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So she tried to encourage me to pursue my dreams in music early on. Yeah, just so, you know, if I was focusing on music, you know, I wouldn't be - you know, running the streets all wild. Your mother gave it to you, you say, because she thought it would help keep you out of trouble. So what were your first rhymes like? Like, you got your first boom box when you were 9. GROSS: Yeah, well, that's one way of looking at it.
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JAY-Z: Yeah, I guess there's a bright side to everything, right? That's really interesting that one of your things that your father leaves behind, that you can use, is his records. But we took their old records, and used them to build something fresh. You say: Our fathers were gone, usually because they just bounced. And you say that most of your friends' fathers had left. Your father left when you were very young - I think when you were 9. You know, you talk about your parents having a big record collection. GROSS: Right, now in talking about sampling, I'm reminded of something you say in the book that I thought was really interesting. And then, you know, it started out as a joke, and then it just stuck. Hova, which is a nickname that, you know, they gave me because it was like - one time, I was recording in the studio and I wasn't writing, and one of my friends was like, man, this is like, how you doing that, man? God must really love you. H to the izz-O, v to the izz-A is basically spelling Hova. It's a language that we used like a slang. It's a spelling, and it was like this - I guess it's a form of pig Latin.
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It's like an abbreviation - you know, H to the Izzo, like for Hova. GROSS: Now, would you mind if I asked you about Izzo - which I think is one of your nicknames? It was just such an interesting and fresh take on it that I immediately was drawn to it. So I was very familiar with the song when Kanye bought me the sample. So Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder, and all those sounds and souls - and Motown et cetera, et cetera - filled the house. JAY-Z: Well I had a - I grew up in the Marcy Projects in Brooklyn, and my mom and pop had an extensive record collection. GROSS: So let me just start with the track that we heard, which samples the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back." Tell me what that song meant to you before you used it in "Izzo." Fo' shizzle my nizzle used to dribble down in VA. (Rapping) H to the izz-O, V to the izz-A. Not guilty, he who does not feel me is not real to me. But somehow, I beat them charges like Rocky. Haters want me clapped and chromed it ain't easy. Fo' sheezy my neezy keep my arms so breezy. Boy and we got rid of that dirt for them.
JAY Z ON TO THE NEXT ONE CLEAN VERSION PLUS
Plus if they was short wit' cheese I would work wit' them. Was herbin' em in the home of the Terrapins. You coulda been anywhere in the world, but you're here with me - I appreciate that. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the eighth wonder of the world, The flow o' the century, oh it's timeless - HOVE! Thanks for comin' out tonight. (Rapping) H to the izz-o, V to the izz-A. JAY-Z: Ladies and gentlemen, let's put our hands together for the astonishing. Let's start with one of his signature songs, "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)," produced by Kanye West, from Jay-Z's 2001 album, "The Blueprint." He's the former president of Def Jam Records he's a part-owner of the NBA team the Brooklyn Nets and co-owns the sports bar 40/40 Club. Jay-Z co-founded the label Roc-A-Fella Records as well as the clothing company Rocawear. His recording with Alicia Keys, "Empire State of Mind" - from his 2009 album, "The Blueprint 3" - has become something of a New York anthem. 1 albums by a solo artist on the Billboard 200. "Decoded" also tells the story of an assault case in which Jay-Z ultimately pled guilty to a misdemeanor, as well as the stories behind 36 of his songs. In his autobiography, "Decoded," Jay-Z offers his story as an example of the story of his generation, explaining the tough choices they faced at a violent and chaotic time.
JAY Z ON TO THE NEXT ONE CLEAN VERSION CRACK
Jay-Z watched crack cocaine destroy his neighborhood, but he sold it on the street before he found his new life in the recording studio and on stage. He was born in 1969, and grew up in a Brooklyn housing project.
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Our guest, Jay-Z, has been incredibly successful as a rapper and an entrepreneur, which is pretty amazing since he could easily have been in prison or dead.