The rapper opens up about family on David Letterman’s Netflix show, ‘My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.’
JAY-Z couldn’t be happier that his children are growing up differently than he did.
The 48-year-old rapper opens up about family on an upcoming episode of Netflix’s My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman, where the former late-night host observes that the “distance” between JAY-Z's own upbringing and the lives of his children -- 6-year-old daughter Blue Ivy and 8-month-old twins Rumi and Sir, whom Jay shares with wife Beyonce -- must be “gratifying and also heartbreaking.”
“I’m not heartbroken at this point in my life,” answers the 4:44 rapper in a new preview clip from the episode. Born Shawn Corey Carter, JAY-Z was raised by his mother, Gloria, in Brooklyn’s Marcy Houses project. “I feel grateful every day. I wake up, look around, look at my kids, they healthy.”
The rapper then cites a conversation he recently had with Blue Ivy as an example of how “healthy” her childhood has been.
"I told her to get in the car the other day, because she was asking a thousand questions and we had to leave for school," he recalls. "We're driving and then I just hear a little voice.”
“Dad?" Jay says, imitating his daughter’s voice. "I didn't like when you told me to get in the car the way you told me. It hurt my feelings."
“She’s six!” the rapper adds. "I was like, 'That's the most beautiful thing you've ever said to me.’”
In another clip from the upcoming episode, JAY-Z opens up about the moment his mother came out to him, and writing about her sexuality in his 4:44 track, “Smile.”
"Like, she just told me. I made the song the next day," he reveals. "I knew. But this was the first time we had the conversation. And the first time I heard her say she loved her partner. Like, 'I feel like I love somebody.' She said, 'I feel like.' She held that little bit back, still. She didn't say, 'I'm in love.' She said, 'I feel like I love someone.'"
"And I just, I cried," Jay adds. "I don't even believe in crying because you're happy. I don't even know what that is. What is that?"
Letterman's full My Next Guest interview with JAY-Z will launch on Netflix on Friday, April 6. See the video below for more on JAY-Z and Beyonce’s family.
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