Jay Z Covers Vanity Fair November Issue, Talks Blue Ivy, Drug-Dealing Past, and Beyoncé

Jay Z discusses his "rags to riches" story with Vanity Fair contributing editor Lisa Robinson.

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Complex Original

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Jay Z covers the November issue of Vanity Fair magazine where he detailed his drug-dealing past and his relationship with his mother. Of course, Jay Z spoke on his relationship with Beyoncé and whose music their daughter, Blue Ivy, likes more.

On drug-dealing past:
"[My mom knew I sold crack] but we never really had those conversations. We just pretty much ignored it. But she knew. All the mothers knew. It sounds like ‘How could you let your son...’ but I’m telling you, it was normal."

"[I didn't feel guilty] until later, when I realized the effects on the community. 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."

On Blue Ivy's musical taste:
"She does like her mother’s music—she watches [Beyoncé’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."

On becoming a sports agent: 
“I know about budgets. 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.”

Read the whole interview over on Vanity Fair and pick it up on newsstands nationwide on Oct. 8.

[via MissInfo]

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