Jay-Z recently stopped by LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s talk show “The Shop: Uninterrupted” and talked about some of his fondest memories of DMX. During the segment, the Roc Nation boss revealed that X was the reason he first boycotted the Grammys.
“By the way, the first time I boycotted the Grammys was for him. We both came out that year. He didn’t get nominated. He dropped two albums, had two No. 1 albums in the same year. They didn’t even nominate him. I won that year [1998] for [Best] Rap Album [Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life], so my first Grammy win, I wasn’t there. I wasn’t even in the building because I boycotted it for him. So, there was a competitive thing but it was big love. He was so competitive with me. I never met a human being more competitive with me. Ever. Not even my big brother. No one,” confessed Jay-Z.
The business mogul born Shawn Carter also revealed how he and DMX met during a competition.
“We met battling. That’s how we met. We was [sic] in the Bronx, in the pool hall. After that battle, he went to like, a show. He got on stage and said, ‘Jay-Z, where you at?!’ I was like, this guy is nuts. He was just all passion,” Hov further commented.
Jay also gave X his biggest props during the interview when he revealed that the Ruff Ryder MC made him step up his live performance. While Jay-Z may have been the closer, he admitted DMX was a hard act to follow on the Hard Knock Life tour in 1999.
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