January 24, 2022
JAY-Z has undoubtedly influenced an entire generation of rappers, although not many can say they influenced JAY-Z. But Jaz-O can. Raised in the same Marcy Houses project as Hov, the “Originator” (as he’s often referred to) took the young JAY-Z under his wing and featured him on his 1990 single “The Originators.”
Needless to say, Jaz-O witnessed the future Hip Hop billionaire grow up and evolve into the powerhouse he is today. In a new interview with VladTV, Jaz-O was asked about the time JAY-Z shot his drug-addicted older brother Eric Carter in the shoulder for allegedly stealing his ring and simultaneously wound up admitting it was his gun.
“Yeah, I can’t remember, but it was a shot to like not as to like fatally wound but just you know … to be honest, I don’t think he was aiming to really hit him, in his defense,” he explained. “He just wanted to get this n-gga scared, like, ‘Yo, cut the shit.’ 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. It was like, ‘Yeah, you ever run into any problems, I got an extra. You can hold that for whatever reason.’ To be totally honest, for whatever reason.”
JAY-Z was just 12 years old when he pulled the trigger. In a 2010 interview with The Guardian, he admitted it’s haunted him since childhood. “I thought my life was over,” he said at the time. “I thought I’d go to jail forever.”
As Jaz-O continued his story, he explained letting a friend borrow a gun was a sign of brotherhood but didn’t know the young Hov would actually use it.
“So I let him borrow the gun,” he added. “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. In the song, ‘You Must Love Me,’ he talked about 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. You get nervous and you need somewhere to run to so I guess he was like, ‘Let me run over to this n-gga’s house and drop this shit off for worst case scenario.’ So he came up there and dropped it off and everything.”