In a new interview with VladTV, Jay-Z’s mentor Jaz-O opened up about Hov shooting his older brother Eric when he was 12 years old.
Hov explored the shooting, which allegedly happened after his brother stole his ring, in “You Must Love Me,” the closing song from his 1997 album In My Lifetime, Vol. 1. “Saw the devil in your eyes, high off more than weed/Confused, I just closed my young eyes and squeezed,” he raps in the second verse.
Decades later, Jay discussed the incident in a 2010 interview with the Guardian.
“I thought my life was over,” he explained. “I thought I’d go to jail forever.” Jay’s brother, who was addicted to crack at the time, did not press charges. “It was terrible. I was a boy, a child. I was terrified,” Hov added.
Jaz-O has now reflected on his role in the shooting, revealing he was the one who gave Jay the gun.
“Yeah, I can’t remember, but it was a shot to not fatally wound but just, you know. To be honest, I don’t think [Jay] was aiming to really hit him, in his defense,” Jaz-O explained. “And it was my gun. He didn’t have the gun so he could go and shoot his brother. It was a thing back then. You got some arms, you got guns or got a gun, that was a sign of brotherhood with the street. I had no idea for what reason and I don’t think that was the purpose, I’m sure that wasn’t the purpose he wanted the gun, but that’s just how it turned out.”
Jaz-O went on to reference some of the lyrics in “You Must Love Me,” claiming that the house Jay mentions in the song was in fact Jaz’s crib.
“In the song, ‘You Must Love Me’, he talked about how he ran to my crib. He ran to my crib because you bust a gun, I don’t care who you are, you get nervous,” Jaz said. “You get nervous and you need somewhere to run to, so I guess he was like, ‘Let me run over to this n***a’s house and drop this shit off for worst case scenario.’ So he came up there and dropped it off and everything.”
Watch Jaz-O’s comments to VladTV up top.
