'It's like there was some rogue angel watching over us,' he said. Most people in shootouts don't get shot.'ĭespite being shot at three times, he was unscathed. There were shootouts, but I never shot anyone else. In a housing project in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, shootouts were commonplace: ' were around every day.
In the interview he also describes his surroundings. 'Saw the devil in your eyes, high off more than weed, confused, I just closed my young eyes and squeezed.' The shooting is explored in the lyrics of You Must Love Me. In fact his brother, addicted to crack at the time of the shooting, did not press charges and apologised to his little brother for his addiction when the future star visited him in hospital. In tomorrow's Weekend magazine, he describes shooting his brother, who had stolen his ring, and tells how he felt after pulling the trigger: 'I thought my life was over. The rapper, real name Shawn Carter, has a business empire spanning fashion to Broadway and a fortune estimated at $450m, but he grew up in a Brooklyn housing project ravaged by violence. Jay-Z, the world's most successful rap star, has spoken publicly for the first time about one of the darkest episodes of his tough upbringing: when, aged 12, he shot his brother.
