As we celebrate Jay Z’s 48th birthday today (aka Jay Z Day), we are sharing 10 music facts about the iconic rapper.
- His earliest musical memory was listening to his parents copy of Marvin Gaye’s album and uses samples throughout his career, including The Blue Print
- Reasonable Doubt was originally called ‘Heir To The Throne’
- Jay Z and Beyoncé’s “03 Bonnie & Clyde” samples Tupac’s 1996 “Me and My Girlfriend”
- He lost a rapper battle when he was 15 at George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School judged by LL Cool J
- For his 1996 album ‘Reasonable Doubt’, he practiced saying the word “opium” for an hour to perfect his delivery on ‘Regrets’
- Michael Jackson has uncredited vocals on “Girls, Girls, Girls” from ‘The BluePrint’
- Jay Z had only 20 fans show up to one of his first shows away from the East Coast 1996 in a 100 capacity Las Vegas theater.
- His mother says he used to wake his siblings up at night by banging drum patterns on the kitchen table. She later bought him a boombox which ignited his interest in music.
- On January 9, 2012, he released “Glory” dedicated to Blue Ivy Carter which included sounds of her cries. She was the youngest person to appear on a Billboard chart.
- On November 25, 2003, Jay Z retired from rap during a concert at Madison Square Garden. He would eventually go on to release more music a few years later.
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10 Music Facts About Jay Z On His 48th Birthday! was originally published on hothiphopdetroit.com