it, we’re still human beings…And even in Hip Hop, all the blogs—they had a field day with it. I’m like, ‘We come from you guys, we represent you guys. Why are you perpetuating this? Why are you adding fuel to this ridiculous rumor?’”
Jay Z and Beyonce were criticized when the couple trademarked their daughter’s name. Jay Z also addresses this in the article.
“People wanted to make products based on our child’s name,” Jay says. “You don’t want anybody trying to benefit off your baby’s name. It wasn’t for us to do anything; as you see, we haven’t done anything.”
Jay also talks about his daughter’s appreciation for her parents’ work.
“She does like her mother’s music,” Jay Z says. “She watches [Beyonce’s concerts] on the computer every night. But my album came out and I don’t know if Blue ever heard any of my music prior to this album—she’s only 18 months old and I don’t play my music around the house. But this album was new, so we played it. And she loves all the songs. She plays a song and she goes, ‘More, Daddy, more…Daddy song.’ She’s my biggest fan. If no one bought the Magna Carta [album], the fact that she loves it so much, it gives me the greatest joy. And that’s not like a cliché. I’m really serious. Just to see her—‘Daddy song, more, daddy.’ She’s genuine, she’s honest, because she doesn’t know it makes me happy. She just wants to hear it.”
In the article, Jay Z also discusses his longevity and Hip Hop, saying he once thought about quitting Rap when he turned 30.
“I know I said I wouldn’t be doing it when I was 30,” Jay Z says. “So that’s how I know I love it. Thirty years old was my cutoff, but I’m still here, 43 years old.”
Jay Z’s cover image for the November issue of Vanity Fair can be viewed below.
RELATED: Jay-Z & Beyonce Top Forbes’ Highest-Earning Celebrity Couples List
to hear jay z speak about his past as a drug dealer seems so far away beacuse we have in this past decade seen him CEO:in.
It doesn’t seem far away, it is far away. He’s been in the game making legal money for over 20 years
uhuhuuhuhuh. hey look its beyonce uhuhuhuh. hey boys wont u like play stupid and bother people ass hole. uhuhuh piss off beyonce uhuhuuhh woa why is she running uhuhuuhhuhuuh.
uhuhuuhhuh
uhuhuuhuhuhhuh
hey paul wall what u doing around these parts uhuhuuhuh
uhuhhuhuhuhhuh
u want that in a bag. hey u know sometimes alians come out around here ufos
look its the waynes bros. one ta meda la raaa faaa. uhuhuhuhuhuh hey bevis kick their ass huhuhhuhhuhhuh
That angry ant up a burning tree masked gunmen with chest hair
Jay is 44 years old and he is still answering questions about drug dealing?
Just shows how uninteresting this guy is now that he is an old-head.
cant you read? 43
If he’s asked the question why should he not answer it? Also, why are you mad?
Was he supposed to change the subject? Not everyone is ashamed of their past and tries to hide it like Officer Ricky
Whites love the drug-dealing talk, it fascinates them, LOL, JayZ is the master at catering to their interests.
“Sometimes wed pay the light bill, sometimes we paid the phone, sometimes the gas went off”
^ as a former resident of Marcy during Jay’s residency era, light & gas were included in rent
hehehe that nigga Jay tryna make it sound like he had it harder than he really did smh
like or not (not even sure if I do) Jay is the biggest name in rap that actually has the skills to back it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4td26eS5A0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HmvRqJArxY
thats what they want done
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0AHowM5_LQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NU2kPh5_9w
smh
ja rules gonna hit ya try to make u holla holla
You can apologize all you want Jay but ain’t shit gonna change the fact that you ruined so many communities with your crack. Just to pursue your pathetic dream. All the Sons and daughter strung out on your product just so we can here those garbage 16’s you got.
you know drug dealers dont force people to buy their product right? supply and demand. if they didnt get it from jay they will get it from someone else.
cant get made at jay-z cause your family is full of junkies
After all is said and done. all those people that had to be sacrificed for him to get him where he is today are problly dead and gone just so we can hear his fucking trash rap. Kingdom Come=trash Magna Caka Holy stale= trash american gangsta=hot trash!! The Black Album=wtf?Trash.
again, jay aint make them smoke those rocks.
Anonymous–it’s called sensationalism/glorification dumb ass….
All the lambs of god you had to sacrifice just so we can hear all that Garbage in your catalogue.
To top it all off Nasty Nas is your great grandfather!!!!!!!!
I respect Jay in so many ways, however as a rapper, at this point he’s really just a shell of himself….
To say that, means your not really a fan. Its okay to dislike Jay but you don’t need to do it in such a slick way. Just saying.
Jay-z so fucking clueless. Tryna sell his share of the nets. I guess that didn’t work out. Now you want to be a sports agent? That ain’t gonna work. He so fucking desperate to be like Puffy its pathetic! Kanye’s bitch is sexier then Biance. Fuck Gay-Z!!!
^^^kim is trash and kanye is gay its just a beard
to david- I feel the same way as anon #1.. im a huge jay fan (hes in my top 10 for shore.. probably top 6-7) but at the same time, he is NO where near where he used to be skill wise.. after the black album (crowning achievement) its been all down hill.. he has two or three classic songs per album since then, but the reast is just filler..
What Jay has done is flat out amazing no matter how you slice it. The difference is that the “hip hop community” or whatever the fuck you wanna call it, looks for ways to discredit this man, be it through his music or past business dealings.
The Kennedy’s wealth was amassed through various forms of hustling which are all now illegal today, with the exception of alcohol. Yet, they are one of the most beloved families in the country, and revered for their brand of hustle. Revered to the point where their greatest son sat in the US Presidency.
Its hard to hate progress, but people always find a way how.
GOAT
Jay-Z=GOAT (greatest of all twats)
hopefully we can get 1 more jay album where he tries.
tries=classic
lazy=still good but not that next level
seen dogs with freddy mask on driving cars getting at ya.rabbit mask devils doing the mother fucker
http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/nQWqRGVE1Zk/mqdefault.jpg
I’m sorry…..I am D-Least educated motherfucker on this site!
Go listen to Ether pussy!!!!!!!
You still mad that when we sucked each other’s dicks you were the only one that choked?
Jay just watched breaking bad… wants to open car wash…
Is he still on the drug dealing gimmick?!! It’s been proven to be false. Gay Z did not drug deal but had a rich life.
Gay-Z sold his share of the Nets cuz he don’t know what to fucking do with himself!!!!!!!!
“Sometimes wed pay the light bill, sometimes we paid the phone, sometimes the gas went off”
^ as a former resident of Marcy during Jay’s residency era, light & gas were included in rent !!!!!!!!!!!!!
maybe they lived in a house?
you caught that right?,,,,lol,,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCGNTO0qaVc
The only problem with hip hop and rap is that some of the fans are simple minded and one dimensional. Too many fools thinking their views are facts.
yo yo yo, wassup on that real casual vibe my people, this your boy DICKY PETERS. Still stayin as cool as Sway without that dumbass hat. So let me toot it up in here for real like I just lost control with the Milk of Magnesia and busted up the plumbing: this article says the same old thing he did it to survive, aight that’s cool. What’s cooler? MY UPCOMING MIXAPE entitled ” DING DONG DICKY part ewwwno (1)”
I know I know, everybody’s been sayin so much about me being unsigned hype and the tape is gonna drop in April, no June, no never. But it izzz cummins my people.
dat boy tricky dicky out.
Dude, wazzup tricky dudes on da island was sayin all kinds of dat business like you was gettin skin tags removed and shit bitches frontin. i also heard you was possibly gon do a collab wit kevin gates, dat true? he hot as all get out roun here right now been for a second. come through tricky i cant be bumping nixon faces couldnt even get that scratched ho on my itunes upload. stay real and that real. bigs.
skin tags removed? Bro, get the f*&k outta here with that.
YO I said they was bs’n why you on me man you get da f out homie. I ride with TrIcKy DiCk eva since the Nixon Chronicles vol. I dropped, Where was you? Stop creepin on my cool, drawer on my own wheat Tim’s boy.
it not tricky dick this lame a poser forsure
you aint fux wit him how you know i fux with him , he back in the burbs and inners i was with him sat night yo
he around dude i gotta vouch done seen him at a party out in burbs with some scottie too hotties over tha weekend.
dude came in w/ TIP. Straight ballin right after he got back on the scene. Rapped over some classic Outkast beats just straight outta NO WHERE. Tricky Dick Peters on that shit man that m.tape gotsta drop.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmiOcCzvTwQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKiCIPAT528
I voted you a thumbs down and leave some neg feedback don’t spam up in here with that mess! Sick of you no talent wankstas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3MIHfZxIdQ
“To be in a drug deal, you need to know what you can spend, what you need to re-up.”
dammmm thats some really advanced stuff, further maths shit
still stole half of yo bars from other rappers… better rappers.
shut the fuck up
Do this nigga even know they trollin him? Stop talking about that nonsense you have plenty other shit going on. Its ridiculous that one of black Americas top moguls has to respond to these questions. Fuckin retarded…
Cleveland Chief, you are retarded? You’re doing very well, you communicate fairly clearly, don’t get so down on yourself.
ha hahaha he merc’d that fool.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY
What Jay didn’t realize was Blue Ivy was actually listening to God Forgives I Don’t.