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JAY-Z will celebrate his 40th birthday in style on Friday (04Dec09) – with a U.S. number one single, the queen of the Grammy nominations as his wife and a reputation as one of the key cultural figures in the world.

The rapper, who scored a third week at number one with New York anthem Empire State of Mind on Thursday (03Dec09), is now one of the coolest 40-somethings on the planet and, as he celebrates his birthday with his stunning wife Beyonce, WENN would like to wish him the very best. WENN trawled through the archives and dug out 12 fascinating facts about Shawn Carter:

- Born to Gloria Carter and Adnes Reeves on 4 December, 1969, Jay-Z is the youngest of four children. – He went to the same high school as the late Notorious B.I.G. and Busta Rhymes.

- He began his music career as part of a local New York rap group called Original Flavor; he joined the crew with his childhood friend Jaz-O. – He claims to be able to count the number of women he has slept with on one hand. – Jay-Z wed his longtime love Beyonce on 4 April, 2008 in New York.

- He became the first non-athlete to have his own line of sneakers when he launched the S. Carter Collection in partnership with Reebok in 2005. – While serving as president of Def Jam from 2004 to 2007, Jay-Z successfully launched the careers of Rihanna, Ne-Yo, Kanye West and Young Jeezy. His four proteges have all gone on to earn multiple Grammy nominations; the only one who’s yet to win the prestigious prize is Jeezy.

- He became part-owner of the New Jersey Nets basketball team in 2005 after paying a whopping $4.5 million (£2.81 million) for his share. He plans to move the NBA team from their current home in East Rutherford, New Jersey, to his native Brooklyn, New York by 2011.

- Jay-Z partnered with Budweiser in 2006 to serve as a brand director and oversee their TV and print campaigns.

- Jay-Z holds the record for the most number one albums in Billboard 200 chart history with 11. He surpassed Elvis Presley’s tally of 10 when The Blueprint 3 hit the top of the countdown in September (09). The only other artists who can boast the same accolade are the Beatles, who also have 11.

- Jay-Z has been nominated for an impressive 35 Grammy Awards in his career to date and has claimed eight. He has five Grammy nods for the January (10) awards.

- He is one of the big name producers behind new Broadway musical Fela!, joining forces with Hollywood couple Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith. The musical celebrates the work of late Nigerian star Fela Kuti.

 

Jigga’s forthcoming album will shock his hard-core hip-hop fans – because Timbaland plans to feature bagpipes on the disc’s tracks. The hip-hop heavyweights are teaming up in the studio to record Hova’s new LP, and Timbaland insists using the Scottish instrument will lend the songs global appeal. He says, “We want to go to the world. Some of the songs are gonna sound like (world music artist) M.I.A.  You’re gonna be like, ‘Whoa!’ But it’s Jay on them. That means it reaches everywhere.  I’m gonna have songs with bagpipes too. The music is gonna be so worldwide, he’ll be able to tour the rest of his life, maybe, off just this one album.”

Employees at Jay-Z’s New York City nightclub are hitting out at its managers for allegedly threatening them against having any involvement in an ongoing labor lawsuit against the venue. The music mogul’s hip-hop hotspot 40/40 was named in a lawsuit filed earlier this month in a Manhattan court. Employees of the sports bar claimed they were denied hourly wages and forced to be compensated by customer tips alone. And workers are now claiming the club’s general manager, Desiree Gonzalez, threatened one employee she would “f*** up his tax life” for having any involvement in the class-action suit.

According to a letter filed in court by the workers’ lawyer, the 40/40 boss allegedly told another worker she would “lock him up” if he refused to sign a release for the court case. Federal Judge Loretta Preska admitted earlier this month (Jul08) the club owners violated federal labour laws after reviewing an earnings report for at least two workers who showed they were not paid for overtime at the venue. Hundreds of former employees could be eligible to collect on the claims if their case wins in court.

Source

In a performance at the “This Day Music and Fashion Festival 2008″ in Abuja, Nigeria a drunken brawl broke out right in front of the stage @ 1am. Security guards attempted to break up the scuffle as members of the crowd were shoved towards the platform and one man was removed from the venue-The Dome. It is unclear whether the unnamed male was arrested, as one source claimed, or was simply forbidden from re-entering the concert. Though marred by violence, nobody was seriously injured. The show also saw performances from rap superstar Jay-Z and pop star Rihanna.

 

Jay-Z’s Glastonbury Performance

Jay-Z silenced critic Noel Gallagher at the U.K.’s Glastonbury festival with his own version of the Oasis hit WONDERWALL. Rocker Gallagher criticised the hip-hop star when it was announced he would be headlining the annual music event, saying, “I’m not having hip-hop at Glastonbury. It’s wrong.”
But Jay hit back at criticism on Saturday by taking to the stage with a guitar as the strains of the Oasis hit song played. He told the cheering crowds: “So they say you guys didn’t want me here to be here tonight. “They said you guys weren’t into hip-hop. Thanks for all the love here tonight.
“This is a beautiful moment, I’m glad to share it with each and every one of you.”

Jay-Z recently sat down with Time Out Magazine and had some pretty interesting tidbits that he discussed. Some of the more interesting comments and answers are listed below

So what else do you get up to when you’re in town?

‘I’m a pretty big, almost a professional, gambler. I’m not gonna say any names because that’ll mess it all up, but there’re these little private clubs you can go to in the West End where you can hang out and gamble, and it’s pretty cool. And you know, I’m a foodie, so I’m always in search of the next good meal. There are plenty of great restaurants out there.’

You own a share of [basketball team] the New Jersey Nets. What’s this we hear about you potentially investing in Arsenal?
‘I had invested in the Nets, and they [Arsenal] asked me if I was interested in investing. But I get that from time to time. Someone told me yesterday that someone else had a piece of the New York Yankees – “We wanna talk to you, yadda yadda yadda.” I mean, I love the Yankees so I’m in the middle of following that through, but sometimes it comes to be something and sometimes it comes to be nothing. That was one of the times it came to nothing.’

You’ve just released a split single with the other famous rap Carter, Lil Wayne. Did you hear about what happened when he played at Stratford Rex a few months ago?
‘No, what happened?’ Read the rest of this entry »