New Jay-Z Bio Talks More of Carter’s Dope Days, Also Include’s Jaz-O & DeHaven’s Version

Jaz-O and Jay-Z

A new biography about Mr. Shawn Carter called, “Empire State of Mind: How Jay-Z Went From Street Corner to Corner Office.” seems to paint a more enhanced picture of Jay-Z’s life during his teenage years. Penned by journalist, Zack O’Malley Greenburg, the biography differs from Decoded. Decoded doesn’t delve too deep into Jay’s hustler past, while the new biography discusses his younger years, at age 17, when he was a dope boy, how he accidentally shot his older brother and ran to Jaz-O, his rap ‘mentor’ for help.

In the book, Jaz-O shared, “He was like, ‘I shot my brother.’ I was like, ‘What the f–k did you shoot him for?’ He’s like, ‘I told him to stop taking my stuff.’ He said it was kind of an accident . . . but the situation got kind of crazy, and he just happened to hit him in the arm.’ “

Similar to Decoded, the book talks his life in Marcy, the stabbing of Un, but goes further into the death of Jay’s uncle, and how Jay’s father, Adnes Reeves, was obsessed with finding his brother’s (Jay’s uncle) murderer.  The book also introduces readers to Carlos Martinez, one of Jay’s friends growing up. Of Jay, he told The Post, “He didn’t mingle with anybody. He was a slick dude, smart but quiet about it. We used to bang on the tables and do some rap.”

Jay and DeHaven

We also hear from the dude–DeHaven Irby–that put Jay on to the drug game. “We were like brothers. Whatever I was doing, he was doing. He picked it up quick. Jay was more efficient. I would overpay the runners so they would be happy and not steal, and he would pay exactly what they were worth. I kept 15 runners and he had two people and was doing pretty much the same numbers. A lot of people thought of him as stingy. If the product was $10, you couldn’t get it for $9.” According to the book, they were moving a kilo a week, which was in the $20k a kilo range…more if turned into crack. The book is available for Pre-Order on Amazon.

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