JAY Z NOT UP FOR THE CRACK

Arguably the greatest mc of all time, Jay Z was only twelve years old when he turned to pushing crack on the streets of Brooklyn. Yet during his fourteen years as a dealer, not once did he take the drug himself.

1980s Brooklyn was riddled with the substance that would go on to destroy black communities across America. Despite handling it every day the Roc-a-fella label boss was never tempted. He’d witnessed first hand the devastating effects it could have; his brother Eric was an addict and one day stole Jay’s ring to pay for his next hit. In retaliation the twelve year old Jay shot his sibling in the shoulder.

Jigga also saw the detrimental effect it had on the looks and personality of some of the “finest girls in the projects” whose drug abuse meant they lost all their “beauty and shape.” At first the transition from stunner to crack-whore was a joke amongst the pushers but after a while he started to think, “man, that really is decay in the body.”

The Def Jam CEO was fully aware of the detrimental effect it was having on the community and later in his life he set up the Jay-Z scholarship for underprivileged students to help young people stay away from a life of crime.

Even so, Jay does have fond memories of that period of his life. “The excitement and the danger, for one. Then you have the camaraderie and the love. Those guys are with you. You’re all in there together, fighting for the same thing. Survival.”

Jay Z’s memoir “Decoded” is out now.

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Read more: Mixmag