Jay-Z Was ‘Humble’ When He Met Michael Jackson for the First Time, Says Producer Rodney Jerkins
Jay-Z might one the most confident rappers ever, but he was “humble” when he met Michael Jackson for the first time — according to producer Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins.
In a new interview on The Almanac of Rap, Jerkins — who worked heavily with Jackson on his 2001 album Invincible — revealed what Hov and MJ’s first meeting was like.
“You remember when Michael was brought up onstage by Jay-Z” said Jerkins, referencing how Hov eventually brought Jackson on stage at Summer Jam in 2001. “Who do you think introduced Jay-Z to Michael?”
“So I get the call from my man Big Chuck, who’s from Brooklyn, and Big Jon, the publisher — he’s now the CEO of Sony/ATV. And they were like, ‘Yo, JAY really want to meet Michael. Can you make that happen?’ I was like, ‘I got you,’” continued Jerkins.
He continued, “So I brought him up to the studio, took him to meet Michael. That was the most humble I ever seen JAY-Z in my life… I know JAY to be so cool, and you could tell it was a different thing when he got with Mike.”
Check out the remark from Jerkins below around 28:19.
Last year, Jay-Z’s former artist Memphis Bleek recalled the bizarre requirements he had to deal with when the rapper brought MJ out at Summer Jam during an episode of Drink Champs.
“Rest in peace to the GOAT of the GOATs… Mike came through, right—listen, if you wasn’t with Hov you had to turn around and face the wall,” he said. “His security guards came in before he came in they like this: ‘Everybody who don’t got the Jay-Z pass.’ Like, I’m with the family. You had to have that pass.”
He then explained that MJ’s team made everyone avoid eye contact with him. “They was making n****s turn up face the wall like it was the pat-down on the block,” he said. “Like, everybody because Mike didn’t want eye-to-eye contact. Nobody [could] look him in his eyes,” Bleek continued. “Me, I gotta see Mike. So I’m looking at everybody in the hallway facing the wall like, ‘These n****s is bugging.'”
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